Inventory management is something which online retailers do not realize is a crucial topic until and unless they don’t lose sales due to low stock or overselling issues. Proper inventory management is a very important criterion which every online business needs to fulfill. Failing to do so can disappoint online buyers and even the online sellers have to face seller account suspensions on reputed marketplaces.
Negligence in inventory management is not at all tolerated by marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Walmart etc. If you are selling in one of these, you better reconsider your inventory management processes as that may result to losing sales or even customers!!!
Now, if you are really thinking of improvising your inventory management system and getting ahead of your competitors in terms of sales and profit, just go through below mentioned inventory management challenges and how to overcome them.
Overstocking
When you are scared of losing sales due to low stock, you overstock inventory and end up spending too much or investing your working capital in stock unnecessarily. Also, paying extra for space in warehouse and the inventory having less shelf life can get spoiled or get deteriorated. Obviously, it is very difficult spoiled inventory and you end up incurring loss. A systematic supply chain management system gives you a clear picture about which stock is in high demand and thus you can take smart decisions about which inventory to be reordered and stored.
Errors in Updating Inventory
Have you hired inventory manager to update the inventory as soon as any events like sales, return or exchange of items occur? Then, it is for sure that you have left room for mistakes and blunders. You cannot rely on manual efforts to update your inventory on real-time basis. Automated inventory management software can do that. What if an item gets sold and your inventory manager is on vacation at that time? The inventory doesn’t get updated and might be you end up selling the item which is not in stock with you physically. Implementing centralized inventory management software can eliminate such situations and help you in maintaining efficiency and accuracy in your business.
Setting Priorities
While managing inventory manually, you keep track of each product individually. So, you are putting efforts on those products also which are moving slow or not moving at all. With the help of inventory management software, you can focus on only those products which are generating high returns on investment for your business and save your time which is being utilized in not so profitable products.
Managing Spreadsheets
Managing inventory manually means lot of spreadsheets to go modify which can take away lot of your time which you can utilize in designing profitable strategies for your online retail business. Moreover, the spreadsheets can accidently be deleted means you lose all your inventory data!!! That would prove to be pretty expensive affair right? It is always better to use inventory management system which keeps track of your inventory automatically and relieves you from manual efforts which you are putting in managing and updating a spreadsheet.
Regular Backups
Now, even after using inventory management software, what happens if your computer catches fire? That would be a terrible situation for you. Choose automated inventory management software which saves the data on cloud and then you can access it from anywhere.
Be smart and find smart solution for inventory management tasks like eSellerHub’s bespoke eCommerce Solution which can make selling multiple marketplaces like Walmart, Amazon eBay etc., seamless and easy.
Well said, inventory management is really very important for any business to avoid any losses.
ReplyDeleteNice Information, Thank you for sharing. The goal of Multi channel Inventory Software is to get the most cash in on the smallest amount of investment.
ReplyDelete