Inventory isn’t just stuff on a shelf. It’s capital, cash flow—and often the thin line between winning and losing in eCommerce.

A 2024 Harvard Business Review analysis pegs the global cost of stock-outs at nearly $1 trillion per year. At the same time, Unleashed’s 2024 benchmark finds that 58 % of retail and D2C brands operate with inventory accuracy below 80 %. Add Vietnam’s own e-commerce boom—projected to hit ₫387.5 trillion ($15.2 billion) in platform GMV by 2025—and the stakes are painfully clear.

Poor stock control ties up capital, bloats warehousing costs, and leaves customers staring at “Out of Stock” notices. That’s why Opollo’s Inventory Management System (IMS) exists: to turn every SKU in your warehouse into a fast, data-driven profit engine.

Why Inventory Management Matters

Inventory is the largest line item on most retailers’ balance sheets, making Days Inventory Outstanding (DIO) a mission-critical metric. When stock piles up, cash sits idle and holding costs—rent, insurance, obsolescence—balloon. When stock runs short, customers leave. In fact, Zebra’s 2024 industry survey shows that 41 % of store employees cite out-of-stocks as their #1 customer complaint.Zebra Technologies

Common pain points in businesses that still juggle spreadsheets or siloed ERP modules include:

• Inconsistent inventory data across online marketplaces and offline stores.

• Forecasting blind spots—no granular view of seasonality or campaign spikes.

• Shrinkage and human error from duplicate data entry and fragmented workflows.

Fixing these gaps isn’t just an ops exercise; it’s a profit play. Deloitte notes that optimising safety-stock and forecast accuracy is now a top lever for freeing working capital and absorbing supply-chain shocks.

What Is Opollo Inventory Management?

Opollo IMS is a cloud-native platform that delivers real-time, single-pane-of-glass visibility across every warehouse, fulfillment centre, physical shop, and online channel you sell on—Shopee, Lazada, TikTok Shop, website, even B2B portals. Whether you carry 500 or 50 000 SKUs, the system keeps every count, transfer, and reorder point in sync so operations never miss a beat.

Key Features

1. Real-Time Multi-Channel Sync

   Opollo syncs inventory across all your sales platforms—Shopee, Lazada, TikTok Shop, website, and more. When a sale happens on one channel, stock levels are instantly updated everywhere else. This reduces overselling, stockouts, and customer dissatisfaction.

2. Smart Reorder Pointsc

   Using historical sales data and seasonal trends, Opollo suggests optimal reorder points so you can restock on time—neither too early, nor too late.

3. Centralized Stock Visibility

   You can track stock availability across warehouses, fulfillment centers, or stores in one single dashboard. This allows for better inventory allocation and warehouse space optimization.

4. Batch & Expiry Tracking

   For businesses dealing with perishable or batch-controlled products, Opollo supports batch numbers and expiry tracking, reducing the risk of dead stock or compliance issues.

Business Benefits

• 20–30 % Fewer Stock-Outs

  By synchronising inventory across channels within seconds, retailers typically cut lost-sale events by a third—right in line with HBR’s “best-in-class” benchmark.

• Up to 25 % Lower Holding Costs

  Dynamic reorder points keep just the right amount of stock on hand, freeing warehouse space and trimming carrying costs that Deloitte pegs at 20–30 % of inventory value.

• Faster Inventory Turnover

  Clients often see Days Inventory Outstanding fall by 10-15 %, unlocking working capital for marketing or new product lines.

• Happier Customers, Stickier Revenue

  When items are always available and ship fast, customers come back. Retail Dive notes that nearly one-third of shoppers will abandon a purchase—or switch retailers—if an item is unavailable.

Seamless Integration with OMS & WMS

Opollo IMS plugs natively into Opollo OMS and Opollo WMS(or any third-party system via RESTful API), creating an end-to-end supply-chain brain. Promotions, pick waves, and courier labels all reference the same live inventory pool, so:

• Marketing can launch flash sales without overselling.

• Warehouse teams pick only confirmed, in-stock SKUs.

• Finance sees accurate Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) in real time.

Who Should Use Opollo?

Omnichannel brands balancing Shopee, Lazada, TikTok Shop, and physical stores.

• Distributors managing multi-warehouse networks nationwide.

• Fast-growing D2C labels scaling from hundreds to thousands of daily orders.

• Regulated industries—cosmetics, supplements, FMCG—where batch & expiry tracking is non-negotiable.

If your ops team spends more time firefighting spreadsheets than scaling sales, you’ll feel the difference in month one.
Book a demo to crunch your own numbers.

References

• [1] Harvard Business Review, “How Online Retailers Can Avoid Costly Out-of-Stock Issues,” Oct 2024. Harvard Business Review
• [2] Unleashed Software, “Inventory Management Statistics & Benchmarks 2024,” Nov 2024. Unleashed
• [3] VnEconomy, “Vietnam’s e-Commerce Market: Potential in Place,” Apr 2025. Vietnam Economic Times | VnEconomy
• [4] Retail Dive (Numerator survey), “27 % of Shoppers Will Switch Retailers if Items Are Unavailable,” Nov 2024. Retail News and Trends | Retail Dive
• [5] Deloitte Insights, “Making Working Capital Work Smarter,” Jan 2024. WSJ
• [6]Zebra Technologies, “Out-of-Stocks: A Hidden Crisis in Retail,” Aug 2024. Zebra Technologies