Inventory management is the key to ensuring that there’s always enough stock on hand for customer orders. An inventory management system helps companies identify which and how much they should order at any given time.
An inventory management system also tracks inventory left after purchases are made from purchase through sale of goods, predict trends in demand so shortages don’t occur before they happen—all without discounting products or under-stocking shelves.
Inventory is an asset on the balance sheet, but it also ties up cash. Too much stock costs money and reduces your company’s production output. Understandably, it’s something you want to avoid.
A good understanding of how inventory works will help companies avoid these issues by having only enough for current sales needs without tying up too much capital or cutting into future potential earnings at any given time.
One measurement of good inventory management is how often stock is sold. An accounting term, “inventory turnover” reflects this and tells you whether or not there’s too much dead stock in your business.
The Importance of Inventory Management
Inventory management is vital to a company’s health because it helps make sure there’s never too much or little stock on hand, limiting the risk of out-of-stock merchandise and inaccurate records.
Public companies must track their inventory as a requirement for compliance with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act also requires that businesses keep accurate books, which can be used in proving how they comply with this law or others like it.
Benefits of Inventory Management
Inventory management has a lot of benefits. For starters, it helps fulfil incoming or open orders and boosts profits. However, that is not all. Inventory management also:
It helps you save money.
Understanding stock trends is the key to staying ahead of your competition. You need to know how much and where you have something in order for it to be useful, since this knowledge will help keep costs down when fulfilling orders as well as stop obsolete products from ending up on shelves or warehouses before they can even reach that point.
It helps improve your cash flow.
By managing inventory effectively, you’re able to spend money on products that are in high demand and sell them instead of having cash sit around. This will keep your business afloat because it’s always bringing revenue through the door.
It helps keep customers satisfied.
It is important to offer your customers the best service and quality of goods possible. One way you can do this, according to a recent study by two professors from Harvard Business School, is ensuring they receive their items without having to wait long periods of time for delivery or shipment- anything that will make them feel appreciated as well.
Inventory Management Challenges
The primary challenges of inventory management are having too much and not knowing where your items are located. Other obstacles include:
Ensuring you get accurate stock details.
If you don’t have accurate stock details, there’s no way to know when the best time is for a refill. And it can be hard knowing which product moves well in your store and should therefore stay on shelf longer than others.
Poor processes.
It’s important to streamline work processes with the latest technology, so that operations can run more smoothly and efficiently.
Changing customer demand.
The best way to know if your customer needs and preferences change is by tracking trends. What tastes like a good idea one day may not be so appealing the next, or even worse, they might stop patronising the products later on