Grasping the Importance of Inventory Management

The importance of inventory management should be one of your company’s top priorities. Can you envision trying to run a business no having any working knowledge of what assets you have, where they are, and the condition they are in? Sadly, that is the case for many businesses, both large and small. They are so focused on selling or production that they don’t take the time to see what equipment or tools they have or need to have, to stay on the track to success.

Let’s look at the importance of inventory management for three sectors – retail, e-commerce, and educational facilities.

Importance of Inventory Management for Retail

In the retail sector, the importance of inventory management is dealt with every single day. A good inventory system provides high visibility of all items on the sales floor, in the back stock room or even in the warehouse across the country. Having up-to-date, accurate data is paramount in meeting the needs of your customers. Data will prevent stockouts, allow for ample lead-time to replenish inventory for individual sales/events/seasons, and give you an idea of the value tied up in your inventory at any given time. When a customer comes to purchase an item, you can instantly see if it’s in stock on the floor or maybe it’s just been received in the back room and you can pull one for purchase. Retailers can also see which items aren’t selling as planned and maybe they don’t need to purchase it again and can allocate their spending elsewhere.

Importance of Inventory Management for E-Commerce

According to a 2016 story from Pew Research, 8 in 10 Americans are shopping online, That's 79 percent of U.S. consumers who shop on the web or their phones, up from just 22 percent back in 2000. When your business resides online, customers are coming to you to fulfill an instant need for purchase. If you don’t have the item he/she desires, your customer will most likely go somewhere else. The internet has changed the buying habits for people. Trends come and go, and e-commerce retailers have the task to keep up with what the public wants and have the means to provide those items. Just as brick and mortar retailers have to keep up with the items in inventory, e-commerce sites do as well. Competition is running rampant online and the opportunities to purchase the same item from multiple vendors continues to rise. Be sure you:

• Know what items you have on your site.
• Know the quantity you have readily available.
• And know when items are running low, and they need to be reordered, so customers aren’t left empty-handed.

Importance of Inventory Management for Education Facilities

Shifting the focus a bit, just as retail and e-commerce sites need to recognize the importance of inventory management, educational facilities also need to climb onboard the inventory management train.

Finances and education seem to go hand in hand – and not always in the most positive way. Many schools are constantly fundraising or asking for donations to purchase supplies for their students, staff, and facility. The spending issue is always in the back of any educational facility’s mind – whether a preschool, junior high, private high school or college. With spending so tightly scrutinized, the importance of inventory management should be a top priority.

The key is finding an inventory tracking and management software solution that can that can be configured to fit the specific needs of any school. Today’s tracking technology features barcode-based systems with built-in barcode scanners that can track assets of varying types. Computers, printers, a/v equipment, athletic supplies, furniture, facility vehicles, library books – all of these are items that cost money. And keeping track of every one of them – including where they are at any given time, how they are used, what condition they are in -- can make a difference in how an educational facility spends their valuable dollars.

Asset Panda is the best inventory management tool on the market today. Complicated and expensive inventory management software systems are old news. People are looking for systems that their employees will use that require very little to no training and can be rapidly deployed across an organization. Asset Panda tracks millions of inventory items for companies all over the world. Overall companies are looking for the benefit of this new model not only in the lower overall cost of ownership but with better inventory management.

The results of implementing mobile and cloud-based inventory management software such as Asset Panda includes:

• Significant time savings
• No more lost items – look up these components and find their locations immediately
• Eliminate the guesswork from repair and replacement decision-making
• Reduced taxes
• Savings on property insurance
• Reduced asset losses
• Fast audits
• More accurate reporting
• Store all information related to an asset in one location

So whether you are in retail, e-commerce, education or any other industry, the importance of inventory management needs to be a top priority for you, your employees and your business as a whole.

Check out this video on how the Seattle Mariners baseball team and their museum section used Asset Panda for a better way to manage their valuable inventory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XQZvxiodWs

Learn more about how Asset Panda can help you better manage your important inventory with a free 14-day trial. Visit www.assetpanda.com today.