100% Retail Assortment
The real challenge for retailers isn’t having inventory—it’s managing channel complexity and rising member expectations by knowing, in real time, what’s available and where, so every member can shop with confidence across every touchpoint.
Managing multiple channels and rising member expectations requires more than just stocking products—it demands real-time visibility, trusted inventory data, and operational precision. The 100% Assortment Strategy met this challenge by aligning systems, data, and execution to ensure every item can be purchased, shopped, and fulfilled in the member’s channel of choice.
Delivering seamless omni-channel fulfillment requires more than just inventory—it demands an end-to-end integrated ecosystem and governance to ensure accuracy, availability, and trust.
PROJECT TYPE
DATE
The Problem
The Organization launched its 100% Assortment Strategy to ensure that every product is available for purchase and fulfillment in the member’s channel of choice—whether online or in-store. This strategy was critical to reducing lost sales and enhancing the overall member shopping experience.
However, achieving this goal required a fundamental shift in the way Retail Club managed inventory and fulfillment:
The company historically operated on a 1:Many item relationship, where a parent item had multiple UPCs.
To enable seamless fulfillment, we needed to enforce a 1:1 item relationship, modernizing 40+ systems and 86 applications while maintaining operational continuity.
This change was further complicated by FSMA dependencies, ongoing system modernization, and leadership’s firm stance on not shifting the timeline.
The Strategy
With multiple moving parts and a hard deadline, I focused on alignment, execution, and risk mitigation.
The Result
Delivered the solution into production one week ahead of schedule.
Minimal bugs, ensuring a smooth transition to the 1:1 item relationship model.
Teams successfully transitioned to the next phase of the initiative, setting the foundation for future scalability.
My Contribution
Assessed the Current State & Reframed the Approach:
Conducted a deep dive into the blockers and dependencies across teams.
Met with key stakeholders to assess gaps and risks.
Shifted teams from a project-based approach to a product-focused delivery model, improving agility and execution speed.
Drove Strategic Alignment & Execution:
Built an end-to-end item journey map, providing visibility into how products moved through the system.
Developed and presented a white paper to leadership, outlining risks, trade-offs, and recommendations.
Facilitated discovery sessions to ensure cross-functional teams understood dependencies and blockers.
Negotiated and Optimized Testing Time Without Delaying the Launch:
Aligned teams on a roadmap that balanced execution speed with quality.
Successfully negotiated additional time for UAT, ensuring business teams could validate functionality without impacting the overall timeline
