Inventory Tips for a Successful Spring

With Spring and Summer quickly approaching, you’re probably thinking about what you can do to attract more buyers to your store. A new season can inspire shoppers to purchase new items, whether it be a patio set or grill for the backyard. But, if you don’t have what customers are looking for, chances are they won’t buy.

Inventory is one of a furniture retailer’s most valuable assets, making proper inventory management a crucial factor for success. In preparation of a new selling season, you may want to reevaluate how you assess your inventory. Research shows that well over 1/3 of home furnishings retailers are not using any type of software system for inventory control. Are you a part of the statistic?

If you don’t have a proper hold on your inventory, you may be missing vital information. What you don’t know can hurt your business. One modern furniture chain has recently experienced a downfall due to a poorly managed supply chain, out of stock issues and late deliveries. Without an intuitive system in place, retailers risk experiencing not only poor customer service ratings, but a steep decline in stocks and revenue.

A leading software solution uses real-time inventory management tools to reduce on-hand inventory and cost of goods. There are a number of features that technology can provide that simply can’t be done with just pen and paper. Below we’d like to share 4 of our client’s favorite inventory management tools.

1. Inventory Data Management: A strong software system is able to tell you important inventory information, such as quantities, locations, average cost, selling prices and more. The system keeps this information refreshed in real-time based on the data collected in your software. Leading technology can consolidate information across multiple stores, warehouses, and selling platforms like eCommerce and mobile.
2. Demand Forecasting: Do you want to keep tabs on what products are selling versus the ones that don’t even get a second glance on the sales floor? Trends are always changing and you want to keep up with the times. Inventory merchandising tools can identify trends that you can capitalize on. It is important to understand how your customers’ shopping trends correlate with your supply chain, including vendor lead times to plan an optimized buying cycle.
3. Automated Replenishment: A great software solution will never let you miss the opportunity for a sale. The spring season is sure to inspire shoppers to hit the showroom floor. You can streamline fulfillment by utilizing reports to alert you to time sensitive backorder needs. By staying on top of backorder needs, you can increase sales by up to 10% according to RetailEconomics. You can even auto-generate purchase orders for approval and for reducing manual administrative tasks.
4. Barcode Cycle Counting: Along with theft, administrative errors, and supplier fraud, for some retailers, shrink is a major issue impacting profitability. The latest Global Retail Theft Barometer study reported $42 billion of lost inventory in the United States alone. Counting your inventory manually can take days to complete. With the automation of regular Cycle Counts, you can use barcoding technology to complete the process in significantly less time and with much more accuracy. In fact, we have clients reporting 99% inventory accuracy thanks to these practices.

The way you manage your inventory is important to your success and software can help. Real-time capabilities, save your business time, eliminate error and provide more accurate data which you can act on to make great decisions for your business. Inventory is the core of any retail operation making an intuitive software not only helpful, but necessary.