Stock Control Got You Down? 4 Tips For Businesses With Stock Management Problems
Stock management is a beast that regularly needs tackling in the working world. It’s something that can become a mess without you even noticing, but the next time you step into your stockroom, you can’t find a single thing you really need.
That’s not conducive to a healthy and operational workplace. In fact, it’s going to slow things down, cause a lot of disruption, and could even impact on your level of customer service. And when the customers start to be affected by poor inventory control, you could have a whole host of new problems on your hands!
So let’s take the reins here and see if we can make stock management problems a thing of the past. Here are four tips for keeping your inventory in good condition that you might not have thought about.
Know What’s Going Both In AND Out
If you don’t track both sides of the equation, the sheets you’re using to keep stock flow under control will never add up. This means you’re more likely to make mistakes over ordering more products, and you may run out of the items that make you a good bit of profit prematurely.
Turning away customers due to stock issues is sometimes seen as a good thing, thanks to how supply and demand works, but this shouldn’t arise from a poor stock management system. Know what’s going in AND coming out and never pay one column more attention than the other.
Design a Storage System That Works for You
This doesn’t mean use a system that’s been designed for optimum efficiency and is common in working setups. Using a pre-designed layout could be good for your business, but it can also hamper it in other ways. Namely, if that layout still isn’t good for you, nothing is really going to get fixed.
Instead, you should focus on creating a storage system that’s truly innovative for your own unique way of doing things. Address this by bringing up common issues that no other system has been able to resolve, and brainstorm them with your team.
If you all pitch in to make notes on how things in your stockroom should work, you’ll get plenty of perspectives on the matter - including a few you may not have thought about.
Get a Warehouse
A warehouse is one of the best physical assets a business can rely on, simply due to the sheer size of the usable space inside. A warehouse is a large stockroom that’s much easier to plan out and assign, and when you can use one to keep your stock in the right place and always moving, you’ll deal with fewer long term costs overall.
So, do you have a warehouse for your business? If not, don’t worry. You’ve got a lot of options to look into here. Firstly, you can always hire warehouse space from someone else. This means you don’t have to manage the place yourself but you still get to keep your stock safe. Of course, you have less control overall, and the costs of renting the space could get high.
You can also use a steel building and construct a warehouse of your own. Steel buildings are easy to set up, thanks to how they can be prefabricated, and if you’ve got any space to put one in, you can have the building designed to your specifications. This will require a good bit of room, but it tends to be a better investment overall.
Have a Separate Section for Returned/Damaged Stock
If you don’t, there’s every chance damaged stock will be sent out to new customers. That’s not a good thing to let happen!
It showcases a lack of care within your business, but it also means the customer spends good money on your product and the delivery, and without seeing that value in the shipped item, they may never come back again.
Even if you rectify the error and refund them, it’s not a good look. So keep this kind of stock separate from the rest and make sure it’s been clearly signposted.
You don’t have to struggle with stock management over and over again. There’s a lot you can do to smooth out the process and make stockroom issues a thing of the past - even if it turns out you need a lot more room than you first thought! Simply put, when stock control has got you down, use tips like these to build yourself back up again.
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