A Small Business’s Guide to Manage Their Inventory Better

If in case, you happen to run a small business, you know how many important things are there to take care of. Streamlined inventory management is one of the crucial tasks you can’t afford to miss! With the retail industry rising never before, managing your inventory regularly can make a big difference in your business. Plus, you can’t also ignore the massive growth of eCommerce sales platforms. So, if you have an online store, managing your inventory is both challenging and critical.

What Is Inventory Management?

Simply put, it is the system you build to manage your stocks through the supply chain. You have to check from the raw goods to the finished goods, storing them, and selling them. It also includes tracking your company’s stocked goods, monitoring their weights, amounts, dimensions, and location. 

The primary goal of inventory management is to cut down the wastage. By keeping a track of everything, you know when it is the right time to buy new products, replenish products, or manufacture new products. It also helps you to maintain the inventory levels and cut down costs.

A Few Reasons to Manage Your Inventory Regularly

• Customer Migration

Your retail customers are notoriously impatient. If you don’t have what they want right at that moment, they will move to the next store. Therefore, the longer you have the stock of all the products that are in high demand, the more customers you will pull in.

• Managing Your Demand Fluctuations 

While your manufacturers roughly produce the same amount of goods every year, your customer’s demands keep changing with the new trends, change of seasons, festivals, financial year-endings, etc. 

So, your store needs to have the right mix of products during all the seasons to make your customers keep coming back and refer your business to their friends, relatives, and associates.

• Cut Down the Wastage 

  Despite all your hard work and efforts, some goods might expire while being on the shelves. But if you follow an excellent inventory management system, you can minimize such wastage a lot.

• Rearrange Your Wearhouse

  The space in your warehouse is limited and you are responsible for allocating it well so that all the products are kept in good condition. With hundreds of manufacturers making your products, it can be challenging to achieve an accurate product mix. 

  This is where good inventory management is highly required. Though it is not possible to precisely predict your customer’s demand, you can forecast the demand based on your current sale and be ready with reasonable stocks to offer them.

How to Manage Your Inventory Better? 

Hope you have understood the purpose of inventory management by now. It is all about ensuring that you have all the correct products in sufficient quantity available for sale. Here are a few tips for managing your inventory better:

• Using An Inventory Tracking Software

  A user-friendly, speedy inventory management system will help you keep a track of your stocks. It will offer a centralized view of all the stocks across sales channels- how many goods do you have and in which warehouse. With a single software, you can manage all your warehouses and deliveries in multiple locations.

• Closely Monitor Inventory Levels 

  Always keep your eyes open and have at least a rough idea of the type and quantity of goods available in your storeroom. Even if you use inventory management software, go out physically and check if the correct data is entered in the system.

• Classify Your Product Stock

   You need to categorize your stocks for over 6 months. If you have anything that might expire soon, sell them out by offering discounts or arranging some giveaway alerts, or other such creative methods. To make this process easier, you can use the ABC method of classification. Products that have the maximum profit margin name that category A. Categorise product B that has moderate profit margins but are sold in large quantities. Categories the products C that have low profit and low demands.

• Maintain Excellent Vendor Relations

  Identify your best vendors order from them in a bulk. You can also get amazing discounts and make way for better business opportunities for the future days. 

  Final Thoughts

  In today’s world, inventory management has become a crucial step to ensure that a business is running smoothly. As an entrepreneur, if you don’t have good control over your inventory, you might lose control of your profits.  Don’t let a poor management system or a lack of proper storing system decide your business’s future.  Invest in good inventory management software and always be ready to face the customers.