Many business owners state that the biggest challenge in administering their business comes in stock and inventory management. While many companies have organised methods of capital investment in inventory, over 43% of small companies have reported using manual processes or no tracking methods for handling their inventory.
Understanding your inventory requirements and a fair knowledge of stocks in hand should be the goal of a successful and viable inventory management system. While companies have a lot of similar products and various products segmented into sections based on price range and popularity, having every product segregation manually can be tedious and error prone. An automated system of inventory management can help businesses to keep a track of its inventory based on different segments and categories and also understand the demand trend on each product.
In case of a manual inventory control system, customers have to go through a lot of issues while dealing with these retailers like :-
1. Unorganised Order Delivery
In different e-commerce enterprises, the mismanagement of inventory creates a shadow over the delivery of products, resulting in a deficiency of order organization. Firms most commonly find themselves struggling with either insufficient documented order system or a failure to gather any important details in the agitation of an unorganized monitoring system. The resultant is a delivery system in confusion, filled with insufficiency and customer dissatisfaction.
Customers, well-recognised as the lifeblood of any business, most commonly voice concerns associated with the receiving of incorrect products or deliveries taking place at inconvenient times. Specifically, organizations implementing common manual methods for monitoring the orders find themselves susceptible to mistakes, contributing to a chain reaction of mismanagement throughout the delivery procedure.
2. Delayed Delivery
The journey from obtaining raw materials to transporting the end product to customers demands quiet careful attention to detail throughout several business processes. When a well-organized system is deficient, the consequences are extensive. Raw materials may be either unobtainable or delayed from the supplier’s end, activating a chain reaction that resonates through the overall supply chain. Furthermore, internal mismanagement in product management and packing can further result in delays in order deliveries.
The consequences of delayed delivery elevates beyond the logistical domain, creating a similar shadow over businesses and customer satisfaction. The financial toll of such delays can be substantial, resulting in inventory imbalances and operational deficiencies. More imperatively, an unsatisfactory customer experience may come out, tarnishing the reputation of the organization and influencing customer loyalty.
3. Mismanaged return processes
In case we have unorganised product management system, many cases might be reported of incorrect or bad quality products to be delivered to end customers. In this case, many customers either decline to accept the delivery or call for a return. In both cases, a proper channel of item return needs to be maintained to gain confidence of customers to handle unforeseen circumstances. But an organisation of mismanaged inventory system will either not take the return system diligently or mismanage the process as well.
These returns and repetitive transport expenses for product delivery causes great losses and inventory pile ups for the businesses.
4. Lost merchandise
As we all know, if we don’t take care of our things, someone else would. Many manual inventory systems complain about lost merchandise or no records of raw material deliveries. These can easily be possible if you don’t have a proper channel through which inventory is tracked in and out of your warehouses.
In most of the cases, employees who know the limitations of the process will be involved to leverage the unorganised processes in the business and take advantage of no tracking of products in the warehouses.
A lot of startups and small companies face business failure due to these unorganised and illegal inventory mismanagement.
5. Backorders
Each and every company runs into unexpected high demands. These sudden shifts in the demand will contribute to the digital age, when the product suddenly gains popularity the right person shares the experience on social media. When customers are following the latest trends, backorders are frustrating for the retailers. They have a big impact on profitability. If your company is the only company that is offering high demand items, you have a corner in the market.
6. Complicated Return process
Effective inventory control does not only affect the purchase it also affects the return process. Without the right system, particular items will not be in peak season or probably be discontinued. ALtogether this can be a challenge to your staff and customers might be frustrated. When it comes to drop-shipping, returns are a big problem. Fulfilling the orders too late will lead to an increase in returns.
How can an Inventory CRM software help?
1. Inventory auditing
Auditing your products on a regular basis is one of the keys to manage your inventory efficiently. Many small scale companies either do not audit their warehouses ever or do it on an annual basis, These cause a lot of reordering and lost merchandise due to improper vigilance of the warehouse whereabouts.
Routine check and regular auditing for every quarter or monthly will help in keeping a check on the inventory movement for the warehouses.
2. Organised product data
SalesBabuCRM is a cloud based inventory management software which provides an organized system of data storage and management through a centralised database. This database will be accessible by different stakeholders at ant time. Every product entering or leaving the warehouse, respective delivery dates, contact information, quantity order and more, everything is clearly recorded in these database which helps in an organised system of delivery management and raw material tracking.
Also, SalesBabuCRM provides various challans and GRN to the end customers to track the quality and quantity of delivery done and acknowledge it with the feedback in real time. This creates a mode of trust between the customers and business management and takes our business to new heights of success.
Read More – Cloud based inventory management software for manufacturing
3. Demand forecasting and analysis
Once we understand our demand supply chain better, we will be in a better place to track and manage our stock in a more organised manner. SalesBabu CRM provides an efficient inventory management system to avoid poor inventory control by demand forecasting the appropriate amount of stock requirements in our warehouses.
SalesBabu Inventory CRM has numerous in-build and customer report generation facilities which can help to understand the demand trends of various products and create statistics and forecast mechanism of the required stock for the business.
Also, with these reports we can also track the returned or improper delivery done by service agents to understand the reasons of these customer complains and check on the specification of the root cause. These proactive methods help in reducing product return cases and improve our overall business profitability.
Read More – 5 Ways to Boost Your Inventory Management Systems
4. Get Rid of obsolete stock
Old and obsolete stock is another cause of inventory mismanagement. In many cases, small scale companies, pile up a lot of old and returned stocks which cause mismanaged and unorganised warehouse stocking. It causes no space for new stock and also leads to lost merchandise due to theft and mishandling of products.
Steps of promotional sales or discount offers should be applied on old stocks to reduce it from warehouse and use the space for products in demand.
5. Just in time Inventory (JIT) method
JIT inventory methods helps in ordering only the required amount of stocks for the storage which helps in better handling of limited amount of products and also avoids mishandling and theft cases.
Also, JIT methods helps in avoiding over stocking and free up a lot of liquid cash of the organisation which can be invested in better product procurement methods.
6. Reduce Lead time
The reason behind delay in delivery is majorly due to increased lead time from the suppliers. If the suppliers are late, so will be the final production and delivery to end customers.
Lead time reduction from the suppliers helps in inventory management in following ways:
- Less safety stock inventory – With consistent delivery cycle, companies need not keep safety stock to maintain smooth production cycle.
- Order less stock more frequently – With consistent delivery cycle, firms can order less quantity of stock and manage it in a better way.
7. Better customer services
Better customer services mean more loyal customers and better sales numbers. By integrating the inventory management and CRM software, the agents of your call center customer services will provide the best customer services to whoever calls in. If the order is placed through the phone, the employees will be able to provide the information easily without running into the warehouse or sending emails to the other department to get the information. As the inventory numbers are integrated with the system, all the different departments will be able to update their part of their responsibilities.
8. Increase efficiency
Too much inventory sitting on the shelves of warehouses might cost the businesses money. Small businesses do not have the budget. None of the businesses like to see the products remaining stationary. The goal of these two integrated systems is to collect and analyze the data so that your business can order the products wisely, have enough to take care of all the needs for that period of time, and the main thing not having overstock.
Read More – 4 Reasons for Carrying Safety Stock Inventory
Conclusion
With customer centricity as the talk of the town, companies can’t afford to have customer complaints stemming up an inventory business. SalesBabuCRM acts as the perfect bridge between the end customer and the business to create a systematic and organised management system of the stock in the warehouses
