Five Inventory Secrets Every Business Should Be Using

Savannah Coulsen

February 25, 2014

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It's only natural that business owners focus on the product they are selling. After all, that's what ultimately brings in the money. However, too many business owners overlook how important effective inventory strategies are to overall success. Let's face it, there's no way your product can fly off the shelves if you haven't got the inventory to put them there in the first place.

Track Product Flow

The unpredictable and disorganized flow of products can greatly undermine your profits. The key is to be able to track the flow of your products and the materials needed to make them. This not only helps to make sure that you have enough product and supplies on hand, but allows helps you to recognize bargains and bulk buying opportunities.

Expand Online Reach

Perhaps tracking your inventory will show you that your products are sitting on shelves unsold. Provided there are no product quality issues, the problem may be that you are just not making your product available over a wide enough market. Do you sell online? If not, get a website and start. If you already sell online, is your website appealing and up to date? Don't just sell to the neighborhood, sell to the world!

Modernize Bookkeeping

It doesn't matter how well you track your products and supplies if nothing gets done with the information. That means having a professional, computer savvy bookkeeping operation that knows what to be on the look out for and who will alert you to what needs your attention.

New Marketing Tools

You are probably already doing all the basics such as advertising and brand building. Yet, sometimes being a little unconventional can work wonders. Try grassroots efforts like flyers and stickers. Make a video. Try something you haven't done before, it just may turn out to be what you need to move more inventory.

Cultivate Supplier Relationships

Business owners are motivated by the price of their supplies. However, sometimes the best policy is to cultivate a special relationship with a single supplier who will provide greater security. For example, if your product uses a lot of fasteners, nuts and bolts, then you might focus your purchases on a specialty supplier like Mid-states Bolt and Screw in order to guarantee a reliable price and supply. Greater security and less price fluctuation will result.

Organization, market range, good info, creative marketing and suppliers relationships all combine to create the organization that is the secret to effective inventory management.