STOCKOUTS AS SYSTEMIC INDICATORS: OMNICHANNEL CONSISTENCY AND INVENTORY MANAGEMENT IN PARAGUAYAN RETAIL

Paraguayan retail is undergoing a change that goes beyond the adoption of digital channels: it extends to how companies coordinate work, share information, and make decisions. Tensions emerge when the commercial promise exceeds what operations can deliver, and they intensify when processes, systems, and decisions remain fragmented. Among the symptoms of this misalignment, stockouts stand out because they affect operational performance and erode customer trust. The conventional interpretation treats them as inventory-control failures. This study proposes an organizational and systemic perspective. Its purpose is to examine how omnichannel consistency, inventory management, and stockouts are related in Paraguayan retail, with attention to the organizational conditions that facilitate or hinder consistent execution. The study adopts a qualitative, documentary-analytical approach, complemented by professional experience in the sector. The analysis suggests that stockouts function as systemic indicators arising from three conditions: fragmented processes, inconsistent information, and decisions based on divergent objectives. Thus, omnichannel consistency does not depend exclusively on technological investment and can be understood as an emergent property of organizational coherence. The study contributes a framework that reframes stockouts as structural signals.