How to Increase Efficiency in your E-Commerce Inventory Management

Table of contents –

• Introduction
• What is e-commerce inventory management
• Benefits of e-commerce inventory management
• Ways to boost efficiency in your e-commerce inventory management
• Conclusion

Introduction

Running an online retail operation involves many logistical complexities that need to get handled systematically. It requires tracking everything that you have in stock and ensures the product price are mentioned correctly and in the right locations at the correct times. As per Euromonitor research, e-commerce will escalate as the fastest-growing retail channel all over the world till 2022. If you think of boosting your sales, crafting an attractive and responsive website is the first thing to do. But what about the back-office operation work management that directly affects what you are going to deliver to your customers.

Business owners are continuously looking to improve their warehouse’s efficiency, making their production and distribution cheaper, quicker, and more efficient. With the evolving technology aspects, there are so many ways to improve your e-commerce inventory management efficiency.

What is e-commerce inventory management

Talking about e-commerce inventory management, it can be defined as measuring the location, amount, pricing, and products from your business. With the help of e-commerce inventory management, business owners can understand what products are in-stock, overstocked, out of stock, and understocked. It is always essential to understand your e-commerce inventory’s importance and manage it properly to avoid product loss.

Benefits of e-commerce inventory management

1. Enhanced service delivery for your buyers
2. Lower overhead
3. Direct investment approach
4. Better marketing results on e-commerce platforms
5. Less stress
6. Improved quality of life
7. Ability to meet market expectations
8. Improvisation in meeting customers’ expectations

Ways to boost efficiency in your e-commerce inventory management

●     Expanding the forecasting of your inventory

It is a robust approach to expand the forecasting of your inventory. By doing this, you will be able to keep your business informed ahead of time. Forecasting is highly essential considering future demand and market fluctuations. You can not always predict what will happen in the market, but you can confidently track which product will take a massive spike in the month and the holiday season. You can pursue two inventory forecasting models, i.e., Quantitative forecasting and Qualitative forecasting. You can consider both as per their importance and then can adopt that model for your e-commerce business.

Quantitative forecasting includes utilizing past deals information to anticipate future interest. The more information you have relating to a consistent client base, the more exact the forecasts are probably going to be. For example, if your information shows clients have purchased even more a specific thing during March for every one of the most recent eight years, at that point you can be sure that the example will proceed.

Qualitative forecasting includes anticipating request dependent on elements that are more hard to decide, for example, expected interest and various elusive market influences. This kind of gauging requires a specialist comprehension of the market (and best of luck); however, this model can be strikingly successful when it goes toward you.

●     Integrating Artificial Intelligence Tools

AI tools are increasingly becoming the new norm to replace repetitive and tedious human tasks. Artificial intelligence tools are utilized even in normal peoples’ lives to reduce manual efforts and save time. For reducing workload in the e-commerce sector, businesses are integrating artificial intelligence tools to boost work efficiency.

●     Automating stock control

Whether you are running a small company or a huge enterprise, maintaining manual inventory is still a tedious and time-consuming task. It is normal to understand that humans make mistakes, and the employees you will hire are also prone to make mistakes and errors. Manual work takes time in doing entries and keeping a record of inventory. Automated e-commerce inventory management software can take full care of complex tasks with more precision and efficiency. The inventory levels are tracked using the barcode scanner and transmitted wirelessly to the cloud data storage, saving local technical issues from damaging the system.

●     Evaluating products

Having heavy stock in your inventory can be a difficult situation for your e-commerce store. For maintaining a systematic and accurate selection of your products, you must invest in data. There are so many inventory management systems available in the market that you must use for taking care of your left products. With a proper system, you will be able to analyze how many products are left and how fast you can sell them by offering special offers and discounts.

●     Emergency plan

No matter how you plan things for your business and how they will get executed in reality, sometimes things are not in your control. There may come such a time in your business when you are selling something, and it is not availbale. The reason for unavailability can be anything like the package was destroyed in transit or any other. In such a case, are you going to wait for the return or send it for the replacement? How will you inform your customer? Here comes an emergency plan that can save you from making any wrong decision. A properly planned policy and transparent communication method can save you from a disaster sale.

●     Knowing seasonal demand

Keeping track of seasonal demands is a huge factor to keep in mind when running an e-commerce business. Understand what kind of brand you are selling and how it will help you get a higher quantity of products. All these will result in increased sales and ROI of your e-commerce business.

●     Properly investing in training

Automation is very powerful, but you can not automate everything. Still, you can do many things with it and eradicate human efforts. All these require a lot of training that you will get from your retail team. You can use a better platform that will allow you permission-based access for every team of your operations. Learning how an automation system works for your e-commerce inventory is indeed the best thing to do.

●     Managing returns quickly

Managing returns quickly is the key to make customers happy and win their trust. It is not possible to run a business flawlessly unless you face some problems. The most common problem that any e-commerce business faces issues with product returns. Managing returns quickly and efficiently will help you in keeping your business in a good position. In the end, you will be able to serve your motto of keeping your customers happy!

●     Dropshipping

While it’s far-fetched that a retail operation with the requirement for inventory management would need, or be capable, to move altogether to a dropshipping model, it could merit considering direct items. Maybe there is an item that used to be hard to gain, however, is presently promptly accessible through outsourcing providers—on the off chance that it doesn’t sell that well, or on the off chance that it only doesn’t make that much benefit, at that point get out your provisions and offer it as a dropshipping item all things considered. Your clients won’t ever know the distinction, and you’ll have the option to get a good deal toward the back.

●     Renegotiation for supply chain

Inventory management isn’t just about what you have and what you need — it likewise includes how you get it and the amount you pay for it. It’s completely conceivable to have an exceptionally strong and reasonable Inventory management system that produces awful outcomes in light of the fact that your provider rates aren’t suitable.

However long you’re good to go, look out for occasions to tie down better rates or new plans to improve your overall revenues. It might come to pass that your principle supply relationship was masterminded when your business was completely new and held no influence at all, however since your business is flourishing, that relationship should be updated as needs be.

Conclusion

Inventory management is significant for any retail business, from the littlest store to the most predominant e-commerce business juggernaut. Attempt the above-defined inventory management techniques, and you’ll see that you end up with less mistakes, more prominent benefits, and a substantially more sensible remaining task at hand.

Author Bio –

Aditi Shembekar

I believe that Writing is not a competition or fear. Writing is an art, a passion, a love. Applying these thoughts in my writing, I always put my strong efforts while writing on any topic. I love writing and technology is my favorite part. Food is my strength as well as weakness 😉