7 Common Inventory Management Mistakes and How to avoid them?

 

Inventory is one of the most crucial and important components in retail and wholesale businesses. Poor inventory management leads to stockouts, shipment delays, customer dissatisfaction, and eventually financial loss. However, what is a poor order management service like? Following are the seven common mistakes made by retailers and wholesalers.

•          Conducting inventory counts once a year
•         Holding off too much Inventory
•          Using manual techniques
•          Not keeping your storage space organized
•          Not training your staff properly
•          Not enough of a game plan for the future
•          Not using good vendors

·       Conducting inventory counts once a year

Performing inventory counts once a year isn’t effective. Since keeping a regular check on it is very important because you are doing business on a long-term basis, All you need to do is perform a continuous check on the number of items that are recorded in your database and the items that are available in your stock. Doing annual inventory counts is of absolute necessity. Sometimes it disrupts your business since it consumes a whole lot of time to keep a count on the items you stock for your selling purposes. The most effective way to keep track of your resources or stocks is by continuing periodic checks on inventory management services. This means that instead of doing a physical count, you can try out cycle counting. Cycle counting for order management outsourcing requires you to count a small portion of your inventory and compare it to what is listed within your system database. One can perform this every month until everything is eventually covered and recorded. 

·         Holding off too much Inventory

More inventories mean more goods to sell, which will affect the increase in revenue. Holding too much inventory can be a disadvantage to your business. When consumer demand is receding, you will have to keep your stuff longer, and this will reduce its value. The more e-commerce order management inventory you hold, the more space you need to store it. This will reduce the value of your business. To maintain the right amount of inventory that is required to meet the demands of your customers, all you need to do is forecast your inventory needs. All you need to do is find out how many stocks you should keep in your store or warehouse by conducting an analysis of them and reviewing the inventory reports. 

·         Using manual techniques

Inventory tracking can be a very time-consuming, and labour intensive when done manually. Paper records or Excel spreadsheets are very vulnerable to errors, damage, and loss. If you keep a large amount of inventory in multiple warehouses and stores, all you need to do is automate your inventory management methodology. With the help of an automated solution, you can track your inventory levels, figure out inventory value, and generate accurate, in-depth reports to help forecast inventory needs and manage your supplier data through one system. 

·         Not keeping your storage space organized

Storing supplies with reluctance will prevent your business from achieving higher efficiency. Unorganized storage space can slow down the process of picking and packing, which can lead to shipment delays. It is very important to tidy up your store and warehouses. Separate items are based on the turnover ratio. To make your item sellable, you need to sell it from an accessible position. Never forget to put labels or stickers on each shelf to make it easier for pickers to find the items. One can integrate your inventory management software with the aid of barcode scanners to speed up the picking process. 

·         Not training your staff properly

Even if you have automated your inventory management service, it will all be in vain if your staff is incompetent at managing inventory. Inventory, as previously said, is a valuable asset of your business that must be maintained at all costs so that you don’t suffer any kind of loss. It is of utmost importance that you train your employees so that they are able to manage their inventory stuff. Apart from training employees, you also need to appoint someone in charge who can manage the staff. This person is responsible for ensuring the smooth running of your business but also for finding a suitable inventory management technique that works out well for your business. 

·         Not enough of a game plan for the future

Not using good vendors:

This may appear to be a no-brainer, but it is also a common issue that you should find good vendors in order to sell all your staff. Thus, finding a good vendor basically appears to be a fine balance between someone who is consistent and someone who doesn’t also charge a bomb. Prior to opting for a good vendor, all you need to do is review their services and then opt for the best one in the business. If a certain vendor doesn’t meet your quality standard or delays shipment in any way, simply drop them like a hot potato. If you are selling a niche product, always consider complete vertical integration so that you have control over manufacturing, demand, and therefore your inventory levels.

Have you been unconsciously making these mistakes? Feel free to leave your comments below.