challenges from understanding customer’s demands to manage the proper inventory and other complexities
Owning a business is not a small thing; it requires proper planning and profitability while running a successful business. And when it comes to an e-commerce business, make sure that you are handling it with proper visibility and communication amidst the entire process of the stock accumulation from inventory to the warehouse. Although, you might be aware of how e-commerce ventures are moving, becoming a hub for everything to buy. Yet, these businesses also deal with several challenges from understanding customer’s demands to manage the proper inventory and other complexities.
If we talk about the peak time or season sales, this is the only time when the supply chain and marketplaces face immense havoc, especially retailers who deal with managing orders, inventory, warehouse to final delivery of the consignments. To avoid such difficulties in your retail business, here we’ve tried to discuss about how you can enhance your organization, save your costing and provide a unified experience to all your customers in a single platform.
In essence, inventory is one of the significant assets of a business that represents the investment that is tied up until the item is sold or used in the production. , in case you mismanaged the inventories, it can lead your business to financial problems. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
What is seasonal demand?
There comes a point when the different seasons, events or festival approach that can generate a fluctuation in demand, at that time it becomes a huge responsibility for manufacturers and retailers to avail the best inventories to all the multi-channels so that the customers couldn’t feel unsatisfied. Nobody wants to run out the seasonal items and get the customers to look to your competitors. Conversely, these problems have their solutions, and if you accurately examine it, this will help you to determine the right inventory level to accomplish the customer’s demand.
But, wondering how to predict the right quantity? Primarily, to manage seasonal demand, you need to identify which products are affected by seasonal demand, to recognize when the peaks will happen, accurately forecast the relative size of those peaks compared to regular order. Once you understand these elements, you will be able to optimize your inventory level, seasonal increases, and achieve stock levels during high season sales. As adequate inventory management is necessary for assuring a business has enough stock on hand to meet customer demand.
5 Techniques to manage inventory amidst festive season!
First-In-First-Out (FIFO)- Under this method, you can evaluate the value of inventory available with you at the end of the accounting period and the cost of goods sold during the period. In other words, it is an essential principle of inventory management, which means your oldest stock gets sold first despite your new stock. To manage the FIFO system, you’ll need an organized warehouse so that you can add new products from the back or making sure that the old product stays at the front.
Manage Relationships- Inventory management is important to ensure a business has enough stock to meet customer needs. And as a part of successful inventory management, make sure that you are handling in a proper way. For managing or controlling your inventory in terms of returning slow-selling items, restock a fast seller, drop manufacturing issues or expand your storage space, it’s crucial to have strong relationships with your suppliers. So that they show a willingness to work with you to solve problems. Moreover, a good relationship is not just being friendly. It’s more about clear, proactive communication to let your supplier know when you are foreseeing higher sales, which product is running behind schedule so that they can adjust production and look for temporary substitutes.
Consider Dropshipping- If you are looking for an ideal inventory solution, dropshipping is one of them which counts as a perfect stock management perspective. The most useful dropshipping manage tool is the right software, which includes all range of features to be used by drop shippers. By creating an automated store using dropshipping software can drive your business idea. It allows you to generate more income and take one step further towards financial freedom. It has a complete list of strategies to find what to sell, list them on your store, sync changes from the supplier, and process the orders also, if possible, try to ignore manual drop shipping so that you can overcome more and more human errors.
ABC Inventory management- This technique is based on allocating products into categories in order of value. ABC analysis relies on annual consumption units, inventory value, and cost significance. It prioritizes your inventory management by separating products that need a lot of attention from those who don’t. This will allow you better time management, enable you with accurate inventory optimization.
Contingency Planning- Backup, Backup, Backup! During seasonal sales, a lot of concern arises which sometimes cripple unprepared businesses like if your manufacturer runs out of your product and you have orders to complete. Your manufacture might drop your product without any notice, a slow process of moving product that takes up all storage space, your warehouse doesn’t have enough room to accommodate your seasonal bunch in sales. So the retailers should figure out the risks and prepare a contingency plan to recover the significant disruptions and generate profits.
By following these techniques, you can handle your inventory management during high season sales without any hassle. Also, being a one-stop solution, we make sure that you receive complete automated services at a single platform and get a seamless experience with us.