Supply chain leaders know volatility all too well. For years, unpredictable shifts, whether from tariffs, global events, or market swings, have tested the resilience of small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The difference between businesses that thrive and those that scramble comes down to a single factor: how they respond when the rules suddenly change. The 2025 Netstock Benchmark report tells a new kind of story – one about how SMBs are becoming more preparation, adapting, and highlighting the strategies they use to face whatever disruption comes next.
Best Vinyl, a wholesale distributor operating in fast-moving markets, faced extreme demand volatility during COVID-19. Instead of overcorrecting with excess inventory, this Netstock customer changed how it planned, prioritized, and acted on inventory decisions. That shift resulted in a 50% reduction in inventory value, better visibility across the business, and stronger confidence in daily decision-making.
This is not a story about perfect forecasting that helped businesses sustain and scale operations in the past. It’s a story about revisiting these lessons to build an inventory strategy that still works today, even as conditions remain uncertain for many.
Key takeaways for supply chain leaders
- If businesses want to sustain operations or grow amid volatility, they need better planning, not blanket inventory buffers.
- ERP systems provide the foundation for many SMBs, but optimized planning requires additional intelligence in the form of purpose-built solutions.
- Safety stock decisions must reflect variability, not averages.
- Visibility only matters when it leads to clear action. Otherwise, it’s just data.
Volatile demand then and now: Why this customer story still matters
During COVID, demand patterns changed overnight. Forecasts became unreliable, supplier lead times stretched, and spreadsheet-based planning quickly broke down. Many businesses responded by rapidly increasing inventory levels to protect service.
Today’s challenges look different, but the pressure remains the same. Tariffs, supplier instability, regional disruptions, and unpredictable customer behavior continue to complicate planning. Industry benchmarks show that excess inventory remains one of the most persistent problems, with 55% of SMBs holding at least 20% excess stock, an increase from 48% in 2024, according to recent supply chain data.
Best Vinyl’s experience remains relevant because it shows another path forward. Rather than relying on excess stock as a safety net, the business adopted a structured planning approach that reduced inventory while maintaining service. While many businesses continued to struggle with overstocking today, Best Vinyl had already proven that volatility does not have to lead to bloated inventory positions.
The challenge: Growing demand, longer lead times, and spreadsheet planning
Before changing its planning approach, Best Vinyl relied heavily on spreadsheets to manage inventory. Like many growing distributors, this approach worked until complexity increased.
As demand rose and lead times became less predictable, spreadsheet-based planning created several risks:
- Limited visibility across SKUs and locations
- Manual forecasts that could not keep pace with change
- No clear way to prioritize which items require attention
- Higher exposure to both stock-outs and excess inventory
The challenge was not a lack of effort or experience. It was scale. Spreadsheet planning couldn’t support the level of complexity Best Vinyl faced. Even with a strong transactional foundation in Acumatica, the team lacked the planning structure needed to make confident, forward-looking decisions.
When Acumatica users commonly reach a planning limit
Acumatica provides a solid ERP foundation. It supports transaction management, inventory visibility, and operational control. For many businesses, it performs these functions very well.
However, volatility often exposes a gap between execution and planning. Transactional data shows what has already happened. It doesn’t explain how demand variability, lead-time risk, or changing conditions should influence future decisions.
This is not a limitation unique to Acumatica. It is a natural boundary of ERP systems. They are designed to record and execute, not to continuously adapt inventory strategy.
The turning point: Moving from spreadsheets to a structured inventory strategy
Best Vinyl reached a point where reacting faster was no longer enough. The team needed a consistent inventory strategy to understand volatility, set priorities, and plan inventory.
They adopted Netstock to turn ERP data into clear planning signals. The change wasn’t about adding more reports. It was about improving decision quality.
With structured planning in place, Best Vinyl gained:
- Centralized visibility across inventory and demand
- Automated recommendations based on variability
- Clear prioritization of high-risk and high-impact SKUs
- Better understanding of trade-offs before acting
How Best Vinyl optimized safety stock without sacrificing customer service
Reducing inventory during volatile demand carries real risk if done without structure. Best Vinyl avoided that risk by taking a targeted approach to safety stock.
Instead of cutting inventory broadly, the team focused on:
- Identifying which SKUs truly required protection
- Adjusting safety stock based on demand and lead-time variability
- Improving reorder logic to avoid overcorrection
- Protecting service levels while reducing overall exposure
This approach allowed Best Vinyl to reduce excess inventory without increasing stock-outs. Inventory decisions were based on risk and variability, not static rules or historical averages.
This is a practical example of how inventory strategies for volatile demand can improve performance when planning is grounded in real operating conditions.
Results that matter: 50% inventory reduction with strong service levels
The results were clear and sustained. Best Vinyl reduced its total inventory value by 50%, freeing up working capital while maintaining service performance.
More importantly, the improvement wasn’t temporary. The business established a planning framework that continued to support confident decision-making as conditions changed.
What today’s supply chain leaders can learn from Best Vinyl
Best Vinyl’s experience offers several lessons for leaders facing ongoing uncertainty.
- Volatility should be planned for, not blindly absorbed with excess stock.
Holding extra inventory is expensive and often ineffective. Structured planning reduces risk more reliably. If you need to hold excess, it should be strategic safety stock. - Safety stock must reflect variability.
Static rules don’t account for changing demand and lead times. Safety stock should adjust as conditions change across the board, for different customer groups, and for specific SKUs and product lines. - Visibility improves decisions, not just reporting.
Clear signals help teams align around priorities and trade-offs. Having accessible, easy-to-digest data on your side strengthens inventory strategies for volatile demand.
Applying these strategies with Netstock and Acumatica
For Acumatica users, Best Vinyl’s story highlights the value of pairing a strong ERP foundation with specialized inventory planning.
Netstock and Acumatica are better together. When paired, Netstock works to:
- Translate ERP data into forward-looking planning signals
- Support variability-aware forecasting and safety stock decisions
- Help teams prioritize actions instead of manually analyzing data
Best Vinyl isn’t an outlier. Many Acumatica users apply the same approach to reduce excess inventory, protect service levels, and plan more confidently through volatility.
From past volatility to future resilience
Volatility is now a constant operating condition. Best Vinyl’s experience shows that the right inventory strategy does more than reduce risk during a once-in-a-lifetime global event. It creates long-term resilience, ready to face whatever the future brings.
By moving beyond spreadsheets and adopting structured planning, supply chain leaders can make decisions with clarity even when conditions remain uncertain.
