While most retail businesses tend to have a firm grip on stock control, inventory management often gets overlooked
Many small businesses are guilty of viewing inventory control as a tedious administrative chore, but this can be a costly mistake to make.
Inventory management is as crucial as the regular stock take, and your inventory list should be used to better control the flow of stock. By taking control of your inventory, you can save time, boost productivity, and most importantly, cut your operating costs.
Some of the benefits of great inventory management:
• Takes the guesswork out of reordering
• Improves efficiency and order fulfilment times
• Prevents fraud and theft
• Keeps insurance records accurate
Inventory management and stock control
The inventory for your business is the sum of all your assets, the stock itself, plus all materials, equipment and even the business premises itself. By managing the inventory closely, you can ensure that stock never runs short. This will prevent delays in fulfilment and improve turnaround times for orders. Many businesses will undertake reordering based on estimates or rely on 'standing orders' for orders, but this is not always accurate. Prevent a surplus of unused materials or a shortage of crucial ingredients by keeping a close eye on the inventory list.
Automate for fast, easy inventory control
Inventory management used to be a tedious and inaccurate task, requiring manual filling of spreadsheets. Modern retail businesses can greatly improve inventory control by automating the process. Barcode scanners and specialist software do a lot of the hard work for you, tracking every asset and item your business owns. All workers need to do is scan as they go, and the inventory is updated automatically.
A more productive workplace
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good inventory management system should speed up the process of picking and packing, it will improve manufacturing times as well. When done right, inventory control can greatly improve the efficiency of your workforce by ensuring they always have the materials and products they require. Preventing delays is good for you, and for the customer. If orders are frequently held up at the production or packing stage, you might find your client base starts to take their business elsewhere.
Protect your business
Inventory control is an important aspect of business security. If you regularly audit your company's inventory, there is far less chance of experiencing employee fraud and theft, especially if item tracking is linked to the employee's unique number. Tracking the inventory also ensures that insurance records are as accurate as possible, so all goods and items are covered in the event of a fire or other disaster.
Save money and time with inventory control
The benefits outlined above all lead back to the same crucial point - inventory management saves money in the long run. From preventing loss through fraud to keeping orders moving along smoothly, a good inventory tracking system gives you complete control of your company, from one central management platform.
How can ShopTill-e help with your inventory management
A good ePOS system should make the running of your retail business easier, faster and more efficient and with ShopTill-e's in-depth stock control functionality you can keep on top of all your inventory and stock.
ShopTill-e includes a stock replenish feature so you know what's been sold in a particular time period and whether shelves need to be restocked. And with the ability to set low stock alerts, you know you’re in control.
If you need to scale up as your business grows with additional till points, pop-ups or more sales channels, we have you covered. ShopTill-e is an all in one retail system it’s a true multichannel platform giving you the freedom to sell more, manage effectively and grow without limitations.
ShopTill-e is free for 14 days - set up your free trial today.
