Real Time Inventory Management

With production uncertain during this unprecedented global pandemic, one of the best things your e-commerce business can do is to improve its inventory management. By equipping yourself with a streamlined and improved inventory management system, you’ll be better suited to handle the uncertainties in production chains that now plague businesses of all types and sizes.

The good news is that you don’t need a ton of capital or resources to improve your real-time inventory management. With the addition of strong inventory management software and a few improvements made to your process, you can begin to see immediate benefits.

That in mind, let’s explore several tips that will help you improve your inventory management.

Setting a Minimum Stock Level

There’s no faster way to annoy a customer than by advertising a product only for them to go online and find that the product is out of stock. In addition, by not having the product in stock when the customer logs on, you’re actually losing out a on pretty easy sale.

Don’t let that revenue evaporate! Instead, ensure that you have minimum stock levels in place that will trigger when an item gets down to a certain quantity. Once that level is reached, a minimum stock level informs you that’s time to buy more of that product in order to meet demand.

This helps your business remain ready to fulfill orders while also avoiding tying up money in stock that just sits on the shelves, waiting to potentially be sold off.

Improving Your Process

One thing that nearly all these improvements have in common is that they rely on a process that is reliable, accurate, and delivers useful data that will help inform future actions.

In other words, by streamlining your process and collecting data that can then be used to power metrics, analytics, and key performance indicators, you’ll create a feedback loop where the process is continuously self-improving the more efficient it gets and data it acquires.

Understanding Your Supply Chain

Now more than ever it’s critical that you understand your supply chain.

With so many disruptions coming about as a result of the pandemic, if you understand where your supply chain is strongest and where it is most vulnerable, you can begin to make contingency plans that will account for supply chain interruptions.

Contact more reliable suppliers, use analytics to predict when stock demand will surge, and keep gathering information regarding potential threats to your supply chain (like pandemic news) in order to keep your ship running in optimal shape.

Allocating Inventory Resources Effectively to Match Demand

Use data and metrics to determine which products are set to become hot at which times, which can help you plan for seasonal rushes and similar recurring, predictable changes. This can be accomplished by having a keen understanding of your client and your products.

Be Ready for the Unexpected

By definition, you can’t plan for the unexpected. But that doesn’t mean you can’t strengthen your business so that it’s more readily able to meet unexpected circumstances. Having contingency plans for supply chains and even delivery methods is a great way to account for these unforeseen scenarios.

Get Industry-Leading Service from APS Fulfillment, Inc. for All Your Inventory Requirements

Real-time inventory management can be stressful. There’s a lot of moving parts—and a lot of money on the line.

Every misstep can mean a lost customer and lost revenue.

The tips above help, but if you really want to improve your inventory management, APS Fulfillment, Inc. is your inventory management expert. Our software allows you and your customers to place an order and track its progress quickly and effortlessly.

Get in touch with us and book a consultation by calling (954) 582-7450 or email [email protected].

Also Read: Inventory Days on Hand: Why It Matters and How to Calculate It?