A new white paper, co-authored by Professor Alan Braithwaite, estimates that data inaccuracy among the top five retailers and their suppliers is costing as much as £1.4 billion per year – 1 percent of total revenue, and a considerably higher figure than previously estimated.

The new study was conducted by LCP Consulting and follows a recent report from GS1 U.K. and Cranfield School of Management which made a more cautious estimate of £200 million as the annual cost of inaccuracies made in retail.

By applying Six Sigma statistics to the results from GS1, LCP found that the retailer data published by GS1 showed an “extraordinary level of inaccuracy – 29,000 times worse than six sigma and suggesting that one in every 10 data elements being incorrect.”

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