AI-Powered Inventory Optimization

CLIENT

$200M/year distribution company

INDUSTRY

B2B Distribution & Retail Supply Chain

SERVICE

AI-Powered Inventory Intelligence & Sales Enablement Platform Deployment

Overview

A $200M B2B distribution company serving the retail supplies market faced mounting operational inefficiencies as its teams struggled to keep pace with growing product volumes and shifting customer demand. Critical decisions around inventory selection, pricing, and customer targeting took days to finalize, often based on gut instinct rather than data. These delays and manual workflows led to missed revenue opportunities, inconsistent margins, and reduced agility in a competitive landscape. To overcome these hurdles, the company turned to Sphere for a solution that could bring speed, precision, and intelligence into their inventory and sales operations.

Challenges

Inefficient targeting

Accounts team struggled to match new inventory to customer preferences quickly.

Slow decision-making

2-3 days to finalize inventory selection and pricing between Buying and Accounts teams.

Lack of actionable insights

Negotiations relied on gut feeling vs. data-driven pricing, demand, or margin guidance.

Margin erosion

Manual processes led to missed opportunities for volume discounts or premium pricing.

Our Solution

Sphere deployed an AI Assistant powered by proprietary accelerator frameworks to:

  • Integrate siloed data: Unified CRM data (sales history, customer behavior) with real-time 3rd-party market trends (eBay, Amazon, competitor pricing).
  • Automate recommendations:
    • Buying Team: Received AI-driven guidance on optimal SKUs to purchase, vendor negotiation ranges, and target margins.
    • Accounts Team: AI identified high-potential customers for new inventory, ideal pricing tiers, and upsell opportunities.
  • Predictive analytics: Forecasted demand surges, price elasticity, and margin thresholds to de-risk decisions.

Key Achievements

Time savings

85% faster process (3 days → 4 hours) for inventory approval and sales targeting.
Revenue growth

18% YoY increase ($36M+) from faster inventory turnover and hyper-targeted customer outreach.
Margin expansion

10% improvement in gross margins via optimized vendor negotiations and dynamic pricing
Cost efficiency

30% reduction in operational costs tied to manual data analysis and trial-and-error processes.

Result

Within 12 months, the company achieved a 25% increase in repeat buyers through personalized inventory recommendations—driving stronger customer relationships and loyalty. Combined with faster decision cycles and margin gains, this contributed to accelerating annual revenue growth from $200M to $250M, while enabling teams to shift focus from manual coordination to strategic execution.

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Flexible, fast, and focused — Sphere solves your tech and staffing challenges as you scale.

Luke Suneja

Client Partner

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