8 Steps for Mastering Inventory Management with OpSuite

Inventory management is the backbone of any retail operation, overseeing the flow of goods from start to finish. The fierce competition among retail businesses continues to drive the need for efficiency, making it essential to have a robust system in place for inventory management. OpSuite, our comprehensive EPoS solution, is centred around efficient inventory management. In this guide, we’ll share our steps for mastering inventory management with OpSuite: streamlining and optimising these processes for businesses of all sizes.

Understanding Inventory Management

Fundamentally, inventory management includes every product-related task, including ordering, receiving, storing, tracking, and selling for all goods within a business’s inventory. It is the internal process of managing the products within your business, rather than the wider supply chain and production.

If inventory management is a daily struggle for your business, then it’s highly likely that you need to review your processes to see where there is room for improvement. When retail businesses master their inventory management systems, there is more time to focus on wider strategy and plan for the future. So here are our 8 steps for mastering inventory management:

Step 1: Quality Inventory Management Software

We believe that efficient inventory management starts with quality inventory management software. It’s not uncommon to see businesses of varying sizes, continuing to battle with outdated systems that simply don’t meet the demands of the industry. In some cases, inventory management is still a pen and paper task, leaving the business wide open to inaccuracies and lost revenue. If you’re a single store, retail chain, eCommerce brand or an omni-channel enterprise, the key to success lies in the implementation of the right solution.

OpSuite is a comprehensive EPoS solution with powerful inventory management tools, allowing you to keep track of your stock across multiple locations. Combined with handheld mobile devices, OpSuite Mobile allows your sales team and warehouse operatives to scan inventory so any movement of your products is updated in real-time and your data is always reliable.

Step 2: Product Storage

Depending on the size of your business, the size of your storage/warehouse and the type of products you sell, this will impact how you set up your internal systems. If you source and store your inventory in your own storage or warehouse, you will need a system to handle your inventory internally.

However, if you are storing inventory in fulfilment centres or use drop shipping, that will require a system which syncs with the facility holding your inventory.

Step 3: Reliable Inventory Data

Even small retail businesses can hold a large inventory so robust systems for tracking inventory data are essential to make decisions based on accurate data. OpSuite gives retail business owners comprehensive inventory data, enabling you to confidently track quantities on hand, location of products and up-to-date pricing.

Step 4: Create Internal SKUs

In order to create an efficient system for inventory management, retail businesses can utilise a bespoke SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) system, allowing them to identify and track unique products. Within OpSuite, users can create unique SKUs for quick and precise inventory management. Simply scan a barcode and locate your inventory within moments.

Step 5: Storage Optimisation

With reliable and robust inventory management systems in place, the benefits don’t simply stop at being able to locate your inventory. For true inventory success, OpSuite allows retailers to categorise and assign products and product groups to specific locations. For larger storage optimisation, OpSuite’s Multi-Bin module allows for warehouse operatives to locate products to a specific bin and organise products for easy picking routes.

Step 6: Optimise Orders with Forecasting

When retail businesses are trying to remain competitive, mistakes can be made easily when forecasting isn’t used to order more inventory. Badly kept spreadsheets, out-of-date and inaccurate data all stand in the way of making informed, data-driven decisions. Over or under ordering are two sure-fire ways to lose money, with the additional pain of paying for empty storage or having to pay for more. To maximise your bottom line, real-time data is an essential component of forward-planning. OpSuite has advanced forecasting tools based on historical data and market trends so you can plan ahead with confidence and optimise your inventory.

Step 7: Receive Inventory Promptly

Although we prioritise the importance of reliable, real-time data, it’s essential to ensure that your warehouse processes are efficient too. This is particularly important for receiving goods. Where deliveries of stock are coming in, timely processing of the new stock and accurate shelving all contribute to the overall efficiency of your operation. We always recommend checking over your purchase orders and matching it against the delivery to ensure your own inventory is accurate. If warehouse operatives rely solely on external lists which turn out to be incorrect, this will impact the accuracy of your own internal data and potentially cause over or under stocking issues in future that may go unnoticed for months.

Step 8: Regular Monitoring

Like any machine, the way it remains ‘well-oiled’ is through regular maintenance. You may set up your inventory management processes meticulously but the way to spot discrepancies with stock levels is to ensure that you don’t leave it too long between auditing your warehouse. It’s common practice for many retail businesses to do an annual stock take to compare the quantities in stock and the actual quantity on hand. As discrepancies are usually impossible to trace, regularly undertaking partial stock counts are a good way to keep tabs on your inventory on a more regular basis.

Conclusion

Effective inventory management is an essential component of operational success, ensuring the seamless flow of your products. As the competitive nature of retail continues to challenge businesses, they must seek innovative solutions to stay ahead, and the need for a robust inventory management system has never been more critical. 

At RMS, we understand the pivotal role that effective inventory management plays in the overall operational efficiency of businesses. That’s why our EPoS solutions are meticulously crafted to streamline and optimise inventory processes for businesses of varying sizes.

We are committed to empowering businesses to thrive in the competitive retail industry. With OpSuite, retail businesses can master inventory management effortlessly, enabling you to focus on planning for future success.

RMS have worked with ambitious businesses since 2004, supplying tailored software solutions and EPoS hardware from the Shetland Islands to the Seychelles. We work with businesses in most retail verticals, so why not get in touch and challenge us to help you master your inventory.