siliconindia | | February 20209SKUs, barcodes, suppliers, batches, and lot numbers. Also, it is not just about knowing the inventory, but also about knowing if the inventory is movable, is there enough space to store the inventory, how long is the space available for storage, and most importantly, how much of human intervention is required for maintaining it. Having a grip on all this will enable you to take the right decisions with regards to inventory purchases and inventory flow.· Counting your inventory or stock check is an important task. Depending on the nature of your business, you may want to do a count yearly, monthly, weekly or even daily - especially for your category C items which move the fastest. Irrespective of the method adopted for counting, it is essential to audit your inventory to ensure that it matches the inventory data in your books.· Suppliers can either make or break your inventory management process. If you have a supplier who is habitually late with deliveries or frequently short supplies an order, then it is going to impact the inventory flow right up to your end user. It is essential to work with suppliers who guarantee an optimum stock level, enabling you to cater to market demands in the best possible manner. If your existing supplier refuses to adopt the best practices, then you should evaluate other suppliers who can match your pace.· 80 percent of your profits come from 20 percent of your stock. Thus, it goes without saying that inventory management of these items are a clear priority. This requires understanding the sales life-cycle of these items and closely monitoring them. Thus, your procurement plan will always ensure that you never fall short of these products which contribute the most towards your revenues and profitability. Similarly, your product storage plan will ensure that your most popular stocks are always placed at the most accessible part of your warehouse.· As a business, you may be tracking sales for sure, but the activity is more than just counting how many items were sold and for how much. There is a need to analyse this data as well ­ which item sold faster, which items didn't get sold at all, was there a seasonal rush, are there days in the week where sales are more, do some items always get sold together, did an annual festival or a company's promotion affect sales. Analysing all this will help you to understand demand better and forecast efficiently.· Last but not the least, getting rid of manual systems of maintaining inventory is the need of the hour. Most small businesses still manage their inventory on paper or spreadsheets. However, as the business grows, it becomes next to impossible to continue using manual methods or spreadsheets, since a business owner will end-up spending more time managing inventory rather than focusing on the overall business. Inherently entering data by hand is time consuming and error prone, and tends to be a repetitive task, which can easily be automated. These eight tips not withstanding the role of technology to make an efficient inventory management process is of utmost importance. An efficient inventory management in today's day and age demands a centralized database that is accessible to multiple resources in your business, across multiple locations and updates on a real-time basis ­ and that can only be achieved by adopting the right technology for your business. Maintaining and tracking a complete record of all the products which form part of your inventory is a must at all points in time
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