Dell had the inventory problem whipped--it doesn't build anything until it has an order in hand--but its phone-based sales staff wasn't very good at selling to first-time buyers.

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The aforementioned shadow inventory poses another problem. 2.6 million units still need to go through the system to cleanse the market, which in turn has faced tougher regulation in some states.

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While it's a juggernaut, Facebook isn't immune from the problem of expanding inventory.

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However, there remains the problem of large amount of inventory remaining on the market.

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The good news is, the impact of constrained inventory will largely create the solution to the problem itself.

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In that case, if exporters are struggling to sell their products, the more apparent near-term problem is that their own high prices are making inventory clearing a distant object.

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Retailers such as Wal-Mart are testing the RF tag idea to track inventory in transit, but the high cost per tag has been a problem.

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