Managing a large store is difficult but managing the inventory should not be. Read this article about inventory management practices to make your task simpler, and yes, technology can definitely help!

1. 3 Inventory Management Best
Practices to Follow in 2019
You go out to buy a pair of black heels the night before you need them
because your old pair is in unwearable conditions. But none of the stores
has what you want, until, the absolute last store that you get to. But... they
are not in your size. The store has failed you as a customer.
To the business owners that are reading this, I would say, please step up
and manage your inventory better so that you never fail your customer like
this. Whether you are a store that sells their products offline or online, the
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2. products are physical products that your customers want. So, whether you
display it online or offline is irrelevant to the fact that you need to have the
products in stock.
This is where ​Magento inventory management​ ​comes in.
The primary goal of it is to have all the products that you sell, in stock. But
of course, that isn’t all. Since there are plenty of people buying everything
online, let’s focus on web stores for this article. When you are an
e-commerce store, everything is on a computer, except for the actual
products that you sell.
So, let's talk about that one thing that is not all about buttons and clicks.
Inventory. How should you handle it?
● FIFO
First in, first out signifies exactly what those words say. You should
sell older products before the newer ones. This applies to obvious
perishable goods like food or medicines, but it also applies to hygiene
products, cleaning products, cosmetics, as well as electronics. All of
these items fall under the umbrella term of ‘depreciating value’.
● Automated Ordering
Certain products are in constant demand like soaps, headache
medicine, butter, basic earphones, etc. You should always have
these in stock. An easy way to make sure that you always have these
is to automate the ordering process. Set a baseline, so that if the
stock falls below it, the system will order more units.
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3. ● Predictive Ordering
Keep track of market trends. People take a fancy to new products
very often. One day a product could be doing so great that they can’t
make enough of it, and the other, it will have no demand in the
market! So yes, you should always have the products that are doing
well in the market, but you should be aware of how they could
become irrelevant at any time and therefore not have too many of
them. In such scenarios, predictive ordering comes in the play. By
studying market trends, you get to understand the market demands
and hence keep the inventory accordingly.
Sounds daunting, I know. But since it’s the 21st century, there are apps for
that! If your e-commerce store uses the Magento platform, then there are
extensions and apps for inventory management. An Inventory Management
Magento extension can take care of a lot of things for you, after the initial
setup. What are the features you should look for when investing in an
Inventory Management Magento extension? Let's talk a look:
● All in one view:
You should be able to see all your stocks, warehouse details, supplier
details, in one place. Apart from this, you should also be able to track
your inventory from within the extension.
● Real-time updates:
The best way to take care of everything is, of course, to have
real-time updates. As soon as your warehouse ships something to a
retail store, you should get a notification. This should also show you
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4. how many units of the product are available now. This way, you will
never run out of stock and it will not affect your supply chain.
● Multiple Warehouse Management:
A large e-commerce store that delivers across the country or across
the world should have more than one warehouse. You should be able
to access and manage all of your warehouses with this extension. A
detailed overview of all of your warehouses makes it easier for you to
order more supplies when needed.
● Supplier Management:
The ​Magento inventory management extension should also be
able to manage your suppliers. After all, they are the ones who fulfill
your inventory demand, so it makes sense to have one tool that takes
care of inventory and gives the required access to suppliers as well.
The suppliers should have their own access area where they can see
the purchase orders, add new products, edit their own details, etc.
● Detailed Inventory Log:
An Magento Inventory Management should be able to give you a
detailed log of the entire inventory across all of your warehouses. You
should be able to see the activity logs for sales orders,
warehouses/suppliers added, inventory updates, etc.
Inventory management of a Magento store can be simple if you choose the
right extension. Make sure to look for the features that assist you and make
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5. the task simpler. Be sure to manage your inventory in a way that you never
fail your customer!
Summary:
Managing a large store is difficult but managing the inventory should not
be. Read this article about inventory management practices to make your
task simpler, and yes, technology can definitely help!
Author:
Maulik Shah is the Founder and CEO of AppJetty, a fast growing software
add-on store selling Magento extensions and plugins for various
technologies, including. ​Magento Inventory Management Maulik is a tech
enthusiast and writes about the various aspects of ecommerce technology.
appjetty@gmail.com