Top Logistic Challenges in Europe, And How To Solve Them
10 October 2025
Amazon Fulfillment Center BCN2 Martorelles, ES
10 October 2025
FLEX. Logistics
We provide logistics services to online retailers in Europe: Amazon FBA prep, processing FBA removal orders, forwarding to Fulfillment Centers - both FBA and Vendor shipments.
Introduction
Inventory management is one of those invisible pillars holding up the whole logistics and supply chain edifice. When it works well, you barely notice it. When it breaks, it can cause cascading problems: lost sales, frustrated customers, idle capital, waste, and more. For anyone serious about supply chain excellence, avoiding the biggest inventory missteps isn’t optional — it’s essential.
Here are seven of the most common inventory management mistakes — why they happen, what damage they cause, and how to steer clear of them.
1. Poor Demand Forecasting (or No Forecasting at All)
What usually goes wrong
Many companies rely on “gut feel,” seasonality remembered by managers, or simple moving averages without adjusting for changing trends. They ignore external factors: market shifts, competitor moves, macroeconomic changes, or even emerging customer behavior. When demand forecasts are wrong, you end up either with too much inventory (tying up cash, risk of obsolescence) or too little (lost sales, stockouts, unhappy customers).
Why it matters
- Overstocking creates carrying costs: storage, insurance, risk of obsolescence (especially for perishable or fast-fashion goods).
- Understocking leads to missed revenue, damaged reputation, unhappy clients.
- Poor forecasting makes the entire supply chain reactive rather than proactive. It enhances risk exposure to disruptions.
How to avoid it
- Use data: historical sales, seasonality, promotional events, external market indicators. Blend quantitative modelling with qualitative insights.
- Use advanced tools: forecasting software, machine learning, predictive analytics to adjust forecasts in real time.
- Keep forecasts up to date: revisit forecasts on a schedule (monthly, weekly for fast-moving items), adjust as new data arrives.
- Incorporate safety stock and buffer strategies intelligently (see “mistake #5”).
Research shows that using better demand planning tools can improve forecast reliability by 10-20%, lower inventory costs by similar margins, and improve service levels.
2. Inventory Record Inaccuracies: Misplacement, Shrinkage, and Mis-Counting
What usually goes wrong
Even if you have a good forecast, if your system says you have stock but you don’t (or vice versa), a lot of the rest falls apart. Common issues:
- Shrinkage: theft, damage, spoilage, mis-scanning.
- Misplacement: items stored in wrong bin/shelf/location and then not found when needed.
- Human error or delays in recording receipts or shipments.
- Items lost in the returns process or held in limbo.
A study of grocery retailing found that inventory record inaccuracy (IRI) is tied to higher inventory levels, frequent restocking, perishable goods, etc.
Why it matters
- Discrepancies lead to wrong decisions: ordering too much, believing you have more than you do, failing to satisfy customer orders.
- Costs associated with investigations, audits, lost business, expedited shipping to cover shortages.
- Operational chaos: delays, misallocated labor, extra checks.
How to avoid it
- Cycle counts: frequent, targeted inventory counts of subsets of SKUs rather than waiting for full annual counts.
- Use barcodes, RFID, scanning at every point of inventory movement (receiving, put-away, picking, shipping).
- Ensure clear locational organization: everything has its place, everything is labeled clearly.
- Monitor shrinkage: have policies, controls, surveillance, etc.
3. Poorly Managed Safety Stock, Buffer Stocks, or Reorder Points
What usually goes wrong
Safety stock is the cushion you maintain against demand volatility or supply lead time variability. Mistakes include:
- Setting safety stock too low (resulting in frequent stockouts) or too high (tying up capital).
- Reorder points not accounting for changing lead times or supplier reliability.
- Not distinguishing between SKUs: treating fast movers the same as slow movers, or treats high value & fragile items the same as cheap commodity stock.
Why it matters
- Underpreparedness means service failures; customers may turn elsewhere.
- Overstocking buffers means excess costs, risks of obsolescence.
- Disproportionate risk for items that are perishable, seasonal, or have rapidly changing demand.
How to avoid it
- Calculate safety stock dynamically, based on variation in demand and supply lead times.
- Use ABC/XYZ or similar segmentation: different strategies for different classes of inventory (fast vs slow movers; consistent vs seasonal demand; perishable vs durable products).
- Monitor supplier performance and lead times regularly; adjust reorder points accordingly.
- Build in review cycles: periodically re-assess safety stock and reorder point parameters.
4. Over- or Under-Stocking: Misbalancing Inventory Levels
What usually goes wrong
These are the “mirror” problems: having too much stock or too little:
- Overstocking might occur because of poor forecasting, fear of stockouts, long lead times, or simply inertia (slow to clear obsolete items).
- Understocking may stem from underestimating demand, supplier delays, cash flow constraints, or misallocation of stocks across locations.
Why it matters
- Excess stock means high storage cost, higher risk of spoilage, outdated or obsolete inventory, opportunity cost of tied capital.
- Inadequate stock means lost sales, customer dissatisfaction, expedited shipping or emergency purchasing (which costs more), and perhaps damage to brand reputation.
How to avoid it
- Use inventory-turn metrics, days of inventory on hand, and other KPIs to monitor whether stock levels are in line with business goals.
- Segment inventory by turnover, value, margin, lead time, perishability.
- Distribute inventory intelligently if you have multiple warehouses or fulfillment centers: place fast-moving items closer to demand.
- Apply lean inventory techniques: reduce waste, avoid carrying items simply “in case”.
5. Failing to Standardize Processes and Train Staff
What usually goes wrong
Even the best software or forecasting tool won’t matter if people don’t follow consistent processes, or do not understand why those processes matter. Common issues:
- Different shifts or locations doing things differently.
- Poor or irregular documentation of standard operating procedures (SOPs).
- Insufficient training, especially for new staff or when procedures / systems change.
- “Freelancing” in roles: people doing many tasks but not being expert in any, or overlapping responsibilities causing confusion.
Why it matters
- Process divergence leads to errors, inefficiency, confusion.
- Without training, staff are more likely to make mistakes (mislabel, misplace, miscount).
- Systems changes or new software can fail, or be misused, if people aren’t comfortable or confident.
How to avoid it
- Document every step of your inventory lifecycle: receiving, put-away, counting, picking, shipping, returns.
- Define roles clearly.
- Train people regularly; retrain when systems or SOPs change.
- Use checklists, peer checking, audits.
- Monitor and measure compliance.
6. Underutilizing Technology — or Using the Wrong Tools
What usually goes wrong
Often companies either rely too much on manual / spreadsheet methods, or choose software/tools that don’t scale, don’t integrate, or are underused. Some examples:
- Disconnected systems (ERP, WMS, order management) that don’t share data.
- Systems without real-time visibility.
- Legacy software or spreadsheets that are error-prone.
- Tools chosen without thinking ahead: what happens when business scales, when product mix changes, when multi-channel demand (online/offline/wholesale) increases.
Why it matters
- Manual or semi-manual work is slow, error-prone, expensive in the long run.
- Data delays or inaccuracies propagate mis-forecasts, stockouts, overstock.
- Poor integration means inefficiencies, redundancy, multiple entries of same data, more mistakes.
- Resistance to adopt technology can leave companies vulnerable to competitors who do.
How to avoid it
- Invest in good inventory management software (WMS / IMS) that offers real-time tracking, dashboards, alerts, analytics.
- Use technologies like barcode scanning, RFID, mobile scanners, IoT sensors.
- Ensure integration: all systems (sales, purchasing, warehousing, logistics) should “know” what the others know.
- Plan scalability: modular tools, flexible architecture, cloud-based if possible.
7. Neglecting Supplier Relationships, Lead Time Variability, and Backup Plans
What usually goes wrong
You aren’t always in control of everything. Suppliers fail to deliver, lead times stretch, quality falters, costs rise. Mistakes include:
- Using only one supplier for a critical item, without alternatives.
- Failing to communicate changes in demand upstream, so suppliers are caught off-guard.
- Ignoring supplier reliability when forecasting lead times.
- No contingency planning (for supply chain disruptions, delays, quality issues).
Why it matters
- Even perfect internal inventory procedures can be derailed by external supply failure.
- Longer or unpredictable lead times force bigger safety stock, increasing costs.
- Quality or delivery failures lead to delays, returns, customer dissatisfaction, extra cost.
How to avoid it
- Evaluate supplier performance: on-time delivery, quality, responsiveness. Use that data in planning.
- Maintain a network of suppliers, including backups.
- Develop strong communication channels: share forecasts, expected orders, likely changes.
- Include safety in your contracts: agreements on lead time, penalties or bonuses, clarity about lead times.
- Monitor external risks (logistics delays, geopolitical, trade shifts) and have contingency planning in place.
Real-World Illustrations: When Things Go Wrong
To make these mistakes more vivid, here are a few real-world scenarios:
- A grocery retailer with many SKUs, some perishable, discovered heavy discrepancies between what their system said and what was physically in stock. After initiating regular stock audits, they found out that perishable items and high restock frequency SKUs had the worst inaccuracies. Fixing those lifted sales significantly.
- A company relying on manual reordering and spreadsheets was plagued by both over- and under-stock situations. Transitioning to automated reorder points, mobile scanning, and better forecasting reduced their carrying costs and improved fill rate. (Multiple sources: see industry analyses)
Putting It All Together: An Inventory Management Improvement Roadmap
It’s one thing to know what can go wrong; it’s another to take systematic steps to avoid these pitfalls. Here’s a suggested roadmap for any operation aiming to tighten its inventory game):
- Baseline Audit & Data Check
— Map current inventory health: accuracy, stock dwell time, turnover, shrinkage.
— Identify where errors are maximized: which SKUs, which locations, which processes. - Standardize Processes & Roles
— Write down SOPs for every stage of inventory: from receiving goods to fulfilling returns.
— Assign ownership and accountability (who does what, who verifies what). - Deploy Technology Strategically
— Choose tools that match scale and complexity (barcoding, RFID, mobile scanning, cloud inventory visibility).
— Integrate systems (sales, procurement, warehouse, shipping) so data flows smoothly. - Improve Forecasting & Demand Planning
— Use tools that allow statistical forecasting, trend analysis, sensitivity to seasonality or external signals.
— Update forecasts often, especially for fast-moving or volatile SKUs. - Optimize Safety Stock & Reorder Policies
— Segment inventory (ABC, fast vs slow movers, perishable vs non-perishable) and set safety stock accordingly.
— Monitor supplier lead times; adjust reorder points if lead times change. - Strengthen Supplier Management & Risk Mitigation
— Build relationships, set expectations, have reliable contracts.
— Maintain backup suppliers or alternate sources.
— Be alert to external risk: shipping delays, regulatory changes, material shortages. - Training, Culture, Continual Improvement
— Train staff in all relevant processes; revisit when procedures or systems change.
— Use cycle counts, audits, regular reviews not just as compliance but as insight generators.
— Encourage feedback from warehouse floor: they often see problems early. - Monitor KPIs and Feedback Loops
— Key metrics: inventory accuracy, order fill rate, stockouts, days inventory on hand (DOH), carrying costs, shrinkage.
— Use dashboards and alerts so you see trouble before it becomes crisis.
Conclusion
Inventory management is deceptively hard. It bridges forecasting, operations, supplier dynamics, human behaviour, technology, and risk. Mistakes in any one of these domains ripple out, causing financial, reputational, and operational harm.
The path forward is clear: be intentional about where and how you forecast; invest in clean data and real-time visibility; enforce and standardize processes; adopt tools that empower staff rather than burden them; and build robust relationships with suppliers so external risks are mitigated.
Avoiding these seven big mistakes is not just about saving cost, though that’ll come — it’s also about being more responsive, predictable, trusted by customers, and resilient in the face of whatever disruptions the future brings.
