It’s a problem that we are all too familiar with: The dreaded “Out of Stock” sign when shopping for that one specific item.
It can be a nuisance, but it can be an absolute nightmare for brands, manufacturers, and retailers. Because as much as they don’t want to oversell an item, they also don’t want to have too much of it lying around. It is a problem that advisory and think tank IHL Group calls inventory distortion…and it costs global companies upwards of $1.8 trillion.
Based on research out of Georgia Tech, Atlanta-based SaaS startup Pull Logic is looking to tackle the problem of inventory distortion to help companies reduce lost sales.
The SaaS platform gives users an exclusive inventory score they call PAR (Product Availability Readiness), which is based on an algorithm that helps predict how a SKU contributes to meeting future customer demand, co-founder and CEO Karl Swensen said.
“Think of us as a really smart brain attached to your current ordering systems to optimize inventory at all locations,” he told Hypepotamus, adding that customers have realized revenue increases of up to thirty percent and reduction of unproductive inventory up to fifty percent.
The product is designed to help physical retail chains and ecommerce distribution centers that have high value products better understand how they can meet unpredictable inventory demand. That is particularly important in our post-COVID world, where supply chain and inventory demands have changed.
“All [companies] come to realize that they need to be smarter [about] how they invest in inventory and being better to attuned and have the ability to predict consumer demand, understand demand at a very granular level of features, functions, colors, etc., as well as mimic how customers actually shop and ultimately decide what to purchase,” added Swensen.
Investors’ Pull Towards Pull Logic
The inventory management system is based on the research of Dr. Benoit Montreuil, who leads the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute at Georgia Tech. Sid Mookerji, Managing Partner and Founder of Silicon Road Ventures, heard a presentation from Montreuil at ATDC and believed the research could be commercialized.
Mookerji was the one who introduced Pull Logic’s co-founders Swensen and Taresh Grover.
Now, Mookerji and other Atlanta-based investors are backing that founding team. Pull Logic just announced it closed its seed round from Atlanta-based Silicon Road Ventures, Atlanta-based Fintech Ventures Fund, and Maryland-based Pax Momentum.
Mookerji called what Pull Logic is building the “holy grail for retailers, brands, and manufacturers” that can help them increase sales and reduce inventory costs.
Swensen told Hypepotamus that the funds will be used to further build out the platform, sales and marketing efforts, as well as into growing customer relationships.
“We believe our approach is technically superior to what’s in the marketplace, but it’s simple to understand and implement. Most large and important technology initiatives fail due to complexity or the users don’t accept them – we address both of these issues with the Pull Logic solution,” Swensen said following the seed funding announcement.
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Featured Photo from Pull Logic’s social media
