BENTONVILLE, AR – The battle for grocery domination rages on with Walmart ramping up efforts to stay on the top of its game with new inventory plans. On Tuesday, Walmart announced it will share more data with suppliers in order to replenish out-of-stock items faster and expects suppliers to deliver goods on time at higher frequencies.

“We have reduced inventory in stores in order to have the right amount of stock and have made significant progress in the past few years,” said Steve Bratspies, Chief Merchandizing Officer, according to a Reuters report. “We want to focus on improving that even more.”

Once only accessible within the company, Walmart now plans to share its On Shelf Customer Availability (OSCA) data at the Supplier Growth Forum, a two-day event held this week at Walmart headquarters.

The retailer also is bolstering its inventory goals by increasing order delivery demands after it announced last year that it wanted orders delivered on time 95 percent of the time in an effort to add $1 billion to revenue and improve produce availability at stores. Starting in April, according to Reuters, Walmart will now require large suppliers to deliver full orders within a specified delivery window 85 percent of the time, previously 75 percent, while smaller suppliers will move to 50 percent of the time, previously 33 percent. All suppliers will face a fine if not fulfilled.

Will Walmart’s stricter inventory plans keep the grocer ahead of competitors? AndNowUKnow will continue to report on the latest.

Walmart