Techniques For Effective Retail Inventory Management:

Posted by Anup Sharma on September 2nd, 2022

Retail businesses face many challenges when it comes to inventory management. In this article, we'll look at the different types of inventory that a retail business might have, how to track and manage it, and explore some methods for reducing inventory costs.

By the end of this guide, you'll have everything you need to successfully manage your retail inventory!

What is Retail Inventory Management? 

Inventory management is a process of handling, ordering, storing, and managing a company's non-capitalized products. This also includes raw materials. Most organizations deal with non-capitalized finished stock items that are ready for sale.

Inventory management is vital because it allows you to keep the right amount of inventory while minimizing the cost of goods sold.

There are several techniques that retailers can use to manage their inventory, including: 

1. In-Store Tracking: Retailers use in-store tracking software to keep track of individual items. That way, they can determine what sells well and what needs to be reordered. This information can determine which items are selling well and which need to be reordered.

2. Stock Rotation: Retailers can rotate stock to reduce the number of times an item needs to be stocked, as well as cut down on storage costs. Rotating stock allows customers to easily see newer or different products, which in turn can improve customer service.

3. Warehousing: If a retailer doesn't have enough storage space in its stores, they may need to outsource inventory to warehouses. Warehouses offer lower storage rates and wider availability than traditional retail stores.

Importance of Inventory Management in Retail: 

Inventory management has become an essential aspect of retail stores because it minimizes inventory shortages, reduces the time lost between orders and spoilage, and increases profits.

Available stock matters to purchasers. If too much product is available, it leads to lower sales revenue. If too little product is available, it leads to higher sales costs.

All these factors ultimately help companies in reducing out-of-the-stock scenarios and increasing profits.

How Retail Inventory Management Differs from Traditional Inventory Management 

Inventory management can be categorized into two divisions: retail and other types. Retail management is designed specifically for businesses that sell products to the public, while other types may only involve tracking product quantities.

Retail inventory management also comes with managing when and how products are sold. This consists of deciding which products are in stock at a given time, and determining when products should be sold. E.g: during peak shopping seasons

How Often Do Retail Stores Stock Inventory ? 

When it comes to retail inventory management, the answer to this question is crucial. Many stores believe they should take inventory every week, but this is not necessary. 

A good rule of thumb is to take an inventory at least once a month, ideally every two weeks. This way, you will always have an accurate picture of what’s available, and you can adjust your inventory accordingly.

What are the best practices for Retail Inventory Management ? 

When managing inventory, there are a few best practices you should keep in mind.

Track retail inventory efficiently.

First and foremost, always keep an accurate inventory count. This will help you determine when and where to restock items and manage your inventory costs effectively. 

Additionally, ensure that your shelves are evenly stocked and that all items are correctly labeled. 

You can use a few different methods to track your inventory, and the choice depends on how much information you want to keep track of. 

You can use an app like Axonator’s real inventory management app to keep track of inventory levels and sales. This is a good option if you want to keep track of detailed information about each product. 

The app also comes with a QR-code system to track store product quantities. Using a scan, you can log or access complete information like product quantity, name, numbers, expiration date, etc.

Doing these things ensures that your inventory is constantly improving while reducing costs associated with incorrect or inaccurate data.

Track Inventory Location

Monitoring where inventory is located and stored enables you to stay ahead of the competition and ensure that your products are available when customers need them.  Information about the inventory location will help you improve logistics planning to keep the store stocked with customers’ desired products.

Keep a Record of Defective Stocks

One of the essential aspects of managing inventory is keeping track of defective stocks. This involves tracking all the faulty products in your store so that you can find and fix them as quickly as possible. This will help you keep your shelves clean and reduce the amount of wasted product.

Plan and Adjust Proper Inventory Cycles

It’s essential to adjust your inventory cycles appropriately to keep your store in stock and generate the most revenue possible. Here are three tips to help you change your inventory cycles:

1. Know your Customer Base – When you know what types of products your customers are most likely to buy, you can better predict when they’ll need to buy more of those products. This information can help you adjust your inventory accordingly.

2. Be Mindful of Seasonal Trends – Certain items, like sweaters in the winter, tend to sell out quickly. By understanding these trends, you can be better prepared to adjust your inventory as needed.

3. Plan Ahead– A good plan for how much product you’ll need in each category will help you make informed decisions about when to order new inventory and reduce or eliminate stock from your store.

Axonator for Retail Inventory Management: 

Axonator is the perfect no-code solution that can help retail organizations with streamlining inventory management. Our platform will also prevent any complications by having tons of features, making it easy for you to find the right one for your business.

Axonator has other innovations for the retail industry beyond inventory management, such as streamlining audits, complying with requests, and managing facilities.

Numerous industries and organizations use Axonator to automate field workflows, achieving digital transformation in record time and cost.

Why Axonator? 

• World’s first mobile-focused & Highly customizable no-code architecture to support real-world scenarios.

• Deploy enterprise-grade solutions rapidly as per unique requirements

• Achieve paperless retail inventory management

• Generate reports automatically and automated data collection for trends and analytics

• Streamline processes and implements a fully automated system within weeks using Axonator’s MicroApp strategy.

Available on Android, iOS, and the web, Axonator is a highly customizable no-code field workflow automation platform mainly used to transform your paper and spreadsheet-based manual processes and improve retail inventory management in numerous industries.

Axonator offers several simple and ready-to-use enterprise-grade apps for field workflows like inspections, audits, facilities management, and work orders that organizations can use to replace paper, spreadsheet & cumbersome desktop-based manual processes with mobile & tablet apps.