GreenGrocer's Inventory Management Using Spreadsheets

GreenGrocer is a small but thriving grocery store specializing in organic and locally$-$sourced produce. Historically, the store maintained its inventory through a manual ledger system, which led to frequent inaccuracies in stock levels, resulting in either overstocking or stockouts.

GreenGrocer faced two primary issues:

Inefficient inventory tracking leading to financial losses.

Difficulty in predicting inventory needs, impacting customer satisfaction.

To address these issues, GreenGrocer implemented a spreadsheet$-$based inventory management system. Key features of the system included:

A real$-$time inventory tracker.

Historical data analysis for demand prediction.

Automated alerts for low$-$stock items.

Three months after implementation, the store manager noticed discrepancies between the spreadsheet data and the actual stock levels of certain items. This raised concerns about the accuracy and reliability of the new system.

How might inaccuracies in the spreadsheet data arise, and what steps can GreenGrocer take to ensure data integrity?

What factors could contribute to the discrepancies between the spreadsheet data and actual stock levels? How can the reliability of the system be improved?

Considering historical data is used for demand prediction, how could seasonality and local events affect inventory needs? How should the spreadsheet account for these variables?