Inventory management is directly related to production and selling. It is even vital in cutting costs and enhancing profits. The financial management is simply incomplete without taking the effective inventory management into the account. Inventory and stock management are vital in the conventional system but it becomes even important when we talk about online selling. Every eCommerce platform needs to keep a useful level of inventory to meet the orders. An effective system needs to be in place to make things happen for the sellers. Remember overstock is useless and can even prove unproductive while understock is also lethal. You are going to lose customers and can earn nothing but a bad ranking. This is what makes it so vital to keep the stocks in order all the time. Your Amazon stock needs to be intact to help you earn a good amount of money and a better ranking.
Stock management is vital but you need to develop the necessary skills to learn the art. Many tools and programs are available to help you in this regard but you need to be very expert to make good use of every tool available for you. One will require handling the sales and the SEO before thinking of stock management. Just visit Olifant Digital to know more about the process.
Why Inventory Management?
Inventory management is not only related to sales and order processing but also required to earn repute on the platform. Amazon will always prefer the best-priced items for the sellers but it will also review your ability to process an order. The fulfillment process is a vital part of Amazon and it cannot just be done without effective stock management. Sometimes you may need to delete Amazon review to avoid bad remarks for being out of stock.
Swift Fulfillment
Swift fulfillment is the need of the hour as you can win the trust of the platform by simply fulfilling your orders on a swift basis. Amazon would always love to show your products in the organic search results if you have a history of fulfilling the orders rapidly. Platform values the time of the customer and this is why it has introduced the well-known FBA. But still, you can also do that by using effective inventory management.
Effective Product Tracking
Stock management not only lets you process your orders fast but also lets you track your items for warrantees and stock taking.
Financial Forecasting
Production and financial forecasting depend on stock management. The rotation of products in the warehouses defines the amount of capital and production henceforth.
Learning the Art of Effective Inventory Management
Stock management is key to success on Amazon. We cannot just do anything substantial at an online eCommerce platform without keeping enough stock in the warehouse. Here is how you can do that for your seller account.
Set Minimum Stock Levels
Running out of stock means running out of sales and thus the revenues. But taking an unprecedented level of stock is not a rational approach either as it will raise the cost of warehouse management. Hence the wisest thing to do here is setting minimum stock levels. There is no yardstick to measure that how much of the stock you would require to manage the sales. But still, the sales data will give you a whole lot of information about stock management. You can set your stock about the sales data analytics.
Understand Your Supply Chain and Set the Rules
In many scenarios, the sellers are selling by taking the stock from other entities. The producers are different entities while the sellers are dwelling elsewhere in the market or industry. If you are also relying on other producers for the supply of the products then you need to understand how long it takes for the order to be processed by the producer. If you can get products on a swift basis then there is no need to keep additional stock of items in any case.
Get Flexible with Special Occasions
The cultural and religious events are bound to spark sales. You are sure to get fast orders during certain seasons. And, this is where you need to be a little flexible with your stock management. Try to get a bulk order right up front and get to the normal when the specific season is out.
Keep Shedding the Obsolete Inventory
It is discussed already that excess or unwanted inventory means nothing but costs. And, these should never be considered as the opportunity costs as the obsolete inventory is never meant to appreciate in cash. It is very likely to turn into debt with the changing styles and designs. Hence it is always good to shed the obsolete items to reduce the cost of goods sold.
Keep the Inventory Up to Date
Many inventory managers log the inventory but will reply with an out-of-stock if you place a request for a certain fulfillment. This is what happens when some sort of damage, breakage or, theft takes place in the warehouse. It is vital to keep all the records straight to keep enjoying a good flow of products. It is a good way to keep everything organized.
Choose the Right Inventory Management Software
Inventory can be managed with experience and skills but you do not need any of it if you have better software in place. A good inventory management software can help you earn good points for fulfilling your orders at a rapid rate. Similarly, you can attain an error-free flow of items. Attaining good levels of stocks becomes easy while your records keep getting straight. Some smart inventory management tools are used to forecast upcoming orders for stocktaking. Many amazon agencies are also using certain software tools to handle your inventory finely.
Conclusion
Inventory always requires proper management and you can do that with experience and expertise. You can also hand over the task to an agency for better solutions while software can also be tried for a better outcome.
