Success in the retail business is about more than just having products that people want. Successful retailers are able move their products quickly and efficiently, whether this is direct to the customer’s door or to physical outlets to ensure shelves remain well-stocked.
In this article we will look at how modern retailers can use an Inventory Management System (IMS) to manage this process. Once a simple stock-tracking tool, the IMS has evolved into the strategic nerve centre of any retail operation, providing the data and control necessary to navigate the complexities of omni-channel commerce.
Much of the running of a retail business centres around stock keeping. Shops that succeed are those that provide goods that are in demand while not allowing unwanted products to gather dust on the shelves. This holds as true for the smallest spaza shop as it does for online retailers and multinational retail giants.
An inventory management system (IMS) is a platform or network of software and hardware tools that manage all aspects of retail management. An IMS keeps track of all goods, helping businesses maintain the right levels of stock at the right place and the right time. A modern IMS does far more than just track stock levels; it aids purchase managers in all aspects of their jobs, from alerting managers about low stock levels and creating the required purchase orders to carrying out data-driven demand forecasting.
Inventory management is strategically important for a retail business’s bottom line as it helps reduce storage costs while meeting customer demand across multiple channels and locations. By using an IMS, retail managers have a unified dashboard that allows them to monitor performance metrics, assess turnover cycles and make data-driven decisions based on consumer behaviour. An IMS also informs strategic business decisions such as pricing strategies, demand forecasting and optimising of supplier coordination.
Inventory management has undergone several technological shifts over the last 50 years, with the pace of change increasing rapidly in recent years. The first major evolution was marked by the scanning of a barcode on a pack of chewing gum in a US supermarket in 1974. Within the next few years, retailers across the world will replace their manual logs and stock sheets with barcode scanners and computerised inventory systems. These rudimentary computer systems were further developed over the course of the 1980s and 1990s, while barcode technology remained largely unchallenged.
During the same time, advances were being made with radio frequency technology. IBM even carried out a pilot test with Walmart in the early 1990s that, although abandoned, laid some of the foundations of the next evolution in inventory management. Adoption of the new technology was initially hindered by high costs and a lack of standardisation, but this began to change when several large funders and institutions supported the creation of the Auto-ID Centre. From 1999 to 2003, the Auto-ID Centre further developed and standardised the technology, paving the way for mass adoption.
Radio frequency identification (RFID) offers benefits over barcodes as it does not require direct line of sight, making it easier to track products in containers or stacked behind other products on shelves. This functionality came about at the same time as the Internet’s rapid growth and proliferation, allowing companies to track goods across multiple locations from a centralised database.
Today, retailers are taking advantage of recent advancements in machine learning and AI to further advance their inventory management. Modern retail applications incorporate IoT sensors, drone-mounted RFID scanners and cloud-based systems to further optimise supply chains.
Inventory systems that are well integrated in the supply chain help retail businesses to better service their customers. The chief benefit they provide is to avoid running out of stock of popular items and the resultant loss of potential customers. Physical stores that are part of a larger chain are also able to source stock from nearby branches or direct their customers there, rather than losing their business to another retailer.
For online stores, inventory systems can provide real-time tracking of deliveries, offering customers peace of mind and avoiding the frustration of delays and late deliveries. Retailers that can deliver quickly and reliably will be far more likely to receive repeat business than those that deliver late and with little follow-up communication.
An IMS relies on several tools to allow it to maintain real-time visibility of a retail operation’s stock across all locations. Next, we will look at the different tools that can be used to track inventory and the systems that track and present all that data.
Barcodes and RFID tags are used to label stock and keep track of the physical inventory. Barcodes are very cost-effective, but they require direct line of sight to be scanned. RFID is costlier and more advanced, but it is not limited by line of sight, allowing for much quicker scanning of larger numbers of items.
Smart shelving is the newest of these technologies and can be implemented using a variety of different sensors to detect when products are removed or added to shelves. Products can be detected using weight sensors, cameras or RFID scanners that are connected to the wider IMS system. Another feature of smart shelving is known as smart labelling or pricing. Instead of displaying product pricing on printed labels, smart shelving can use a digital display that can be quickly updated to reflect changes in supply and demand.
While barcodes, RFID tags and smart shelving track physical inventory, this information needs to be collected and stored in a central database so that it can be accessed and viewed from both centralised and localised locations. Cloud-based IMS platforms are able to pull all this data together and display it in a unified dashboard that retail managers can use to make decisions based on real-time data.
A large part of running a successful retail business involves stock management. As we mentioned earlier, the two biggest risk factors to profitability are running out of stock and carrying too much stock. Retailers need to maintain a balance between having enough stock to meet demand while avoiding overspending on excess stock that takes up valuable retail and storage space.
IMS platforms assist in maintaining an optimal balance of stock levels through automated processes based on defined rules.
Reorder points and safety stock buffers are used to avoid stock-outs. Reorder points can be automated in an IMS to trigger orders for more stock whenever a certain stock’s level drops below a specified quantity. This is done to prevent running out of popular stock items and is determined in conjunction with safety stock buffers. Safety stock is the amount of stock that is kept in reserve to protect against unexpected increases in demand as well as unplanned delays from suppliers.
While safety stock prevents running out of stock, it needs to be carefully calculated to avoid the equally harmful problem of overstocking. This is done through the complex process of forecasting future demand, which can fluctuate due to various reasons, such as seasonal demand, changes in consumer trends and wider economic conditions. While predicting the future is more art than science, IMS platforms reduce the guesswork by integrating with point of sales systems and analysing historic sales data, which we will look at next.
For an IMS to operate at its full potential, it should have access to the company’s sales data. This is done by integrating the IMS with the retailer’s point of sale (POS) software. This access to both live and historical sales figures allows the system to better predict future demand. Better demand forecasting helps retailers maintain optimal stock levels that avoid running out of stock while reducing storage costs to a safe minimum.
As discussed in the previous section, integrating an IMS with a POS system opens up more powerful functionality and helps retail managers better forecast future demand. While conventional IMS software is able to do so, this is where the lines begin to blur, and we move into the territory of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software or systems.
While an IMS is solely focused on inventory management, ERP systems are a more comprehensive solution that includes the functionality of an IMS along with several other business systems, such as accounting, human resources, customer relationship management (CRM) and additional supply chain integration.
The benefit of integrating an IMS with POS software or using a fully-fledged ERP system is that it allows retail managers to access and view all of the business’s operations in a single interface in real-time. With a unified dashboard that offers access to all the company’s sales data and inventory tracking, retail managers are able to view analytics to gain insights into the company’s stock position, margins and the performance of all stock items and suppliers.
When finance or accounting data is added to the sales and inventory mix, usually through a full ERP system, managers are able to leverage the data for other business functions that are related but not directly connected to inventory management. In addition to automating the recording of all financial transactions, the integration of finance data enables accurate working capital forecasting and better budgeting for procurement and promotions.
A retailer's inventory forms part of a larger and more complex supply chain. A modern IMS moves beyond simple stock-keeping by integrating with supplier networks and warehouse management systems. This creates a unified ecosystem where data flows freely, enabling businesses to optimise every stage of their operations and view all operations from a unified dashboard.
So far, we have talked about systems that monitor, track and analyse internal company data, however, inventory strategy can be further improved when suppliers and distributors are included in the process. The following are some of the ways that retailers can improve efficiency in collaboration with suppliers.
We have already discussed how an IMS helps prevent running out of stock through demand forecasting and automated re-ordering. This process, however, makes the assumption that suppliers will always have stock on hand and be ready to deliver as soon as an order is received, which may not always be the case.
A more robust inventory strategy should also take into account the supplier’s own stock levels. More advanced IMS and ERP systems are further integrated to provide real-time supplier stock visibility, allowing retailers to see what’s available from their vendors.
Equipped with this additional information, retailers have even more information to aid them in making data-driven decisions on when to place new orders and how much of a product to keep in stock. For example, should a retailer see that a supplier is running low on a popular product, the retailer could decide to pre-emptively order more stock than they might otherwise have thought they needed. Not only does this further reduce the risk of running out of stock, but it can also play a strategic role in disrupting the supplies of any competitors that sell the same product.
Collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR) builds on the concept of supplier stock visibility to create a two-way system that allows suppliers to proactively adjust their own stock levels based on the retailer’s expected sales. CPFR entails both suppliers and retailers sharing forecasts, demand plans and inventory data so they can jointly manage replenishment. This allows both the retailer and supplier further to optimise efficiency through reduced logistics and storage costs.
In this article, we will further explore Walmart’s Vendor-Managed Inventory Model, which utilises the CPFR concept.
Just‑in‑time (JIT) and lean inventory are two related strategies that retail businesses can use to maximise efficiency and reduce costs to a bare minimum.
As the name just-in-time suggests, the JIT philosophy involves receiving goods at the last possible moment before they are needed. This philosophy is used by retailers to reduce holding costs and waste, but it is also used by manufacturers that require various materials to manufacture their products.
The lean inventory philosophy focuses on eliminating any activity or process that does not add value, thereby stripping processes to their bare essentials. The JIT aim of reducing excess stock is an example of a lean inventory approach. Further on, we will look at Walmart, which provides an excellent case study of how these two processes can be implemented.
Demand forecasting plays an important role in inventory strategy. Retailers need to predict as accurately as possible which of their products will move fastest and how much new stock they will need to order. As we’ve covered, two of the biggest factors in lost profits are due to running out of stock or overstocking of less popular items. Demand forecasting tools look at historic sales data to pick up seasonal trends so as to allow data-driven decisions on inventory ordering rather than relying on guesswork.
Large retailers generate vast amounts of data each week and this can be used for very detailed demand forecasting across their network that considers the impact of all sorts of variables such as location, weather and special events. Some simple examples include higher sales of umbrellas or raincoats during rainy weather, higher sales of refreshments on hot days and holiday-specific influences such as higher demand for turkeys during Christmas or flowers on Valentine's Day.
Last-mile delivery is the term used for the last leg in the supply chain, usually involving transporting products from a distribution centre to the customer’s address. This important stage is usually the most expensive as it does not benefit from the economies of scale where far larger volumes are shipped from factories to distribution centres. This is even more of a factor for e-commerce stores when individual products need to be shipped directly to customers.
Inventory placement strategy entails the planning behind where products are stocked on store shelves. Products that sell best are usually those that are most visible. The most visible locations are towards the front of the store, with products being placed around eye-level on shelves. Suppliers that build good relationships with their retailers are able to secure the best positions.
Coca-Cola is a great example of a company with a strong inventory placement strategy. As we know in South Africa, we often identify corner cafes and other small shops by their Coke-branded awnings or signage. Coca-Cola takes this further by offering fridges to retailers on condition that the fridges are not used to stock competing products.
A multi-channel retail environment is one where products are sold through physical stores, online marketplaces and mobile apps. Standardisation avoids confusion and inefficiency by ensuring that product information, such as descriptions, pricing and stock counts, is consistent across all platforms.
The Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) is a global standard that is used to identify products across supply chains and between different businesses. The GTIN standard is maintained and controlled by GS1, an international non-profit organisation that was formed in 1974 when barcodes first came into use.
A GTIN is a unique 8-, 12-, 13-, or 14-digit number that serves as the globally recognised identity for a product. The 14-digit GTIN code, also known as a Unique Product Code (UPC), is the number that is embedded into most barcodes.
The GS1 maintains a database of billions of items worldwide, ensuring that a product can be consistently identified by any party in the supply chain, from manufacturers to retailers and end-users. Most major retailers and marketplaces require their suppliers to register with GS1 so that their products display a GS1-issued barcode on their packaging.
In addition to the GTIN, GS1 also provides other identifiers, such as Global Location Numbers (GLNs) for identifying locations such as warehouses and Serialised Shipping Container Codes (SSCCs) for tracking containers used to transport products.
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is a standardised, computer-to-computer method for exchanging business documents electronically. The technology behind this dates back as far as the 1940s, but it only started becoming standardised in the 1970s and reached mass adoption in the 1980s and 1990s. The system ensures all parties can read and process the exchanged documents instantly through the use of standardised formats, such as American National Standards Institute (ANSI) X12 in North America or the United Nations rules for Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport (UN/EDIFACT) that is used internationally.
Although EDI has now been eclipsed by newer technologies, it is still used by 90% of the Fortune 500 companies in the US. The benefit of EDI is that it allows for documents such as purchase orders and invoices to be shared between companies far more quickly and accurately than through manual data capture. This almost instantaneous speed and high level of accuracy mean that information can be shared with suppliers and things such as inventory counts can be done in real-time to keep inventory lists synchronised.
While EDI remains a powerful tool, modern inventory systems also rely on more flexible, web-based data formats and protocols. These data formats are shared between different systems and apps using Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that allow two systems to communicate directly with each other and share information.
Following best practices in inventory management requires a clear and consistent method of identifying all the different products that are held in stock. As we discussed earlier, different technologies and standards are best suited for identifying products at different points in the supply chain cycle.
At the internal level, most retailers and inventory systems make use of their own set of in-house stock-keeping unit (SKU) numbers or codes. An SKU number is only ever used within internal company systems and can be customised to represent a product's specific attributes, such as colour, size and brand.
Unique product codes (UPCs), on the other hand, are for external use and are primarily used for barcode scanning at the point of sale. The UPC standard dominates in the US, but in South Africa, the more common standard for barcodes is EAN 13, which is based on the European Article Number convention and is also known as an International Article Number.
Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags provide much of the same functionality as barcodes, but they are more useful for tracking large numbers of items where direct line of sight is difficult. For retailers using RFID, the recommended format is a form of serialised GTIN (SGITN) called GS1 SGTIN-96, which allows for the seamless integration of a legacy barcode system with the more advanced RFID technology.
Now that we've covered the groundwork of what an IMS can do and how it can be integrated with other systems, we will examine some practical examples of retailers that have innovated and optimised their inventory management systems to gain a competitive advantage.
Walmart, the US retail giant that took over South Africa’s Massmart holdings and owns Makro, Game, Cash & Carry and Builder’s Warehouse, has a retail network that is breathtaking in scope. Although Amazon’s first-quarter sales were higher in 2025, at the time of writing, Walmart is still the world’s largest retailer with more than 10,750 stores across 19 countries.
Despite having such a large network, Walmart is able to track all stock items in real time. To do so, it uses a system built on an open source software system called Apache Kafka that is able to capture millions of daily events across all of its stores and distribution centres.
While most inventory management systems track goods from purchase to sale, Walmart has taken it a step further by involving its suppliers in the process through its Vendor-Managed Inventory Model. This model allows Walmart’s many suppliers access to real-time sales and inventory data using a shared system called Retail Link, so that they know when and where they will need to restock products.
This shifts some of the responsibility over to suppliers. Still, by including suppliers in the full supply chain, it allows suppliers to anticipate demand for their products, avoid stock shortages and minimise shipping delays. Walmart’s vendor-managed inventory model is an example of CFPR that we spoke of earlier in this article.
Another interesting innovation that Walmart has introduced is just-in-time cross-docking, which speeds up delivery times and reduces costs. In cross-docking, suppliers’ trucks and the company’s trucks meet at the company’s warehouses or distribution centres and goods are transferred from the suppliers’ trucks directly into Walmart’s delivery trucks. This streamlines operations further as goods would otherwise be unpacked from the suppliers’ trucks and then packed into the warehouse, before being unpacked and then reloaded into Walmart’s delivery trucks.
Shopify is an e-commerce platform that provides software and systems for setting up and managing online sales. It is a popular tool used by many small and medium-sized businesses, offering solutions that are affordable to small business owners and even people setting up online shops as a side hustle. Shopify bills itself as a unified commerce system, combining sales channels, inventory management, order fulfilment and marketing into one dashboard.
Shopify offers three package tiers, with the most popular being their smallest and cheapest “Basic” package aimed at solo entrepreneurs for $25 per month, with discounts for annual upfront payments. While this offering has been stripped of many features found on the higher tiers, it includes online sellers to track inventory across 10 locations, including retail stores, warehouses and pop-up stores. All of Shopify’s plans offer a range of features, including access to a customisable analytics dashboard and financial reports.
Although Spanish retailer Zara only came to South Africa recently, it has been innovating its supply chain since the 1980s, when it introduced the concept of fast fashion. Zara’s business model is a stark contrast to the longstanding trend of outsourcing production to cheaper countries, mostly in Asia, as well as the more recent drop shipping model of Amazon. Where Zara sought to differentiate itself was by in-housing much of its manufacturing and keeping its production near its warehouses in Spain.
Its model allows it to react very quickly to changing fashion trends and new demand, being able to take a product from initial design to shop shelves within just three weeks. While most competitors update their fashion ranges only twice a year and take over nine months to get items from factories in Asia to their stores, Zara is able to update its ranges several times per year.
This fast turnaround time brought higher costs, but by creating a sense of urgency among customers, it was able to offset this, thanks to fast turnaround times on its products that allowed it to avoid costly overstocks. Unlike many other fashion retailers, it very rarely discounts any of its goods in clearance sales.
So far, we’ve looked at how large retailers have optimised their inventory management systems, but Amazon has taken supply chain logistics and inventory management to a whole new level. Amazon has evolved its inventory management beyond its own retail operations to offer access to its optimised supply chain as a service to independent sellers.
Through its Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) service, Amazon handles the entire logistics process for sellers, from receiving and storing products to picking, packing and shipping orders. Sellers send their products in bulk to Amazon’s global network of fulfilment centres. Amazon then uses predictive algorithms to determine optimal inventory placement across its distribution centres and to ensure that products are stocked close to where they are most in demand. Once a customer places an order on Amazon, the company's automated systems ship the product, provide customer service, and even process returns on the seller’s behalf.
Building on its FBA model, Amazon also offers Multi-Channel Fulfilment (MCF), a service that extends its inventory management expertise and logistics network to sellers who sell products on other platforms, such as their own websites, other e-commerce marketplaces or social media stores. Through the MCF programme, businesses can leverage Amazon's extensive fulfilment network and maintain a single pool of inventory to serve all of their sales channels, streamlining operations and reducing the risk of stockouts.
While the benefits of a modern IMS are clear, the process of implementation is not without its challenges. Next, we will look at some of the more common challenges that retailers face when dealing with inventory management. Retail business managers should know how to overcome these obstacles so they can leverage the full potential of an advanced IMS.
Many retail businesses are challenged by the use of multiple systems by different departments that do not communicate with each other. Industry analyses consistently show that many mid-sized retailers operate a complex patchwork of separate legacy software systems for inventory, sales and procurement. This leads to data silos where information cannot be easily shared and can result in operational inefficiencies that are costly to resolve.
According to research by PYMNTS Intelligence, more than half of retailers said they struggled with limited data sharing across departments. The study further found that this caused these retailers to miss out on up to 5% annual revenue growth. This lack of integration results in inaccurate stock counts, delays in order fulfilment, and poor decision-making. Overcoming this requires a significant investment in a unified platform or middleware that can connect all the disparate systems.
Older inventory systems that rely on manual data entry are very prone to human error. Mistakes made in stock counts or errors in data entry undermine the accuracy and efficiency of inventory management systems. These errors are both common and costly. According to research, human errors account for about 80% of process deviations in warehousing operations and, on average, businesses spend 20% of their operational budget on fixing these human errors.
More advanced systems and technologies, such as barcodes and RFID, reduce the frequency of these errors, but they do not eliminate them entirely. In order to minimise the disruption and harm caused by these errors, retailers should invest in staff training and carry out regular inventory audits to ensure that their data remains accurate and reliable.
The benefits of a well-integrated inventory management system are very clear, but the cost of doing so is prohibitive for many retail businesses. The cost and complexity of different commercial systems vary widely, with the average cost per user license being $175 (close to R3,000) per month, plus an additional average of $80 per month for additional customer support services. In addition to this ongoing cost, the initial set-up costs were found to range from about $789 (about R13,700) to as much as $40,000 (about R690,000).
Implementing an integrated IMS requires investments in software, hardware, training and additional set-up costs to implement the new system without interrupting business operations. This is an easier process for smaller retailers with a simple supply chain and sales network, but this can become exponentially more complicated for larger retailers with extensive distribution networks and multiple retail outlets.
Improvements in operational efficiency mean that the return on the initial investment will pay off significantly in the long run; however, the combination of upfront costs and the potential for disruptions to daily operations deters many retailers from making the change.
For much of this article, we have spoken about the benefits of IMS systems and automation to reduce errors, but human oversight remains important. Automated systems can make errors due to incorrect data or when circumstances occur that are outside of a system’s programmed parameters. Over-reliance on automation can lead to blind spots, and retail businesses still require people with expertise to troubleshoot problems or adapt to situations that the software is not equipped to handle.
To mitigate these risks, businesses should carry out regular inventory audits and train staff to ensure data accuracy and make informed decisions when a system flags an anomaly. The most resilient inventory strategies combine the speed and accuracy of software with the critical thinking and experience of human managers.
So far, we have discussed the evolution of inventory management systems that have got us to our current point, but what about the future? Next, we will look at current trends such as environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting and technological advances such as AI to see what the future holds for inventory managers.
As with many industries, the most significant advancements in the current evolution of inventory management are being driven by developments in machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). Previously, demand forecasting relied on historical sales data, but AI-powered predictive inventory systems can analyse a wider range of variables in real time. By evaluating market trends, weather patterns, local events and even social media sentiment, AI systems are able to more accurately predict demand and avoid both costly overstocking and the risk of running out of popular items.
Aside from predicting demand, AI can be used to improve efficiency in several other areas of the inventory management process. It can be used to automate purchasing decisions based on dynamically adjusted ordering thresholds. In warehouses, AI can also streamline the picking and packaging of items and spot irregularities due to theft or data entry errors.
The benefits of AI are already making an impact on IMS systems, and Gartner predicts that by 2030, half of supply chain management solutions will use AI to automate decision-making.
Blockchain technology is commonly associated with cryptocurrency, but it is proving to be a useful tool in supply chain management. Blockchain creates a secure and reliable record for transactions and the movement of goods. These records are transparent and they cannot be altered, allowing all stakeholders access to a verifiable record of a product’s journey from manufacturer to consumer.
Blockchain is especially useful in industries such as pharmaceuticals and luxury goods, where counterfeiting and fraud are common, as it provides proof of authenticity. Food retailers can also use it to provide evidence of ethical sourcing and that food safety standards have been followed throughout the supply chain.
These improvements to record keeping for companies may not sound significant, but blockchain’s potential improvements to efficiency can be staggering. A Walmart case study on blockchain for mango sales in the US reduced the time it took to trace provenance from seven days to just 2.2 seconds.
As we mentioned earlier, human errors in data entry are a common problem when carrying out inventory audits. This is becoming a problem of the past in large warehouses where a combination of Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, RFID scanners, smart shelving and drones now makes it possible to carry out autonomous inventory audits.
IoT sensors can be embedded in or attached to products and shelves to monitor a wide range of data points, including a product's location, movement and environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity. Smart shelving can also detect when products are removed or added, feeding that data into the IMS and enabling automated reordering without the need for constant human oversight.
This data can be used by autonomous systems, such as drones and robots with RFID scanners, to quickly and accurately count stock in large warehouses. A recent pilot study by Verity, Maersk and On tested the use of autonomous drones equipped with RFID scanners to enhance inventory visibility to reach what they termed “near operational omniscience”. The drones were able to navigate their way around the warehouse without oversight, scanning up to 1,000 items per second with 99.99% accuracy.
Sustainable and ethical inventory management is a growing trend that focuses on reducing a business’s environmental and social impact. Following sustainable practices can be used in environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting, which can improve its reputation with increasingly eco-conscious investors and consumers.
We’ve already discussed how supply chains seek to reduce wasteful costs by avoiding overstocking, but an IMS can also track additional environmental data, such as product origin and carbon emissions. Waste reduction is especially important in the food industry, where improvements by large retailers can have a significant impact on both their bottom line and the environment. For example, Shoprite Holdings said in its 2024 ESG report that 80,709 tons of waste were diverted from landfills during the year, while Pick n Pay’s 2024 ESG report said it diverted nearly 13,000 tons of waste that year.
If you aspire to work in retail management, consider the Tshwane University of Technology’s (TUT) three-year online Diploma in Retail Business Management. So long as you have a computer and a stable internet connection, the online format offers flexibility to study at convenient times, allowing you to balance other work and life responsibilities.
The diploma equips students with the skills and knowledge needed for a successful career in the retail industry. Students will gain a deep understanding of core business concepts, including retailing, supply chain management and consumer behaviour. The curriculum also covers important practical skills such as financial management, professional selling and contract law.
To find out more about the programme, please go to the Diploma in Retail Business Management page. From there, you can apply to start your education journey on any one of several entry dates throughout the year.