With the ever-present online dominance of Alibaba, the eminent commencement of Amazon's South African operations, the rapid growth of the major local companies including Massmart, and retailers that are significantly increasing online sales such as Shoprite, Pick n Pay and Woolworths, Takealot is under pressure to strengthen its strategic positioning in order to consolidate its position as South Africa's largest e-talier.

Considering the above, critically discuss how Takealot, which is essentially an inventory management company, is consolidating its position as South Africa's largest e-tailer as demonstrated by the operations at the new facility in Richmond Park, Cape Town. In your discussion, highlight the central role of a DC in inventory management (inbound, stock management and outbound) as a critical and strategic decision area of Takealot's operations management.