Keeping track of stock is one of the biggest headaches experienced by businesses of all sizes at some stage.

 

To make a start in improving your stock control system, IBT’s Lead NetSuite Tech Expert, Jebin Varghese, looks at one of the key culprits of poorly performing inventory – negative inventory (or ‘underwater inventory’).

 

He examines what is negative inventory (or ‘underwater inventory’), how does it impact costs and profits and what can an automated Cloud platform do about it?

 

 

Efficient Inventory performance impacts growth, productivity and profitability

Smart inventory management matters on so many levels! It touches most parts of your business.

Inventory management gives you the insights you need to test various solutions and make smarter decisions faster.

But neglecting inventory through inefficient systems and processes can leave gaping holes that show up as:

• poor customer service
• missed sales opportunities
• poor customer retention
• old and inaccurate data skewing reports – financial and operational
• marketing missing the mark through lack of real time business intelligence

Key to a smart inventory system is accurate real time data

Although there are manual “solutions” like spreadsheets or the basic pen-and-paper combination, proper inventory management optimises and automates activities that support the entire business ecosystem. Without this automation and organisation, manually tracking inventory quantities and order statuses eats up unnecessary time that can be better spent elsewhere.

Automating your inventory on one cloud based centralised platform is the only system that delivers accurate data and reporting in real time, available to all staff anywhere, anytime.

If you need a better inventory management system, here are four reasons why one might be crucial to the growth of your business, your team and your bottom line:

1. INVENTORY AUTOMATION IS KEY TO INCREASING SALES

Inventory control is a key driver of sales performance. When inventory is travelling in and out of your warehouse, the more you know about where it’s going and when it will be replaced, the more effective your sales efforts

2. MARKETING NEEDS ACCURATE REAL TIME DATA TO MAKE IT FUNCTION PROPERLY

When it’s easy to analyse your best selling inventory, you can focus on testing various marketing tactics to improve sales. If you can see that Product A is your best seller among a particular group of people, you can curate content and
products that better connect with that group. Or, if you know Product B is selling well and at a higher margin, you can promote it more visibly on your website. This kind of data helps you confidently justify every marketing decision you make.

3. CUSTOMER RETENTION TOTALLY RELIES ON REAL ACCURATE STOCK QUANTITIES

Unpredictability turns customers away, especially if you capture their interest only for them to learn it’s out of stock. Even worse, you can’t tell them when and how they can get it in future. Like when a customer goes out of his or her way to complete a transaction online, committing to complete a transaction only to learn the item purchased is unavailable. They drop out of your website as a lost sale, a bad impression of your business, never to be seen again but sure to tell their friends not to bother with your business.

Having a strong handle on inventory quantities in real-time is crucial to avoiding situations like this. Improve customer retention by implementing an inventory management system that gives your team quick access to stock quantities and order tracking. You can act much faster to avoid situations that may lead to negative reviews.

4. CENTRALISED DATA INPUT AND COMMUNICATIONS IMPROVES BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE AND COMMUNICATION

Working from a centralised system eliminates confusion and encourages employee engagement. Imagine if your team could log into a real-time view of what’s being picked, packed, paid and shipped. Inventory management helps you stop endless email threads and constant questioning and gets your team on the same (inventory) page.

Also as your team grows, it takes a lot of energy to get new employees up-to-speed. Simple cloud-based inventory management software allows you to easily train your team members on how your operations work.

About Jebin Varghese

Jebin is IBT’s Oracle NetSuite Lead Solution Consultant.

Jebin is an ERP Consultant with over 3 years of experience delivering over 50 projects and implementations for SME’s with Oracle NetSuite. Previously he had 9 yrs of experience in IT Systems and Database administration before turning to ERP Consultation. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering, Jebin uses his IT knowledge to extend his skills on implementations, customisations of NetSuite, SuiteAnalytics and SuiteFlow. Jebin has been exposed to various industries such as Wholesale Distribution, Manufacturing, General Business and Professional Services.

For further practical hints and tips from Jebin on how to get the most from NetSuite, you can find his ‘Ask Jebin’ Q&A series in our NetSuite Resources page or in IBT’s Blog/News.

If you need help or have questions, email Jebin on jvarghese@wordpress-376167-1178294.cloudwaysapps.com or contact our NetSuite Practice Leader, Alan Barton on m: 0477 247 077 or abarton@wordpress-376167-1178294.cloudwaysapps.com