As a business owner it’s great to see merchandise flying off the shelves and nerve wracking when it doesn’t.
That’s the inventory your customers see, but how often do you take the time to check out your stockroom or warehouse? What’s there – or isn’t there – can be costly.
Experts say you should monitor your inventory regularly, looking for trends that could help boost sales and profits. This can help you avoid the trap of goods that aren’t selling and that are just taking up space and costing you money.
For products that are selling well, you should make sure you have enough stock on hand or coming in that you can keep up with demand and aren’t running the risk not having the merchandise your customers are looking for. The last thing you want is for them to look for the same product somewhere else because you weren’t paying attention.
You might even want to assess if you can get volume discounts from your suppliers or look to see if you can find the same product for less money from another reliable distributor. Paying less and selling more is great for profits.
By keeping close track of your top-sellers, you can also consider stocking related items that might lead to additional sales.
Keeping track of products that aren’t moving is just as important. There’s no reason to buy and stock merchandise that no one wants or needs. Those items represent money that could be used for better things and they are a waste of storage space that could be costing you money or would be better used to stock products that lead to actual sales.
If you do a decent amount of business and carry a variety of products, experts recommend that you really should consider using inventory-management software that can help you track goods on hand and monitor sales trends that can help you keep your supply chain moving. It can also help identify products that have come to a standstill. You can even use the data to monitor inventory performance over time.
Experts say that inventory management needs to be a priority responsibility – whether it’s done by you or a trusted employee.
When it comes inventory, you want to know what’s selling, what isn’t and how much you have of each.