Whether you’re running a brick-and-mortar store or an online shop, inventory management is one of the most important parts of your business. Your supply chain is directly related to your customer’s experience and customer service. Delays in filling orders can impact your customers’ satisfaction with their purchases and their future buying decisions.
Inventory problems are common in retail businesses, but they can be avoided. If you’re experiencing any of these issues, it’s time to take inventory of your inventory system.
- Overstocked Products :
Inventory control starts with knowing what you have on hand at all times. Running out of an item should never happen if you’re keeping track of your inventory on a regular basis. If you do run out of stock, it’s essential that you carry adequate emergency inventory on hand to meet customer demand until additional supplies arrive.
How to get rid of Overstocked Product:
First, you need to find out exactly what kind of overstock items you have. Depending on the type of product, there are several ways to do this. Are they seasonal products? How old are they? Have you changed your packaging recently? Are they a different size than the last time you had them in stock? Once you know this information, you can start thinking about how to get rid of over stocked products.
Overstocking can be a very costly mistake, which is why it is important to understand how it works and how to avoid it.
- Stock rotation :
When you have merchandise that isn’t selling well, it’s tempting to just leave it on the shelf and hope it sells eventually. However, this practice can lead to selling products that are damaged or outdated, which is bad for business and reputation. In fact, keeping track of your stock rotation goes hand in hand with monitoring market trends for better inventory management.
How to get rid of Stock Rotation:
In our experience, the most popular method to get rid of (or at least minimize) stock rotation when using an ERP system. Given all factors must be taken into account and implemented, this is a gradual process. Our recommendation is to first get familiar with the functionality of your ERP and how it interacts with your warehouse management solution.
Once this is done and you’ve acquired the knowledge to effectively manage these solutions, it should allow you to start checking off KPI’s one by one. This may mean that some KPIs can only be met for certain products if you are able to implement them entirely across the line. And that’s OK! This can be a good goal to shoot for and will serve as a stepping stone towards getting entirely rid of stock management rotation one product at a time.
- Poor Asset Management:
Poor asset management can lead to expensive mistakes for your business. For example, if you’re receiving shipments of multiple items in each box and not recording which item comes from which box or where it goes after it’s unloaded, you could end up with extra supplies or products that are no longer needed due to expired expiration dates or other factors.
How to get rid of Poor Asset Management:
Getting rid of poor asset management can require a lot of work and effort on your behalf. You may find that you have to refine the way you work and update your current processes, but it is well worth the time and effort invested if you want to create professional art for your audience!
Conclusion
These common inventory issues are correctable, and there are solutions in place to alleviate these concerns. The first step to fixing your inventory problems is to identify them and assess the true problem. If you have experienced a loss in sales and believe you need to reduce your prices, take the time to consider whether or not it is really your pricing that needs to be changed or if there is another underlying issue causing negative sales numbers.Ineffective inventory management can also lead to unexpected costs, such as unsold products and restocking fees so it better to be sorted at the earliest.
