Inventory management plays a pivotal role, especially for small-scale businesses. It costs a significant amount of money to maintain a warehouse, and there is always the risk of your product becoming damaged or obsolete. Getting your inventory right is the key to save money. Here are a few valuable tips to grow your e-commerce business with effective management.
Have A Centralized System
Irrespective of your budget and the amount of product you carry, there’s always a software solution for inventory management. Almost all companies are using some types of warehouse management systems. Gone are the days when people used to make Excel sheets work for them. It’s time-consuming and vulnerable to errors. You need something more sophisticated to manage your inventory. Ideal inventory software has the following features:
- It provides you with real-time tracking of inventory and sales in one place.
- It helps you in collecting data regarding the in-demand products, and the ones which are lagging behind.
- Messaging alerts when the inventory is low
- Generating purchase reports to manage data.
- Helping with order fulfillment.
- Creating gift cards and promotions
Flexibility is offered by cloud-based inventory management software since everything is automatically updated. You can access your data from any part of the world.
Drop-Shipping
Given the meteoric rise of e-commerce sales, there will be a lot of goods for packaging and shipping in the near future. As a fulfillment solution, most businesses are considering drop shipping. Based on what you are selling, you can avail benefits when you tap on external suppliers. You can offer a large variety of goods, without any hassle of packaging or shipping, while also saving money on inventory. This can also be used for market research. Say, for example, you can use an external supplier to know popular products, and then warehouse them on your own.
Forecasting Your Inventory Requirements
In order to understand product turnaround, it is important to manage your inventory carefully. Depending on the season, you need to figure out the ones selling like hotcakes at a particular time of the year. If you have the right kind of data, along with predictable patterns, you can easily plan ahead for your inventory requirements.
Having Alternative Suppliers
A good supplier will always provide you with high-quality products, knowledge of important trends, and consistent delivery. However, you should always have alternative suppliers, just in case something unexpected happens. You never know what kind of dire circumstances can happen if you only rely on a single supplier. The most critical part of running a business is a smooth supply chain management. If you don’t get the goods you require, you will have nothing to sell.
Have A Specific Department Or A Single Person Taking The Charge
You need someone in your organization to take the matters completely in their hands. Some companies prefer having a stock manager who can estimate both supply and demand, followed by placing orders accordingly. You can also outsource the details if you have a huge inventory. An inventory consultant may give you valuable insights into the bigger picture.
