According to a survey conducted by Kantar Retail (a London based firm) in June 2012, Wal-Mart stores were out of stock on 14% items whereas Amazon had all its items in stock.

FORBES: Amazon's Showrooming Effect And Quick Growth Threaten Wal-Mart

Friends who have been through this have told me to purchase early because the chance of the items still in-stock on move-in day is pretty slim to none.

FORBES: Back-To-School Lesson: How Showrooming Could Save Brick-And-Mortar Retailers

Mixed in with the opportunistic merchandise are 600 items that the store manager must keep always in stock, like batteries, mouthwash and cotton balls.

FORBES: Out of the Discard Bin

Business intelligence leads to better decisions, like what items to stock and in what quantity.

FORBES: Mobile: The Biggest Change To Hit Retailing In 50 Years

Thousands of orders poured in--for items out of stock.

FORBES: Entrepreneurs

In the rush among people from the region to stock up on bottled water, tissue and other items, however, total sales in that period actually rose by 20 per cent.

FORBES: Japan's Pulse Beats at 7-Eleven

Hairballs mean more inventory costs because at each geographically separate production stage a buffer stock of unfinished items is kept to cope with any disruptions in the flow from another plant.

WSJ: 3M Begins Untangling Its 'Hairballs'

The numbers also include and do not pull out charges for non-cash items like stock-based compensation, which was significant as the company did a major ramp up in growth from 600 to 5, 000 employees in 2011.

FORBES: LivingSocial Had $558M Loss In 2011, Says Amazon Filing

In the three bedroom apartment from which founder Sahil Baghla and his team run the business, they stock only 20 different items, half of which are different color t-shirts that get sent to the printer as the orders arrive.

FORBES: The Growing Pains of Indian E-Commerce: What You Need to Know