Calling All Women Entrepreneurs: Top Tips for Managing Your Inventory

When you are entering the realm of running your own business, there are a lot of things that require your attention daily: from relationships with vendors to opportunities to reach out to new clients to managing your employees properly. But when you are in the retail business, then the heart of your company is the one thing that needs to be put as a priority every day: your inventory. It is crucial that your inventory is managed properly every single business day – so do not wait until the end of the year to start implementing these tips.

Imagine the trouble that comes with not having enough products to respond to orders or of having ordered too much stock that sits idly on the self – or worse, goes spoiled. There are many advantages to managing your inventory correctly, and the first one is that it saves you money. You avoid losses that come with products that can no longer be sold because they reached their expiry date – like food – or because they have gone out of style or season or have become obsolete, like clothes or gadgets. It also helps save on the cost of renting out space that you might not need – or renting out too much space for idle produce that you are not making money on. Proper inventory management can help you cut back on all those costs and keep your cash invested where it really matters, while it can also allow you to make more accurate financial projections and manage your resources more efficiently.

It requires some research and effort on your part, but the first thing you need to do is understand your company’s needs. Start by counting and comparing: how many goods have you sold each month and how does that fluctuate with seasonal demand? That will give you an idea of the quantity of products you need to keep available every time. By setting a minimum amount that you need to have in stock every time for each of the products you sell, you will be able to react quickly every time your stock is approaching that limit by ordering more before you sell out. The minimum stock level will depend on various factors, such as the demand for the product, how quickly your stock order can get through, as well as how easy it is for the goods to go bad – it makes sense to set lower minimum levels for goods that will go bad if you do not sell them quickly. Remember to always revisit the minimum stock levels you have set throughout the year and readjust if they do not reflect your real needs any more.

Even if you have set out the more detailed inventory management plan, you might encounter an unforeseen surge or slump – so it is always important to keep your options open and know where you can turn to. One of the best ways to do that is to research your options when it comes to inventory loans and financing. These are short-term loans or revolving lines of credit that are

specifically designed for companies looking for quick funding solutions in order to replenish their inventory. They are usually flexible and come with favorable terms, as they are meant to be a tool to address seasonal fluctuations and not a standing financing mechanism. They are typically secured through your current inventory, so they do not require you to give up any additional collateral. Inventory loans are also quite quick to process and do not require any personal credit score. However, they are not always easy to qualify for, so it is advisable to do some research beforehand; even if you do not foresee that you will need inventory financing in the near future, knowing the types of financing available to you might come in handy when you need to react quickly.

One common misconception among entrepreneurs is that you need to do everything yourself; to the contrary, making sure that you allocate tasks to your employees is key for efficiently running your business. More often than not, your employees are the ones that will manage your inventory daily, so they need to be prepared. Perhaps the most essential skill that you need to make sure they have in order to successfully manage your inventory is proper cataloguing and tracking your inventory goods. Do not hesitate to invest resources and time in training them on best practices in order to organize your inventory in the most effective manner – and also make sure that you regularly get feedback from them on what works and what not in order to finetune the details. It is advisable to put a specific employee in charge of your inventory in regular intervals in order to have a person of reference that you can talk with directly about your current needs in terms of stock.

Keeping track of what goes in and out and making sure that you never run out of stock nor stock up too much – they may sound pretty straightforward goals, but it takes a lot of organizing and testing in order to get things just right.