Your inventory plays a crucial role in your business. If you are not managing it well, you may end up running out of inventory at inopportune moments. If your inventory is always being depleted, then your business will have trouble meeting customer demands and could incur losses. It is important to take inventory management seriously and know how to improve operations.

What is an Inventory management system?

Inventory management refers to the process of ordering and storing goods. Essentially, a business ensures that its available goods are efficiently stored and they are always placed correctly in the right shelves or places. Guidelines and standards are developed by expert professionals to assist businesses in managing their inventories. These guidelines will specify when a company should begin stocking supplies or even stop ordering new items. The ultimate goal of an IMS is to reduce the amount of wasted time, material, and money that would otherwise be lost due to spoilage or over ordering products that may not be required.

Benefits of custom Inventory management solutions

There are several different types of readymade inventory management system available in the market offering various features and functionality. A lot of business owners may get tempted to buy such cheap software or invest in SaaS-based inventory management systems that helps them manage their inventory easily. The fact is that readymade software has its own limitations. If you have any specific requirements such as different colors of t-shirts for different sizes or customized orders for spectacles, you need a custom inventory management solution.

A good reason why companies switch to an inventory management system is that it enables them to maintain higher levels of customer satisfaction, improve their supply chain efficiency, and reduce unnecessary costs. An inventory management system offers several other benefits and some of them are mentioned below:

•         Improved customer service
•         Increased productivity
•         Reduced waste
•         Improved cash flow and profitability
•         Time saving
•         More efficient purchasing, warehousing, and distribution process
•         Greater accuracy in inventory valuation and management accounting
•         Avoid stockouts
•         Reduces thefts and frauds
•         Tracks inventory’s physical location
•         Improved financial reporting

Challenges of Inventory Management

What is the main aim of any business? Every business aims at maximizing profits and meeting the customers’ needs. An inventory management system can help you achieve this goal. It allows stores to maximize their product supply so that they are never out of stock or face any other problem that would make their supply more limited than it could be. As a result, inventory management issues should be approached with deliberate intent by evaluating your current process for any gaps or shortcomings. Mentioned below are 5 problems that inventory management has:

• Managing inventory in a warehouse

Every business that has a warehouse manages its inventory in some way or the other. Whether it is using excel spreadsheets or complex inventory management software, it may be difficult to keep a track of which items are sold and quantity of items left, especially if you own multiple warehouses at various locations. Some of these methods may work just fine until the number of shelves in your warehouse increases or if you add more warehouses to the system. That is why automated inventory management systems are there to offer more flexibility. They provide a quicker way for managers to check on an item’s availability and place an order if necessary. 

• Errors in manual data entry

Manual errors are one of the main causes of an inventory management problem. With manual input, human error always can take place. The result is that there are discrepancies in terms of product availability versus inventory on hand which eventually leads to overstocking or not enough stock on store shelves. One way to reduce the risk of incurring such errors is by using an automated inventory management system which eliminates the possibility of human error and ensures that all information about supply and demand is accurate and up-to-date.

• Locating incorrectly placed items

Sometimes, products or equipment may be placed in the wrong shelves or places. When the staff members try to fetch the items for order shipments, it may be time consuming for them and a cumbersome process. If you have thousands of products, it may be even more difficult for the team members to find the products if they are not placed properly. What is the solution to this problem? Every product should be tagged with RFID and barcodes to help the employees fetch the products easily. This would help the team members pick the right products using scanners, speeding up the sales cycle and making the customers happy.

• Overstocking or understocking in excess:

Inventory management is a task that can be complicated and intricate. Too much stock leads to unnecessary expenses, while too little stock ends up costing you big. To prevent these problems, inventory management system solutions use software to track your inventory levels and suggest the best time for ordering more items. Such a solution will also help you keep track of your product inventory and to develop a standard operating procedure for ordering in the long run.

• Locating the right product for order fulfillment

Order fulfillment is the process of sourcing, receiving, storing, and transporting products that have been ordered by a customer. An inventory management system helps with order fulfillment by storing information such as:

1. Company inventory
2. Customer orders
3. Tracking shipments
4. Order status updates 

• Inventory fall 

There is a continuous loss of inventory due to theft, damage, and other infrequent problems. Inventory management systems help businesses reduce the cost that goes into fixing this problem. They also help businesses make corrections in pricing while they have time to react to changing market conditions. 

In conclusion, inventory management is an issue that many businesses face at one point or the other. The key to success for these organizations is taking the time to identify where their weaknesses are and then making changes to organize better and manage their inventory. A business will see improved inventory accuracy, less money spent on inventory loss and expenses, increased customer satisfaction, reduced risk of shrinkage due to theft, as well as enabling a more agile supply chain that can respond quickly in the event of an emergency. 

How can custom inventory management software benefit small businesses?

Inventory management software can help small to large businesses in several ways. It can replace old traditional excel spreadsheets with fully functional inventory management software. It can provide real-time information for tracking inventory. More transparency across the teams and customers to improve the efficiency and productivity of your business. Accuracy in locating and shipping the items quickly helps in enhanced customer satisfaction.

With the help of inventory management software, one can predict demand and forecast the supply trends. It helps the managers and stakeholders visualize the movement of inventory and identify the fast-moving and high-profitable goods so that they can stock them and earn more profits. One can manage the warehouse space efficiently with the right inventory management system. Managing inventory waste and defects can be easy when you have the best inventory management software in place. So what are you waiting for? Invest in the best IMS for your business and skyrocket your profits.