Published on October 19th, 2018 | by Sunit Nandi

Using A Inventory App to Avoid These Common Inventory Mistakes

Running an eCommerce business in this digital age can be a challenge even for the most experienced professional. Besides the typical challenges that startups incur such as gaining an advantage over the competition, proper marketing of products or finding suppliers there are several other issues that online retailers fail to address. Perhaps one of the biggest operational difficulties of operating an online store is ensuring that the business is stocked with enough inventories to fulfill customer demands. Without enough products, an ecommerce business isn’t able to make sales and turn over a profit. However, there are several productivity tools on marketing including an inventory app that can help an eCommerce manage its daily needs.

What Is A Inventory App?

Whether big or small retailers off all sizes have to be able to control, manage and track the inventory of their products at any given time. A few years ago, most organizations relied on databases that required them to manually enter, count and keep track of inventory. However, many organizations are opting to use inventory management applications that have been designed technology companies to automate the inventory management process. These applications can be used in mobile devices which allows managers to be able to track how much products

they’re selling from anywhere in the world when it’s installed on a smartphone or tablet.

There are numerous inventory applications available on the market. Advances in technology allow businesses to invest in inventory apps that can be tailored to fit their business needs and desires. When organizations don’t pay attention to where their inventory is going, how much stock you have physically available and re-ordering needs can lead to missed opportunities and the organization will be unnecessarily wasting money.

Finding the right inventory application can be a challenge especially since there are hundreds of them on the market guaranteeing the efficiency that eCommerce businesses need. An organization will have to asses they’re operational needs. When shopping for an inventory app for an eCommerce business, owners should consider the following factors:

Volume Inventory
Type of Inventory
Allocated Budget
How many people will have access to the inventory app

Top Five Inventory Mistakes Businesses Make

1. Failure To Keep Track of Sales Across All Platforms

Online shopping has become increasingly popular in the last few years. Therefore, most e-commerce businesses take advantage of other popular platforms like eBay, Amazon, and Walmart to ensure that they’re products reach a broader audience. After all based on research consumers tend to spend across several different platforms. They’re likely to make a purchase from their favorite retailer at least once a week. Yet, the biggest drawback is that managing the inventory can become complex. Many retailers fail to keep track of how much inventory they’re selling across all platforms which can result in frequent overselling and errors in inventory tracking. These mistakes can ruin the reputation a business.

2. Unsold Inventory

Sometimes retailer’s purchase an excess of a specific product that they probably felt at one time would be a hot selling item. However, when that product doesn’t sell well it leaves the business left with excess stock that never gets sold for months. Unsold Amazon excess inventory is capital that is simply taking up space in the warehouse or shelves. Efficient inventory management can help you identify exactly what products may benefit from bundling or discounting so that you can get rid of slow-selling products as fast as possible.

3. Not Performing Frequent Inventory Counts

Regular inventory counts or stock takes are crucial when you are running an eCommerce business. Accounting for every single piece of inventory can be time-consuming but this is a step that retailers cannot miss. Inventory counts should reflect what’s in the system and if not it’s the perfect opportunity to fix any discrepancies. Retailers will need to devise a plan for performing inventory counts without allowing it to interfere with the daily business operations.

4. Poor Inventory Forecasting

Without adequate inventory management, retailers fail to make informed decisions about what products need to be ordered or reordered. The optimization of inventory provides retailers with the insight to accurately forecast future demand. Selling trends, historical data and a plethora of other factors can help retailers make the best decisions. This knowledge can help prevent stock out of top selling products during peak times.

5. Difficulty Measuring Performance

While retailers may have an idea of how well they’re organization is performing, it can be difficult to truly measure an eCommerce performance when there are no standards in place when it comes to inventory turnover and warehouse efficiency. It’s essential to closely monitor metrics like product fill in rate, sales and production cycles.

Avoid Inventory Mistakes with A Inventory App

Retailers who are still using Excel spreadsheets to manage inventory levels aren’t able to reap the full benefits that a quality Inventory application can provide. While Excel is a rather affordable and familiar way of tracking inventory as the business grows, retailers will find that it no longer benefits the organization and can actually slow it down. Believe it or not, how inventory is managed can determine the success of a business. After all, consumer shopping behavior is continually evolving and is experiencing tremendous growth every year. How can you keep up with these changes?

Inventory management applications can help update stock near real-time which can means once every fifteen minutes, every hour or once a day depending on what retailers feel is best. Frequent updating of inventory levels across all selling platforms is made easy with an inventory app. In fact, as soon as you make a sell, inventory should be updated as soon as possible to reflect so that inventory levels are accurate for customers.

Yes, inventory apps allow eCommerce business owners to take control of they’re stockroom. Having access to product stock information at the fingertips gives retailers the confidence they need to make decisions that best benefit the organization. Are you ready to grow your online business and transform your inventory turnover for the best?

Tags: app, avoid, common, inventory, mistakes, using

About the Author

Sunit Nandi I'm the leader of Techno FAQ. Also an engineering college student with immense interest in science and technology. Other interests include literature, coin collecting, gardening and photography. Always wish to live life like there's no tomorrow.