Vita Coco Real-Time Stockout Visibility System
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Context
Vita Coco, a leading natural beverage brand, lacked real-time visibility into Target retail stockouts. Manual checks and screenshots slowed reporting and left finance teams reactive. Without APIs or modern infrastructure, even brief shelf gaps led to revenue loss and inventory risk.
The company needed a scalable solution to monitor inventory status across their entire Target retail footprint—over 900 stores nationwide—without relying on fragmented, manual processes. [END OF SECTION]
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Challenge
Vita Coco’s retail teams had no scalable system for tracking stockouts at Target. The key challenges included:
- No automated monitoring: Manual checks and screenshots created gaps in visibility
- Delayed replenishment cycles: Lack of real-time data caused delayed responses to out-of-stock situations
- Revenue exposure: The business was exposed to avoidable revenue loss from empty shelves
- Reactive decision-making: Operational decisions were based on incomplete and inconsistent data
- Legacy system constraints: Without APIs or modern infrastructure, integration was complex [END OF SECTION]
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Solution
Brainforge built a real-time stock monitoring system—extracting daily data from all Target stores using cloud automation and integrating seamlessly with legacy systems.
Key Components
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Browser-based stock data extraction: Automated web scraping using Browserbase and Firecrawl to pull inventory data directly from Target’s retailer portal
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Cloud orchestration at national scale: Zapier and Relevance AI workflows coordinated data collection across 900+ store locations daily
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Seamless SQL Server integration: Direct connection to Vita Coco’s existing SQL Server infrastructure for immediate data availability to finance and operations teams
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AI-powered data processing: OpenAI integration for intelligent data parsing and anomaly detection
Technologies Used
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Browserbase | Browser automation for web data extraction |
| Zapier | Workflow automation and orchestration |
| Relevance AI | AI agent coordination |
| OpenAI | Intelligent data processing |
| Firecrawl | Web scraping and data extraction |
| SQL Server | Legacy system integration |
Tool logos shown: Browserbase, Zapier, Relevance AI, OpenAI, Firecrawl [END OF SECTION]
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Results
After approximately 2 months of implementation, Vita Coco achieved significant operational improvements:
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Inventory data delivery | <5 minutes |
| Stores monitored daily | 900+ |
| Coverage & accuracy | >90% |
Business Impact
Vita Coco shifted from fragmented, manual stockout tracking to a fully automated, real-time system. Key outcomes include:
- Faster decision-making: Inventory gaps across 900+ Target stores are now detected daily, enabling proactive responses
- Stronger shelf presence: Real-time alerts allow rapid replenishment coordination
- Measurable revenue protection: Reduced lost sales from out-of-stock situations
- Operational efficiency: Finance and retail operations teams now have immediate access to accurate inventory data
The system transformed Vita Coco’s retail operations from reactive to proactive, providing the visibility needed to protect revenue and maintain strong shelf presence at Target stores nationwide. [END OF SECTION]
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Project Team
- Project Manager — Project coordination and stakeholder management
- AI Engineer — Browser automation and data extraction implementation
- AI Engineer — Cloud orchestration and system integration [END OF SECTION]