What Is Inventory Management?
Inventory management is primarily themonitoring and maintenance of stocked
products.
It consists of all the administrative tasks involved with measuring and keeping track on incoming and outgoing products and all the inventory on hand. Inventory management
helps to protect regular and planned course of business
against any disturbance of running out of goods. It shows how much stock you have, it reduces errors or “walking stock” and helps to make future plans to grow your business.
It can be time-consuming and boring task, which might steal staff away from more important assignments, but it is also
important to run an effective business.
Well-functioning software
is a great asset for stock management.
- Efficient software will provide you with up-to-date information. This data should also be available to every person dealing with inventory.
- Correct inventory should be seen in real-time and different reports should be always there when you need them.
- Software should allow you to manage stock everywhere. It is important to be able to access your inventory from different sources (laptop, tablet, smartphone).
- It is useful when new points-of-sale and e-channels are easy to connect.
Look at how your stock moves
- Implement an FIFO (First In First Out) method. This way the stock rotates and you don’t have too much old products in your warehouse.
- Optimize the amount of products in your warehouse. There should be a minimum amount for all items and also a higher quantity for more popular products.
- Special sale offer is a solution to get rid of old and unpopular goods.
Analyze and plan
- Keep an eye on market trends. They give you glues on which products are becoming popular.
- Be sure to get the best deal possible when ordering from suppliers.
- Good inventory management software provides you different reports and sale history that will help you to make plans for future orders.