It’s the defining moment of the year for many retailers: A few weeks in which success means it’s been a great year, and too many problems can throw annual performance off course. So what kinds of problem do retailers need to prevent?
On one level, it’s pretty simple. Don’t run out of the really popular products, on any of your channels. Don’t leave customers uncertain if they can rely on you to deliver. Don’t leave valuable inventory in the wrong place, unavailable to meet demand.
Of course, if it were as easy as that, you’d never see an empty shelf in a store during December. But why is it so hard? One reason is that retailers are missing critical links in their supply chain management, with teams doing their best to operate in tandem, but lacking the shared data and visibility that could help them to achieve those crucial goals of availability and customer confidence. That means lost revenue, lower margins, more waste, and more markdowns.
Let’s explore where those gaps in the chain are.
The problem with months-old plans
In 2025, retailers in a Deloitte survey said that they had already placed more than half of all their holiday orders by the end of May, partly to try to get ahead of trade policy changes—which looks like a pretty smart move now, considering the year of trade policy shifts we’ve seen.
That decision does come with some risk though. Consumer tastes can shift dramatically in that time, and long lead times mean that only retailers who can find the time to trial products and test the market for them well in advance of the holidays can adjust their orders in enough time to have the inventory available by the time demand peaks.
Even though one team might have incredibly useful data—let’s say an influencer campaign has sold far better than expected—the buyer who receives that data faces a battle to reshape forecasts and plans in time to adjust how much they’re going to have of that specific SKU for the holidays.
This is a classic instance where seeing the supply chain as a one-way pipeline means missing out on opportunities. Information has barriers to cross at every stage, between systems, workflows and teams, rather than being shared automatically. Before peak, you plan to have a certain amount of stock for a SKU. In the execution phase, valuable demand data surfaces, but it’s not automatically and quickly passed back up the chain to planners, to enable a rapid adjustment to account for that new data. So, your hot seller sells out quickly, and you miss out on much greater demand. At peak, time is money, and legacy siloed supply chains take too long to react.
An end-to-end connected supply chain means planners get real-time demand signals automatically, combined with full visibility of orders and lead times. This ensures that if there’s an opportunity to meet demand in the holidays, it can be quickly actioned and it doesn’t get lost in the turmoil of executing at peak.
The pitfalls of siloed inventory
Another critical missing link is the separation of e-commerce and in-store inventory. Many retailers still manage these channels as distinct business units with separate inventory pools. This creates a situation where an item can be sold out online but abundant in physical stores.
Without a single, real-time view of inventory, retailers can't react effectively. Store managers might be marking down excess stock, unaware that the same item is out-of-stock on the company's website and in high demand through that channel. This not only results in lost full-price sales but also frustrates customers who can't find the products they want. We’ve heard from retailers whose teams were calling up individual store managers to identify where they had available inventory to rebalance across their network of stores and DCs.
A single real-time source of truth about inventory means retailers can adjust their stock levels and fulfilment options intelligently across channels. It also enables powerful customer promises such as surfacing local store stock information to customers browsing online. This can be especially powerful at peak, when purchases and decisions are often time-critical.
Using inventory data and customer data to offer a personalized delivery window, plus the added offer of local stores where inventory is available right now, boosts conversion by giving them the confidence and options they need to get that perfect gift, in time for the holidays.
The returns black hole
The holiday season also brings a surge in returns. The average e-commerce returns rate can be as high as 30%-50% for apparel and footwear. When returned inventory isn't processed and made available for resale quickly, it becomes a major liability.
