How ERP Software Can Help Retailers Optimize Inventory

Inventory Management is the most significant procedure to master in the retail industry. One must strike a balance between maintaining a sufficient inventory of popular items without experiencing stockouts. One should also make sure to reduce inventory of obsolete products to avoid excessive stock.   

Both instances can easily lead to unnecessary losses for your retail firm. You should avoid them if it is feasible or rectify them at the earliest.   

One has to consider good inventory and stock management as a great responsibility.

The Significance of Inventory Management for Retail Businesses 

Inventory Management enhancement is essential for retail businesses.

Reduces Stockouts of Popular Products

A retail firm must avoid running out of stock to prevent upsetting clients and missing sales.    

It is not just about being unable to complete a sales transaction because of a shortage of inventory. If the company frequently runs out-of-stock of popular items, it can hamper growth.   

Therefore, one must consider an inventory management tool to prevent such problems. It also provides information on the sales transactions and present stock of products.   

This toll determines the appropriate level of stock to keep on hand in the inventory. It also helps you to respond quickly to diminishing stocks. You can also shift stock from one retail location to another.

Avoid Excess Stock of Expired or Outdated Products

Failing to handle your inventory will result in the expiry of perishable products before you can sell them. This holds true for non-perishable goods which can become obsolete. This is because customers' tastes change, and technology develops.   

Either way, your retail establishment runs the risk of income loss. This is because of an excess supply of unsellable items in the inventory.  

There could be further losses because of expiration and a lack of shelf space for more profitable alternatives. An appropriate inventory management feature helps your business realize how much stock it has at any given time.  

You can determine which goods need refilling regularly and which you should reduce when there is a dip in demand.    

This also prevents you from wasting shelf space on items that are not selling, saving you money on storage and transportation.

Enhance Omnichannel Order Fulfilment   

Many retail organizations, including yours, have realized that adopting an omnichannel strategy is vital, especially after the COVID-19 outbreak.   

Make sure that your firm has enough items for all retail channels. This is because consumers become accustomed to a smooth experience across retail locations and e-Commerce sites.   

Choosing an omnichannel makes it more difficult to confirm that customers have enough stock. This is because you now monitor inventory counts across various channels.   

This runs the risk of increasing shrinkage or the loss of inventory. A common reason is errors in data entry resulting in faulty records, counts and misplaced products.    

With an inventory management platform, you will have complete insight into your inventory across all your retail channels. You now have enough inventory on hand to fulfill client demands and your organization can transfer products across channels.   

This allows you to fulfill consumer orders for your items regardless of the retail channel they opt for.

ERP software with an inventory management function has long been a top choice among retail firms. Since it provides various features that fulfill inventory requirements, including but not limited to the following:

Forecasting, Restocking and Managing Excess Inventory 

ERP software can assist you predict inventory changes according to demand and when to replenish certain goods. It achieves this through tracking real-time data points like sales, purchases, and logistics. 

You can connect with other business systems to unify retail activities. This enables you to consolidate all processed data into a single source of truth.   

Sales and supply chain operations affect your inventory in real-time. Therefore, you can track the changes instantly with the assurance of data accuracy. Configuring automated notifications for scenarios is possible.  

You can do it when inventory levels fall below a certain point. These will remind you to refill the items at the correct moment, especially if you are busy with other retail tasks.

Automation of Inventory Updates 

An ERP system enables you to spot overstocks and stop reordering obsolete products in a timely manner. It automates your business's inventory management, reducing human errors and the need to do it manually with spreadsheets.  

An ERP software's inventory management module also displays information about your inventory in dashboards. The module updates in real-time. It improves inventory visibility and allows you to respond quickly to emerging issues.

Inventory Tracking 

ERP software guarantees that the stock is accessible to all customers. You receive a centralized inventory database that updates in real time. You can track all inventory levels. This helps you know the statistics on the dashboards, which reflect the number of goods on the shelves.  

This is especially useful if you have to manage inventory across several retail channels. This is significant if your firm has both a physical and an online store. You can identify and respond quickly if the inventory of a product runs short.  

You can do this by transferring inventory from one to the other or vice versa. By doing so you can ensure the stock is available on retail channels. This boosts customer experience to a great extent.

ERP Software Optimizes Inventory Management in Retail Businesses 

NetSuite, a cloud-based ERP software, is the best choice for streamlining your retail inventory management process. You can use the built-in inventory management module in ERP software to maintain inventory levels. You can also avoid stockouts of your most popular products and excess inventory of expired products. One can do this through notifications and use inventory tracking to maintain stock levels.    

If you wish to know more about the NetSuite ERP software for enhancing your retail business, get in touch with Jobin & Jismi.