Microsoft Fabric Retail Analytics: Real-Time 360 Degree Inventory Case Study

A prominent multi-channel jewellery retailer was losing sales and customer trust because inventory data was fragmented across stores, distribution centre, and online platform. Online showed items in-stock that were unavailable; overstock accumulated in low-demand locations while trending items were absent where demand was highest. Numlytics built a complete Microsoft Fabric retail analytics solution on OneLake, delivering real-time inventory management Power BI visibility across all channels and eliminating the stockout problem entirely.

The Challenge: Fragmented Inventory Across Channels

Without omnichannel inventory analytics, the retailer had no way to see the true inventory picture. Each channel including stores, distribution centre, and online platform ran on separate systems with no unified view, creating a cascade of operational problems.

• Inaccurate online inventory: Website showed items as in-stock that were unavailable at stores or the distribution centre, eroding customer trust with every failed order.
• Overstock in wrong locations: Inventory accumulated in low-performing stores while high-demand locations ran out, with no omnichannel analytics to redistribute stock where it was needed.
• Manual, delayed transfers: Store-to-store and DC-to-store stock movements were manually requested, processed, and fulfilled, often too late to capture demand.
• No fulfilment flexibility: Online orders could not be fulfilled from stores when DC stock ran out, resulting in missed sales and disappointed customers.

The Numlytics Solution: Microsoft Fabric OneLake Retail Analytics

Numlytics designed a three-component Microsoft Fabric retail analytics solution on OneLake, unifying all channel data into a single lake, building intelligent allocation and transfer models, and enabling dynamic omnichannel fulfilment.

1. 01
   Microsoft Fabric OneLake Integration

   Numlytics integrated POS systems, e-commerce platform, ERP, and distribution centre into Microsoft Fabric's OneLake using Azure Data Factory pipelines. This created the first-ever unified data foundation for real-time inventory management Power BI across all channels, giving the business a single source of truth for every SKU at every location.

2. 02
   Intelligent Inventory Allocation

   Data models built to recommend dynamic transfers between DC and stores based on demand velocity, sell-through rate, and days-of-cover. At-risk items, both overstock and potential stockouts, are highlighted in Power BI with automated alerts to merchandisers. This enables proactive retail inventory intelligence management before problems affect sales.

3. 03
   Dynamic Omnichannel Fulfilment

   Numlytics enabled fulfilment logic that routes online orders to stores when DC stock is unavailable, turning stores into fulfilment nodes. Delivery performance, returns, and cancellations are tracked continuously to improve service levels across all channels.

The Results

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