I agree that the efficiencies have reduced the excess inventory throughout the system. But there is a lot of BS in this article. If the mom and pop stores have more excess it’s because they have minimums that they need to make, therefor more time between orders and more back stock.
Grocery stores in big cities carry little inventory mostly because they do not have the space. If they miss a day of deliveries they are out of stock on critical items. Now go the other way and shut the city down for a day and they will have no room to put their deliveries.
Distance from the distribution center has little bearing on instock situations.
People need to stop hoarding.
I worked on a project a few years back in the NYC area. One major grocery chain had just opened a store in Manhattan that was the first of its kind for that chain: It had no storage capacity on site at all. They implemented a "truck-to-shelf" inventory model where everything that was delivered to the store went right on a shelf and was ready for sale.
If you want to hear a startling figure, think of this: At the time we did this project, they calculated that the retail stores on the island of Manhattan have an inventory of dairy products that is depleted -- on average -- every SEVEN HOURS. That's a staggering number that shows how fine-tuned the supply chains are in areas where real estate costs are high.
You need not explain wholesale distribution to me. I live it for 35 years. I know the history and the players.