How to Prevent Over-Ordering Visual Merchandising Materials
For decades, retailers have relied on a simple rule of thumb to keep stores compliant: When in doubt, send more. More marketing kits. More graphics. More signage.
It’s a well-intentioned habit, one rooted in protecting the in-store experience, but it’s also one of the most costly and wasteful parts of visual merchandising. Every extra shipment, duplicate order, and unused display adds up — in dollars, inefficiency, environmental impact, and fractured visibility across the fleet.
As retail execution becomes more complex and localized, “just send more” has turned from a safety net into a liability.
The Hidden Cost of Over-Ordering
When HQ sends excess materials, it’s not out of neglect. It’s out of uncertainty.
Without store-level visibility into what’s been received, what’s missing, or what’s damaged, over-ordering becomes the default safety measure, but that short-term fix hides long-term costs:
Financial Waste
Duplicate orders, rush freight, and redundant vendor runs can add up to thousands of dollars per campaign. These costs multiply when signage, kits, or displays aren’t reusable or standardized.
According to Sustainable Brands, the average store spends about $2,500 per year printing marketing materials — not including the hidden costs of producing, shipping, and disposing of them.
Across the U.S. retail sector’s roughly one million physical locations, that adds up to tens of millions of reprinted pieces annually, representing billions in wasted spend and materials.
Operational Disruption
When teams spend more time tracking, shipping, and reconciling orders than focusing on campaign performance, creativity, and agility take a hit. Outdated or redundant displays can also dilute brand consistency and erode customer confidence.
Environmental Impact
Extra printing, packaging, and transportation inflate a brand’s carbon footprint, which is the opposite of modern sustainability goals. Short-term displays and one-time marketing kits make recycling difficult and reuse nearly impossible, leading to more waste with every campaign.
What starts as an insurance policy against failure becomes a cycle of inefficiency that drains budgets, resources, and momentum.
Why “Just Send More” Isn’t the Answer Anymore
Retail has evolved. Stores are more localized, campaigns are more frequent, and timelines are tighter than ever, but in many organizations, ordering processes haven’t kept up.
Managing orders through spreadsheets, emails, and vendor portals leaves HQ with limited visibility and control once materials leave the warehouse. When something goes wrong, there’s no fast or coordinated way to fix it, so teams overcompensate by sending more.
Over-ordering isn’t a strategy. It’s a symptom of disconnected systems and outdated processes.
In fact, a 2023 survey of retail marketing managers found that the two biggest in-store material challenges are communication gaps between stores and HQ and differences in material needs by location.
Those problems can’t be solved by “sending more.” They can only be solved by sending smarter.
Before You Automate: 3 Quick Wins to Reduce VM Over-Ordering
A few simple steps can help HQ immediately cut waste and gain better control. These quick wins help uncover where the biggest inefficiencies hide and build the foundation for a smarter, more connected merchandise ordering process:
- Audit your current order flow: Map how many tools, emails, and vendors touch each order cycle.
- Standardize store needs: Define which materials are universal vs. localized, and track them in one platform — your single source of truth.
- Integrate data: Connect sales, inventory, and visual merchandising systems to understand which campaigns actually drive sell-through.
Once those foundational fixes are in place, the next step is scaling them and automating consistency, visibility, and speed across every campaign.
A Smarter Way to Manage Merchandising Orders
That’s why One Door built Store Order Management System (Store OMS), a connected, transparent solution that gives HQ full control without slowing stores down.
- 1-Click Store Ordering: Store teams can instantly request missing or damaged materials, eliminating the need to overstock “just in case.”
- Configurable Rules and Routing: HQ defines who can order, what can be ordered, and when, ensuring every request aligns with brand and budget.
- Real-Time Visibility: Both HQ and stores can see every order’s status, inventory level, and delivery timeline.
- Seamless API Integrations: Store OMS connects directly with existing print vendors and inventory systems, reducing manual work and improving accuracy.
- Smart Containers for Localization: Paired with One Door’s localization feature, Store OMS enables store-specific marketing kits and allocations, so each location gets exactly what it needs and nothing more.
- Data-Driven Ordering: HQ can leverage real-time data to forecast material needs before campaigns launch. Instead of ordering based on assumptions or past overages, teams can analyze historical order data, campaign schedules, and store performance to predict what each location actually requires.
With Store OMS, HQ moves from reacting to issues to proactively managing execution by sending exactly what’s needed, exactly when it’s needed.
Control, Efficiency, and Sustainability — All in One Platform
Store OMS gives retail leaders what they’ve been missing: Complete visibility and control over the merchandise order management process. Stores stay agile, and HQ stays accountable.
That balance reduces waste, accelerates campaign launches, strengthens consistency across every display, and brings sustainability goals within reach.
It’s a smarter, more sustainable way to manage visual merchandising materials, replacing the waste of “more” with the precision of insight.
Ready to Stop Guessing and Start Ordering with Confidence?
The “just send more” mindset belongs to a different retail era. Today’s visual merchandising leaders need control, visibility, and speed — not spreadsheets and surplus stock.
If you’re ready to replace reactive ordering with data-driven execution, download our Guide to Space Planning & Store Execution and discover how to connect your merchandising, ordering, and in-store visibility in one platform.
Because when you can see what’s happening in every store, you don’t need to send more. You can simply get it right.