Inventory management software can be found in myriad shapes and forms. A lot of business owners use spreadsheets to keep a count of their stock and carry out regular physical inventory tally to keep the numbers updated. Others depend on the inventory counts documented by their shopping cart.
But how can you be certain of those inventory figures without having control of the bigger picture? Do you exactly know how much of your stock is waiting to be shipped out with these kinds of unreliable tabulations? Are you aware of the inventory that is incoming from your suppliers? Also, if you keep your stock in warehouses or in multiple bins, do you know the counts for these individual locations?
As a matter of fact, if your inventory count is not 100% reliable, then it isn’t of much help to your company. You may find yourself restocking too much of one product and not enough of another. Actually, you may simply be wasting too much time and resources managing your inventory rather than the rest of your business. So, how exactly can inventory management software benefit your company?
The key role of an inventory management system is to ensure that there is the right amount of stock on hand. Think about this, if you procure too little of something, you will run out of stock early. On the other hand, if you procure too much, you will waste the much-needed warehouse space as you wait for those items to sell. How do you settle on the right amount of stock to purchase if you don’t have the correct inventory count recorded?
Having confidence in your current inventory levels will make a great difference in what you pay out replenishing them. Apparently, you can find out how much is needed to be procured, and when, allowing you to minimize costs where there aren’t necessary.
Nobody counts stock as a hobby. In fact, there is nothing enjoyable about tracking inventory, making inventory reports, or filling purchasing orders. These tasks use up a lot of your time that could be otherwise utilized in management, sales, marketing, and other vital aspects of keeping your business afloat.
Since key tasks are automated by the inventory management system, you will get yourself spending less time executing those tasks manually. Less time tallying stock counts, sorting through bins, and shuffling through receipts.
Very few things are more time consuming and costly than shipping the wrong products to clients. Not only does it results in additional costs, but also damages your reputation. By implementing an inventory management system, you can verify the exactness of the orders at each phase of the pack, pick, and ship process. This improves efficiency and significantly minimizes your warehouse error rate.
As your business expands, your needs and requirements will obviously grow as well. In the past, assignments that you could get away with completing manually are now pleading to be automated. Additionally, small mistakes are turning into costly blunders. Only inventory management software can be in a better position to sustain your business.
The best systems are the ones which function successfully throughout your growth. Moving business from a garage to a bigger warehouse, for instance, shouldn’t require you to change how you carry out your daily operations. Contact us if you need to know more about the right inventory management tools that can grow with your business.