Among various other things, it’s inventory management that can help your ecommerce business become a success story. While most attention is paid to planning, marketing and delivery services, inventory management is often neglected. Not managing inventory properly can cause numerous problems. It can impact your sales as well. And not providing your customers things they want to buy can drive them away (literally) to your competitors.
A properly managed inventory system, on the other hand, can help your business to grow and increase its profitability. This clearly signifies the importance of proper inventory management. It requires as much importance, if not more, when selecting ecommerce delivery service in Dubai. Having said that, with changing times, you need to make some tweaks to your inventory management to make it even more efficient.
Here’s how you can do it:
Identify and Set Minimum Levels for Stock
Let’s start with the basics! You need to carefully identify minimum stock levels for items you sell. Of course, it requires experience and expertise, but if you have been in the ecommerce industry for a few years, you can identify it. Pay attention to the most in-demand products and analyze how much time they take to sell out.
Based on this information, set a minimum stock level. As soon as the stock hits the minimum level, place an order for additional stock. So that it could arrive before the existing stock of that particular item finished.
Some people make this mistake of ordering more than the required quantity to avoid this situation. This practice has its own set of drawbacks as well. Mostly, ecommerce businesses have limited storage/warehousing space. Therefore, ordering a particular product in higher quantity can lead to storage issues. Furthermore, consumer behavior is also unpredictable; this can lead to an oversupply situation. So, always remember the fact that when it comes to stocking, ‘balance’ is the key.
Making Supply Chain More Efficient
It’s no secret that the supply chain greatly impacts an ecommerce business and its operations. A slight delay or problem in supply chain management can result in a delay in production and distribution. Therefore, orders will be delayed as it will take time for you to restock products.
To ensure you do not get to face such a problem, it is important to develop an understanding of supply chain management. Know about all the links in your supply chain so that even if a problem occurs, you won’t be clueless about what is happening. You can identify the problem easily and take timely actions to minimize delays.
Identify Slow-Moving Inventory
Slow-moving products not only consume a lot of space in your storage facility/warehouse. They harm your business in more than one way. For example, they block a lot of investment, which you can have used for other products or marketing your brand. The fact that, instead of appreciating, carried inventory can lose its value in the time to come also doesn’t help either.
The only way you can tackle this issue is to identify slow-moving inventory. Be very observant and analyze the time each product sits on the shelf before being sold out. Thus, make an informed decision to discontinue products that take a long time to sell out and can lead to potential loss.
Get Fulfillment Services
For some, it may feel like an additional burden on their budget. But, fulfillment services can help to reduce your operational cost, help to streamline inventory management and eliminate hassles associated with delivering products to customers, all at the same time. Fulfillment solutions also include warehousing services. Therefore, there will be no issue of managing storage for your products as well. Some fulfillment companies also offer return management services as well, making things more convenient for you.
One such company is IQ Fulfillment. Fulfillment services, at IQ Fulfillment, incorporates the most advanced robotic technology to ensure cent percent accuracy. We can also handle order processing and delivery/shipping functions. By handing over the responsibility of fulfillment and delivery to us, you will be able to focus more on growing your business.