How a Retailer Increased Bakery Sales by 26% – A Practical Inventory Automation Case
Bakery products are one of the most sensitive categories in grocery retail. With a short shelf life, highly variable demand, and the need for accurate evening ordering, bakery items are especially challenging to manage.
One of our clients faced typical issues common to grocery retailers:
- Some stores didn’t receive enough fresh bread by morning, leading to lost sales.
- Other stores had too much product, resulting in increased write-offs.
- Orders were placed manually, without considering actual daily demand.
After implementing the ABM Inventory automated inventory management system, the situation changed dramatically. Bakery sales increased by 26%, and losses were reduced by 19%.
Here’s how they achieved those results.
Why is bread difficult to sell efficiently?
The bakery category has its own specific challenges:
- Bread is ordered in the evening – meaning the system must account for not only historical but also current-day demand.
- Demand changes daily – weather, holidays, or unexpected events can significantly affect foot traffic.
- Short shelf life – stockpiling is not an option, as it would lead to massive write-offs.
That’s why simple forecasting based on past periods doesn’t work — you need to analyze live, real-time data.
How ABM Inventory helped automate the process
Evening order optimization
Before implementing ABM Inventory, each store placed orders independently, relying on managers’ intuition. This often led to overordering or stockouts.
Now the system:
- Automatically considers same-day sales and adjusts order quantities based on demand
- Analyzes demand variability and adapts orders based on weekly trends
- Takes remaining shelf life into account — the system forecasts which products are likely to expire soon and calculates optimal stock levels
- Generates accurate orders with minimal overstock, reducing the risk of write-offs
Factoring in delivery slots and supplier constraints
- The system automatically takes into account not only delivery schedules but also time slots (morning, afternoon, evening) to ensure continuous availability of fresh products in stores
- Calculates optimal delivery volumes based on minimum batch sizes and supplier requirements
- Balances target product availability levels to avoid both stockouts and overstocking
CST’s role in improving the process
After ABM Inventory was implemented, the Customer Success Team (CST) saw that automated orders were working well — but there was room for even greater accuracy. They analyzed the data and suggested:
- Optimizing stock levels based on weekly demand patterns
- Configuring the inventory management algorithm to account for shelf life per delivery batch (a simplified version of batch tracking)
- Introducing automatic order adaptation based on historical anomalies, such as holidays or unusual events
Following these changes, stores began receiving exactly the right amount of product — avoiding both shortages and excess inventory.
Retailer Results
После корректировки процессов компания смогла достичь:
- +26% increase in sales — stores didn’t lose customers due to missing stock
- –19% reduction in lost revenue — customers consistently found fresh bread on the shelves
Automation reduced manual effort — orders became more accurate without human intervention
Tips for Retailers
- You can’t order bread “by gut feeling” — without automation, it’s always either waste or lost profit
- It’s essential to consider not just historical data but also current sales dynamics — that’s what makes the process truly optimized
- Ongoing support after system implementation is the key to sustainable success
Want to learn how to improve bakery management in your retail chain? Contact us for a consultation!
