Every retailing business needs inventory. In the same way, eCommerce businesses too need inventory if they are involved in the sale of physical products. With inventory comes the need for inventory management, which includes maintenance of appropriate level of stock, reconciling inventory balances and reporting of inventory status.
How does inventory management works
In simple words, inventory management means keeping track of product movement within the warehouse. For smooth flow of inventory, it needs to be integrated with order management. Whenever the products are ordered from the suppliers and whenever an order for the products is received by the customers, it's the task of the inventory management to make sure that products move the way they are supposed to.
For
effective inventory management, you can implement various inventory management models like flow production, batch production and re-manufactured parts inflow. Once you implement the model, you will need to test its effectiveness and make changes in the process if required.
Benefits
There are many
benefits of inventory management. Some of them are as follows:
- With proper level of inventory, the cost of maintaining the inventory in the warehouse will go down.
- The information about the exact level of inventory will be on your fingertips, enabling you to place order at the right time with your suppliers.
- As the inventory level with updated real time, the customers will be notified on time about the lack of product they want and thereby reduce the level of frustration for a customer.
Costs
There is no such thing as free lunch. Along with the benefits of inventory management comes cost. Those costs are:
- Technology costs, which depends on the size and nature of the business.
- Cost of implementing processes and controls.
- Costs of ordering, shortfalls and inventory tracking.
Sync with Multiple eCommerce Store
It is also important to
synchronize the inventories shared between multiple stores and keeping the track of all those inventories with a single admin panel or let’s called a dashboard. In case of the stores operated in multiple countries, it will be necessary to present the product with currency and language specific to that country. This will differentiate the same product price in varied currency which may intricate the order management system.
TL; DL
Inventory management is one of the most important processes of an eCommerce business. Although the benefits attached with the inventory management are many, if not handled properly, it can lead to huge losses. To avert such loss-making situations, you can always use automated inventory management solution. This solution will help you automate each and every process of the inventory management at bare minimum cost.
What are you waiting for? Start exploring various inventory management solutions for your business.
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