Retail Company Inventory Management System Optimization

Retail trade plays a huge role both on the scale of the economy of the whole country and in the life of an average citizen. The main service provided to customers by any retail store is to satisfy their needs in sufficient quantity and quality of the offered product. It is obvious that continuous trading process is impossible without inventories, in the creation of which companies are forced to invest most of their financial resources. The relevance of this work is that inventory management directly affects the financial performance and competitiveness of enterprises engaged in retail sales. The object of the research is the Russian retail company Lenta Ltd. and the subject is its inventory management system. The purpose of this work is to propose a method for optimizing the inventory management system of Lenta Ltd. In order to achieve the goal, the theoretical base for managing the inventory of the retail trade enterprise was studied, the financial and economic activities of Lenta Ltd. were analyzed, ABC and XYZ analyzes of its inventories were conducted. The trading assortment of functional nutrition subgroup “Dietary goods” expansion was suggested because each product contributes to the profitability of trading activities. That is why the more carefully thought out the assortment of the trading set is the more profit the company gets. Next step was studying the sports nutrition market, selecting potential suppliers of new products and the most optimal inventory management system for them. Finally, analysis of the optimization results was carried out. The scientific significance of this work is connected with studying numerous sources devoted to inventory management at a retail outlet and the systematization of information received. The practical significance of the current study is that the considered method of optimizing the inventory management system can be applied in the practice of the logistics and procurement department of Lenta Ltd. Key words: retail, inventory, inventory management system.