Part of having a successful business is having inventory in stock to deliver to your customers. This is where your inventory management system comes into play. When done right, your customers are happy and you're not missing sales. When done wrong, you'll find that your business is constantly missing out on potential sales and gaining the loyalty of new customers.
Make Inventory Priority Groups
We all know that some items are more in demand than others. Being able to categorize the various levels of demands of your inventory is a great asset. To help increase your efficiency, you should take the time to perform this action. Start with the items that are fast selling. Then, work your way down to the items that are slow-selling and more expensive to purchase. Priority groups will help to make your inventory lists more manageable when evaluating them at a glance.
Track All The Information About Your Products
Before you can start to make big decisions about how to be more efficient with your inventory you need data. To track this data, you can employ third party logistics services that will record specific attributes about each product. Some examples of this include SKUs, suppliers, countries of origin, lot numbers, and barcode data. You can then utilize this data to look at things like the factors that are influencing the cost of your products and so forth.
Do Inventory Audits
We've all been there where the system shows we have products left but our staff can't seem to find them. Part of any effective inventory management system is to do regular audits to ensure actual stock numbers match what's on your digital records. This can be done monthly, annually, or even daily. A combination of all for various items is a great idea.
Evaluate Your Suppliers
Supplier performance is imperative for you to be able to deliver your products and services to your customers. It's vital that you evaluate your suppliers on a regular basis to ensure they're keeping up with demand. Any suppliers who are showing subpar performance should be replaced with ones that are more reliable.
Enhancing the efficiency of your inventory management system can be done in a number of different ways. The above are four great methods to start with for your business. As you start to incorporate these advancements, we're sure that you'll come up with more and more to integrate into your regular routine.
Guest post courtesy of Anica Oaks