California Apparel News

Retailers and fashion brands are changing the way they manage businesses and inventory in order to reflect market adaptations in digital retail. It’s one reason the market for inventory-management software has been growing, according to a report released in June by the market-research company Global Market Insights, Inc., based in Selbyville, Del.

The software market was estimated to be $3 billion in 2019 and is forecasted to grow 5 percent annually, according to Global Market Insights. Some proof of the growth of this market can be found in the expansion of the software company Omnichain. The 2-year-old company has been on a hiring spree.

In a 12-month period, it more than doubled its employee count from 12 full-time employees to more than 30, said Neil Soni, Omnichain’s vice president of sales and business development. In late 2019, it also moved from its offices in Los Angeles’ Koreatown neighborhood into more-spacious digs measuring over 3,600 square feet in El Segundo, Calif., near Los Angeles International Airport.

In January, Omnichain introduced its Dynamic Inventory Management software, including quarterly updates to the software. The program helps automate inventory management, allowing companies to be more flexible, Soni said.

“The biggest thing with inventory is having real-time visibility and agility,” Soni said. “Visibility is hugely important—to know what is on its way, what will be there tomorrow, how you will get it to the customer, how to be more strategic with inventory.”

Managing inventory in a traditional way is holding many retailers back, Soni said. Many retailers organize inventory in separate silos for bricks-and-mortar stores and for digital shops. If retailers need to react to market changes quickly, they may be hamstrung by an old system, which could also result in inventory becoming lost.

“The software offers greater fluidity in inventory organization. Access must be available for inventory in any avenue where products are sold,” Soni said.

Changes in inventory are communicated quickly with electronic signals that tell the user if inventory is in transit, at the warehouse or at a physical store. It also has the ability to pick the most optimal inventory to fulfill the order.

In addition, the software automates data entry. There is no need for clerks to manually handle data entry, Soni said. “A lot of clerks are highly trained individuals. They can use their skills for more functions and analysis,” he said.

Dynamic Inventory Management is enabled by artificial intelligence. “The platform is constantly analyzing sales data. It is looking for where demand is stronger than anticipated. Then it sends more product,” Soni said.

He contends that the program could eventually help users save money. “If you can pinpoint accurately where demand is going to be, you don’t have to procure as much inventory.” Other Omnichain software aims to help groups increase their forecasting accuracy to hone their requirements for product manufacturing.

Along with releasing Dynamic Inventory Management, Omnichain has also received some industry honors. In March, Omnichain was named one of the 10 most-innovative logistics companies of 2020 by the publication Fast Company, specifically for Omnichain’s use of a blockchain system to help develop supply-chain management.

Blockchain is part of Omnichain’s foundation. Omnichain made its debut by offering supply-chain software informed by peer-to-peer networks of blockchain systems. Blockchain advocates believe it is one of the most-secure forms of recordkeeping. They contend that it improves communications between people working in a supply chain so fewer errors are committed.

In the near future, Omnichain is developing a sustainability angle to its organizational software. “We are homing in on how organizations, specifically in the apparel space, can help contribute to global sustainability through reducing inventory wastage, which ends up in landfills,” Soni said.

Another project on which the company is embarking is working with farms in developing areas of the world. These farms will work on the Omnichain platform, which can help introduce these farmers to United States– and European-headquartered food-and-beverage companies.

Pratik Soni, the founder, chief executive officer and cousin of Neil Soni, said that the company also is developing an authentication program that will help luxury brands trace their products from atelier to boutique, he said.

“Our innovation teams are constantly thinking and tinkering,” Pratik Soni said. “We are also blessed to work with industry-leading brands that provide us continual feedback that is directly ingested and appropriately portrayed in future product releases.”