Increase the efficiency of your business with powerful stock control and inventory software programmes.
Investigate how a cloud-based inventory management system can help you improve fulfilment, save time, and increase your bottom line.
Why is inventory management and stock control important?
Having too much or too little stock can be costly to your business. If you don’t have the products your customers want in stock, you may have to pay a premium for an express order, reducing your profit margin. Worse, you may lose the sale to a competitor.
When you have too much inventory, you may find yourself paying for storage or warehouse space that you don’t need. Excess stock may also need to be insured, shrink-wrapped, depreciated, and taxed as an asset. All of this depletes your working capital, limiting your ability to invest in things like product development, new equipment, and marketing. That is why precise inventory planning and management are critical in business efficiency.
How to Make Your Inventory Management System Better
Understanding your company’s supply and demand patterns is the first step in ensuring that your warehouse operations, physical stock, and ordering procedures are all aligned to meet your needs. Here are our top tips for accomplishing this:
1. Examine your current stock control procedures.
The first thing to consider is what you’re doing well now and where you can improve. Consult with the appropriate team members to ensure that you understand what each aspect of your inventory management process does and why, so that you can identify problem areas.
2. Keep an eye on your inventory on a regular basis.
Include regular stock checks in your inventory management routine, and keep your records up to date. Keep in mind that tracking what you bought versus what you sold isn’t always a reliable indicator, as some items are bound to get lost, stolen, or damaged in storage.
3. Recognize customer behaviour
By tracking and recording how frequently you need to restock various products, you can begin to gain insight into customer purchasing patterns and seasonal fluctuations in demand. This allows you to better plan for dry spells and busy periods, allowing for better inventory management and stock control.
4. Think about an automated inventory control system.
Effective inventory management systems ensure that you never run out of inventory. At the very least, make it a policy to order and replenish stock items when they fall below a certain level. Using agile stock control and sales software can automate this process, eliminating the risk of product availability lapses.
5. Adopt Just-In-Time (JIT) Inventory Management
By stocking products only as they are needed for sale, this strategy can increase company efficiency. This allows you to avoid product waste due to damage or expiration while also lowering the costs of housing and maintaining unsold inventory.
Good inventory management software puts you in control.
Take charge of your company’s expansion with point-of-sale inventory software that allows you to streamline processes and increase profit margins.
Take charge of your expenses.
Many small and medium-sized businesses operate in extremely volatile environments. Dynamic mobile inventory management software enables you to control your spending and navigate turbulent waters while remaining profitable.
Master stock management
You’ll have easy access to live data and reports with integrated inventory management software in place. Make better decisions about what to stock, how to price your products, and which items to discontinue using this data.
Increase your purchasing power.
Investing in automated inventory control software allows you to streamline key elements of your purchasing process, such as replenishment and records of all purchase orders, allowing you to build up accurate, strategic data.
More inventory management software business advantages
Maintain customer satisfaction
Speed and quality of service have never been more important in a competitive marketplace where digitally savvy customers have easy access to online price comparisons. Inventory software tools provide instant insight into stock levels, customer details, shipping information, and more, allowing you to fill customer orders quickly and accurately.
Get paid faster
Faster order fulfilment usually means faster payment. As long as you don’t let invoicing and purchase order administration cause delays and impact your cash flow. Use powerful inventory software programmes and apps with accurate live data to automate these processes and make collecting payments easier.
Boost your profit margins
Getting your stock levels and availability right can save your company a lot of money while also keeping your customers returning for more. With stock control software, you can analyse real-time sales and inventory data to generate quality forecasts that will help you meet your target fill rates, reduce stock-outs, and maximise your inventory.
Promote company growth
An agile stock control system gives you more free time and money to invest back into your business by providing accurate inventory forecasting and automating many routine tasks. You’ll be able to make better decisions across your supply chain if you have instant access to live data from any computer or mobile device.