Retail startup Boxed launches data-driven restock recommendations

Auto Replenishment BI Intelligence

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Boxed, a retail startup that aims to mimic Costco with big sizes and tiny prices, has begun rolling out its SmartStockup feature that recommends products customers may need to reorder, TechCrunch reports. The feature has already been released to about a quarter of Boxed’s users, and will be available to all shoppers soon.

SmartStockup uses a variety of data to predict which items consumers will need to restock:

Shoppers will begin seeing “Need These Now” and “Need These Soon” sections on Boxed as early as their second time shopping on the site. If consumers want to buy one of the recommended products, they can simply click on the item to add it to their cart.
SmartStockup’s recommendations will be based on a combination of personal purchasing history, wider patterns of restock times for specific products, and demographic information. The predictions should grow more accurate over time as Boxed collects additional data on individual shopping habits.

This technology could help bring autonomous shopping to the mainstream. By using technology to predict or notice when products need to be reordered, Boxed could usher in a shopping experience that removes the consumer from the process entirely. This kind of service is likely to be well received for its ability to remove trips to the store, especially for necessities. In fact, millennials have already shown an interest in auto-replenishment services, and other age groups have indicated an openness as well. While autonomous shopping options may never account for the bulk of consumer spending, if companies like Boxed can hone their predictive capabilities enough to ensure replacement products are delivered on time, they could end up catching on in certain product categories.

Brick-and-mortar retailers are caught on the wrong side of the digital shift in retail, with many stuck in a dangerous cycle of falling foot traffic, declining comparable-store sales, and increasing store closures. Over 8,600 retail stores could close this year in the US — more than the previous two years combined, brokerage firm Credit Suisse said in a recent report. Meanwhile, e-commerce pureplays are riding the rise of digital commerce to success — none more so than Amazon, which accounted for 53% of online sales growth in the US last year, according to Slice Intelligence.

Jonathan Camhi, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has laid out the case for why retailers must transition to an omnichannel fulfillment model, and the challenges complicating that transition for most companies. This omnichannel fulfillment report also detail the benefits and difficulties involved with specific omnichannel fulfillment services like click-and-collect, ship-to-store, and ship-from-store, providing examples of retailers that have experienced success and struggles with these methods. Lastly, it walks through the steps retailers need to take to optimize omnichannel fulfillment for lower costs and faster delivery times.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

Brick-and-mortar retailers must cut delivery times and costs to meet online shoppers’ expectations of free and fast shipping.
Omnichannel fulfillment services can help retailers achieve that goal while also keeping their stores relevant.
However, few retailers have mastered these services, which has led to increasing shipping costs eating into their profit margins.
In order to optimize costs and realize the full benefits of these omnichannel services, retailers must undertake costly and time-consuming transformations of their logistics, inventory, and store systems and operations.

In full, the report:

Details the benefits of omnichannel services like click-and-collect and ship-from-store, including lowering delivery times and costs, and driving in-store traffic and sales.
Provides examples of the successes and struggles various retailers have experienced with omnichannel delivery.
Explains why retailers are having trouble managing costs with their omnichannel fulfillment efforts, which are eating into their profits.
Lays out what steps retailers need to take to optimize costs for their omnichannel operations by placing inventory where it best meets customer demand.

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