twelfth · Glossary · Stock and supply
Stock transfer
A stock transfer moves existing inventory from one location to another, such as between stores or from a warehouse to a store, instead of buying more.
What it means for retail and category teams
Transfers rebalance stock that is in the wrong place: one location short while another holds more than it will sell. They are common late in a season, after a promotion, or when a store's demand drifts from its allocation. Each transfer has a cost in handling, freight and time in transit, so they are usually kept for lines where the value recovered clearly exceeds it.
Why it matters
When the units already exist in the network, a transfer is often cheaper and faster than a new order, and it can avoid a markdown at the overstocked location. It can also move a problem: if the sending location was about to sell the stock, the transfer creates a shortage there.
Illustrative example
The business and figures are illustrative, not customer data
As winter sets in, a coastal store holds 40 heaters selling 2 a week while an inland store holds 5 selling 10 a week. Moving 20 units inland covers the inland store for at least two weeks without committing to more stock, leaves the coastal store ten weeks of cover, and reduces the chance of marking heaters down there in spring.
In twelfth
In twelfth, a transfer is one of the decision types that moves through the decision pipeline. It is surfaced when one location is short while another is long on the same line, showing the recommended quantity, source, destination and the cover at each end. A person commits the move, and it waits in Pending until the transfer is booked.
Related terms
Related on twelfth.ai
- twelfth for merchandise planners
Continuous demand, cover and flow monitoring that shows where the buy plan and the actual trade have come apart.