![]() ![]() With accurate inventory management and tracking, businesses can reap real rewards. For example, according to a survey conducted by business communications organisation GS1 (which first developed the barcode), using inventory tracker tech, such as radio frequency identification (RFID), can increase inventory accuracy to as much as 95 per cent. The benefits of tracking inventoryĪdopting an effective inventory management system has numerous potential advantages. It’ll sync the data each time stock levels change, and even generate reports for you. It’s far more accurate, giving you real-time visibility of inventory across multiple locations. That’s why automated inventory tracking is a better solution. But unless you’re super-organized, manual inventory tracking is prone to errors that can actually end up costing you money.įor example, if you accidentally write an extra zero on your order, you’ll end up with excess stock-and if you forget to re-order in time for the holidays, you’ll have a stockout. On the face of it, tracking inventory with spreadsheets (or even pen and paper) is a low-cost practice. If you’re a small business that’s just getting started in retail, and you don’t stock too many SKUs, you might choose to use manual methods to keep track of your stock. This leads to inventory shrinkage, which according to a study cost US retailers $61.7bn in 2020. For instance, employee theft and administrative errors will be harder to track. Yet a lot of smaller firms and business owners still neglect inventory control, and this can cause major problems. Some companies deploy barcode scanners so that orders are tracked as they go, whether they’re being paid for at a checkout or dispatched directly to customers from a warehouse. They provide businesses with real-time tracking of inventory items, helping them stay abreast of how many items of particular product lines are in stock and available for customers to order. ![]() Inventory tracking systems play a central role in this regard. Nevertheless, tools such as inventory tracking software can help these small firms keep on top of warehousing, fulfillment, and more. For smaller businesses, this is obviously less realistic as an option. Some even have specific departments concentrating entirely on this work. For businesses, it’s essential to streamline inventory management so that customers can find the right products and also to ensure that businesses don’t waste money on excess inventory.īigger businesses can devote more resources to warehouse management and inventory control. Firstly, meeting consumer demand and secondly, the amount of money at stake. There are two reasons why inventory tracking matters so much. These are continually in flux as customers make purchases and new stocks are brought in, whether to replace items that have been sold to those customers or in anticipation of changing demand patterns (as in the run-up to Christmas, for example). Inventory tracking, as the name suggests, refers to the tracking of stock levels throughout a business’s operations. After that, we’ll discuss how to track inventory and look at inventory tracking compared with supply chain management.įinally, we’ll conclude by outlining some of the best ways to keep track of inventory, including recommended inventory management software. We’ll start by defining what inventory tracking is, then listing the key benefits and challenges involved. In this guide, we’ll introduce you to some inventory tracking best practices. With the right inventory tracking methods in place, however, it needn’t overwhelm you. Keeping on top of purchase orders, sales orders, and inventory levels is both tough and time-consuming. Indeed, 39 per cent of supply chain executives surveyed said that inventory management was the aspect of their supply chain which had been most impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Of course, all this is much easier said than done. This is crucial to meeting rising consumer expectations, and maximizing customer lifetime value. ![]() Your inventory management system needs to be adequate to the task of anticipating fluctuations in consumer demand and maintaining stock levels appropriately. If consumers can’t find what they’re looking for, it’ll probably be quite easy for them to find it from a competitor-and that’s custom you’ll struggle to win back.Įffective inventory management, then, is of the utmost importance. With online retail behemoths like Amazon putting small businesses in the e-commerce sector under immense pressure, it’s never been more important to ensure that customers can get what they want with the minimum amount of effort. If you’re running a retail business, whether large or small, your most fundamental responsibility is to ensure you have the right stock in the right quantities-and to do that, you need accurate inventory tracking as part of your stock management system. ![]()
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