Have you found that your current inventory management system just isn’t working as well as it used to?

There are a few reasons why this may be happening: your business is growing, and the system is failing to keep up. Or the system simply doesn’t match your business as well as it should or as well as it used to. 

Luckily, there are some sure-fire ways to make sure that you have an efficient inventory management system, which will be explored here. Enjoy!

Folders

Just like a desktop, one way to ensure the inventory management system you have is working as it needs to is to make sure that the items are separated into folders.

This folder-based management system helps with inventory organization by allowing the person who runs the business to divide all of the items. Best of all, you get to choose! So, if you have multiple locations, you can do it by ZIP code, or if you have a large, single clothing store, you can do it via clothing item grouping or even colour.

Photos

For many businesses that sell fabric, fashion, and beauty, there is a lot to say about investing in an inventory management system that comes with photos. 

This will allow you and your staff to identify which item is where with a simple scan on the side of a box. However, if you are selling something fairly basic, where colour is not overly important, it may be worth looking at an IMS with a simpler format. 

Suitability

As odd as it sounds, you need to make sure that your inventory management system suits your business.

Why? Well, it would be fairly odd for a company that sells ballpoint pens to invest in an advanced inventory management system that has HD photos and top-notch color images. You need to make sure that the system matches what it is that you are trying to store. If you need a high-resolution image-based inventory management system, then you are likely to be involved in the make-up industry or clothing industry, where the cut of fabric and the color are important. If you are selling steel girders, you probably won’t need something like that to check the items you have in stock. 

In addition, you need to make sure that the management system you have for your inventory is scalable. If your business grows, you will want the system to grow. If your business downsizes, then you don’t want to be paying for features that you won’t use! 

QR Systems

How do QR systems help in an inventory management system?

There are a few ways; they prevent you from needing to print off loads of paper, which breaks down product descriptions. They also ensure that a snapshot of the product you are stocking in your stock room is accessible via a simple scanning. So, they are also more effective for many businesses, especially those based around food, and may require more stringent stock rotation and monitoring measures.

Training

You cannot underestimate the role of staff when it comes to managing any inventory system. It is true that in 2024, the machines will be doing most of the sorting and ordering, but you will need to train your staff to ensure that the system runs as it needs to. 

So, whether you opt for a cloud-based inventory management system or one based on photography, you should ensure that all of the staff who work for you have the training they need.