库存单位增殖 SKU proliferation

「释义」

库存单位增殖是指零售商或分销商增加向客户提供的产品（SKU）数量的过程。

随着更了解客户的需求并量身定制产品以满足这些需求，每项业务都会经历库存单位增殖。

「应用场景」

疫情期间，很多产品类别需求激增，制造商很难从为一个细分市场供货跃迁到另一个，或者从生产一种产品变为生产另一种。美国食品市场的案例就是这样，企业很难适应餐饮业需求骤降，消费者需求倍增。部分原因是库存单位增殖——供应不同细分市场的同种产品的不同形式增加。例如，企业无法满足超市卫生纸增长的需求，是因为制造商必须对调生产线，因为消费者更喜欢柔软多层的卫生纸，而不是酒店和办公室采购的更大卷更薄的卫生纸。加上不同零售商希望有不同包装和组合，这更增加了复杂性。

During the pandemic, when demand surged in many product categories, manufacturers struggled to shift from supplying one market segment to supplying another, or from making one kind of product to making another. A case in point is the U.S. groceries market, where companies had difficulty adjusting to the plunge in demand from restaurants and cafeterias and the rise in consumer demand. SKU proliferation—the addition of different forms of the same product to serve different market segments—was partly responsible. For example, one obstacle to meeting heightened demand for toilet paper at supermarkets was that manufacturers had to change over their production lines, because consumers prefer soft multi-ply rolls rather than the thinner toilet paper that many hotels and offices purchased in much larger rolls. Adding to the complexity, different retail chains wanted their own packaging and assortments.

以上文字选自《哈佛商业评论》中文版2020年9月刊《后疫情时代的全球供应链》

史兆威（Willy C. Shih）丨文

马冰仑 丨编辑