The 3 Most Difficult Things About Keeping a Proper Retail Inventory

If you run a retail store of your own, whether as an independent business or as a franchisee, you know just how much time it takes to keep your stockroom in top shape. That’s one of the main things that make maintaining your inventory so difficult – you need hours upon hours during the working week to dedicate to it.

 

But it’s not the only thing that makes stockroom management such a complicated thing to pull off. There are a lot of costs involved in designing a system that really works, but without one, you’re only going to spend more money. As such, we’ve listed three things below that tend to be more difficult to control than anything else; get on top of those for a more profitable future.

 

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Keeping it Updated

 

Your inventory record won’t update itself. Even if you’re using management software to keep a digital record that’s easy to access and amend, you still have to put the manual effort in to stay on top. However, seeing as stock comes in every single day, and goes out again in the same period, it’s going to be difficult to keep your updates coming as and when they need to.

 

Automating the system is essential, as far as you’re able to, by using actions like indicating to your software what you tend to order and how often. However, be sure to go over the final chart to make sure it tallies up properly.

 

Accidentally Overstocking

 

You never want to understock your inventory, but when it comes to compensating for what looks like a short supply, it’s easier to overstock too. And that will end up very expensive and a huge waste of both product and time. It’s why your inventory system needs to be easy to sort through, but more on that later.

 

Overstocking happens most often in clothing stores. Ordering bulk dresses is a great way to keep long term costs low, but if the trends, seasons, and desire for style change, it’s going to be hard to shift the full stock. You want to order in plenty of time, of course, but you need to make sure you’ve got a detailed overview of elements like your usual sales volume and average footfall.

 

Complicated Storage

 

How are you planning to arrange your stock, once it’s delivered? That’s the thing that needs to be kept simple here. A complicated storage system is never going to be something you want to work with, but you could end up with one if you’re not strict about how your products are stored.

 

Your retail store won’t be able to keep the racks or the shelves full without organized handling, through both a rotation system and a strong idea about when products enter the stock room before leaving again. Make it easy to head in and grab what you need!

 

Whether you run a clothing store or a bakery, make sure your retail inventory doesn’t become a long term problem.

 

Ken Boyd

Author: Cost Accounting for Dummies, Accounting All-In-One for Dummies, The CPA Exam for Dummies and 1,001 Accounting Questions for Dummies

(amazon author page) amazon.com/author/kenboyd

(personal finance book/ self-published) 34 Stories That Explain Personal Finance