If you have just started your retail business, you must have found out by now that managing your inventory is not an easy job. It takes hundreds of Excel sheets and a lot of effort to ensure that you have everything in the right amount and at the right time. So, here are some tried and tested inventory management tips to help you get a hang of this whole thing.

1. Actively track and update your stock levels

Not managing the stock level of every item is one of the biggest mistakes that most retailers do. So, make sure you have this under control. Develop a practice of updating the on-hand quantity of the items every time you close a sale with a customer. And don’t forget to adjust the stock level of items in case of refunds, returns, exchanges, etc. This way, you’ll have a well-maintained inventory record at your place.

So, check ‘the practice of maintaining your inventory records on a daily basis’ off of your list. 

2. Do physical inventory count once a week

Now, the next thing on your inventory management list is to do a physical inventory count at least once a week. What this means is that you manually count the number of pieces of every item you have in store and cross-check the on-hand quantity of every item with its on-record quantity. This adds an extra layer of accuracy to your inventory records, so you can spot the items that are running short and need to be reordered. 

Pro-Tip: Doing physical inventory count is a mortifying task, so a few boxes of pizza and cans of soda will keep your spirits up during this process.

3. Timely reorder your low stocks

Add a column of ‘minimum stock quantity’ in your Excel sheet and fill this up for all your items. Compare the minimum stock quantity number of all items with their on-hand quantity to identify your low stock items. And once you do, copy all those items in a document and call it the “low stock report”. Now, you can place an order for all the items in your low stock report in one go. 

Pro-Tip: Do this process once you’re done with your weekly physical inventory count, so you have the accurate on-hand stock record.

4. Automate your stock ordering process

Talking about the ordering of your low stock inventory, if you’re planning to go to your vendors’ websites, placing separate orders for different items, then calling them up to know the status of your shipment, you’re putting yourself in hot waters. It’s a tiring process and you need to automate it as much as you can. For example, you can talk to your vendors to help you cut the process short. You can simply email them your low stock report and ask them to automatically place an order for those items. If that’s too much for you to ask, at least they can send you email or SMS updates about the status of your order shipment, so you don’t have to ring them up five times a day.

5. Keep a record of each item’s physical location

So, once you receive your ordered inventory items, it’s time to put them on your shelves and update their on-hand quantity record. When you do that, make sure you note down the physical location of each item in a separate column in your Excel sheet. So, the next time you need to sell an item, you can look at the sheet and know exactly where to find it (bin1, bin2, shelf1, shelf2, etc.).

6. Sync your inventory with your online store

If you’re running a retail store, you cannot miss having an online store, right? Because people love to shop online and so, you need to put your store on the online map. And while you do that, it’s important to update the stock levels of your online store just as much as doing it on your physical one. 

7. Always stay stocked on your most popular items

Do you know that doing a little homework on your inventory can help you a lot in increasing your sales? All you have to do is find out about your best-selling items and keep them in stock at all times. It’s simple. Just keep an eye on the items that go low on stock more frequently and more quickly and you’ll know what your customers have been loving the most. So, you can reorder them in time and drive more sales.

Closing Thoughts

Running a retail business comes with a lot of hassles. Inventory management is the most draining of them all. Follow the above tips to manage your inventory in the best way possible and even have a little fun with it. Want a more efficient and professional approach?

Get yourself an inventory management software!

One piece of software will automate everything and help you manage your inventory like a pro.

✅ Automatic stock updates every time you sell something with the point-of-sale screen of the software. So, no more Excel sheets and manual hard work of counting and updating your inventory records.

✅ Automated low stock report.

✅ Integrations with the most-trusted vendors, so you can fetch your low stock items from the report and place your orders within seconds.

✅ WooCommerce integration to help you set up your online store with automatic syncing of all your inventory records.

✅ Automated sales-by-item report to help you identify your best-selling items.

✅ ..and more!

See, with the right inventory management software, you can implement all the best practices and manage everything without breaking a sweat. All you have to do is add your inventory items in the software once and the system will take you from there. And, fret not, you don’t have to invest a lot of time and energy in that. Because you can do that by simply importing your Excel sheet in the system with just a few clicks.

There you have our practical tips and tricks to take the best care of the inventory of your retail business. We hope you try them and it works out well for you. Have a good one!