LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--FabFitFun, the leading lifestyle membership for women, announced today that it has secured a patent that covers a new, advanced level of markdown and spoilage mitigation in WMS and ERP systems. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued U.S. Patent No. 11,334,846, which achieves this by incorporating an enhanced coding method that enables adding visibility and logic into existing software systems by combining both expiration dates and the time to consume a product. This technology can be licensed by third parties to enable cost savings in addition to an enhanced customer experience.
Current WMS technology uses the expiration date of an item or lot to help manage a company’s inventory, resulting in systems that would typically ship near expiring lots first. The time to consume an item is not considered, resulting in potentially sub-optimal inventory management decisions that lead to unnecessary markdowns and write-offs of inventory in stores and warehouses as well as negative customer experience and returns. According to the Food Industry Association, unsaleable goods are a $15+ billion U.S. retail challenge. Various other consumer product categories, including beauty and nutraceutical, have expiring ingredients and face the same challenges. The impact of markdowns in an effort to minimize unsaleable stock further adds to this drag on product margins.
FabFitFun’s patent is aimed at minimizing inventory markdown and write-off costs, while reducing poor customer experiences as a result of receiving expiring products that may contain partially expired portions by the time they are consumed.
Julian Van Erlach, SVP of Supply Chain and principal inventor, notes that this technology could help both WMS vendors and firms who have developed their WMS/ERP internally. From his own experience in the nutraceutical industry, he estimates meaningful marginal improvement from deployment of this technology for both B2C and retail applications. Such applications include:
- Ensuring that companies are not sending customers items whose servings partially expire during normal consumption.
- Better visibility into systems that will allow WMS managers to inform Marketing and Inventory Management when to mark down warehouse inventory when days of supply imply risk of at least partial expiration of servings, even if the items themselves are not at risk of expiration.
- Knowing which lots to send to stores with different inventory turns to avoid in-store markdowns and destruction. Current systems will send the first expiring lot to stores of vastly different inventory turns which may exacerbate the problem.
- Knowing the minimum life of acceptable lots based on servings days and inventory turns when ordering items.
FabFitFun thanks Orrick for its expert guidance in this matter.
About FabFitFun:
Founded in 2010 by Co-CEOs Daniel and Michael Broukhim and Editor-in-Chief Katie Echevarria Rosen Kitchens, FabFitFun is a lifestyle membership and shopping experience whose mission is to deliver happiness and wellbeing to everyone, everywhere. Its flagship product, the FabFitFun Box, delivers a curated collection of full-size products across beauty, fashion, fitness, wellness, home, and tech – each season. In addition to the Box, FabFitFun members receive access to year-round perks including the FabFitFun online Community, members-only shopping experiences, exclusive digital content, and more. Join FabFitFun by visiting fabfitfun.com.
