Managing business inventory for your small business requires a tremendous amount of detail. Business owners have to keep track of incoming inventory, current inventory, and processed inventory. If the inventory is not tracked diligently, the unorganized inventory will become a bookkeeping and inventory management disaster.
To help you better manage your business inventory, here are four tips you can use.
1. Store Old Inventory In a Heat-Controlled Storage Unit
Once the new season arrives, it is time to store your old inventory and make room in your store to display the new inventory!
If you are running out of space in your store or if you do not have a secure perimeter, rent a heat-controlled storage unit.
By renting a climate-controlled storage unit, you will be able to:
- Protect items from extreme heat, cold, or humidity. A heat-controlled storage unit continuously circulates the air which keeps the air in the storage unit clean. This efficient circulation of air prevents your stored items from being exposed to harmful levels of humidity and dryness, which could potentially cause damage.
- Manage humidity control level. This control is critical in preserving your items in good condition because your items may warp or decay if there is too much humidity in the air. By storing your items in a heat-controlled storage unit, you will keep your belongings in a space with approximately 55% base humidity.
- Protect items from pests. Dissimilar to outdoor storage units that are not completely sealed, indoor climate-controlled storage units are fully sealed, which prevents unwanted guests, such as bugs, rodents, or moths, from invading your storage and damaging your items.
- Protect items from debris. Heat-controlled storage units are located deep within a storage facility and have sealed and insulated roofs, walls, and floors. This robust sealing helps prevent dust and debris from entering your climate-controlled unit.
2. Keep Track of Your Low-Turn Stock
Low-turn stock is a product that has not sold in the last 6 to 12 months. It is a good business strategy to store a low-turn product and make space for your top sellers. For example, if you have some winter coats that are not selling well, you can store the coats in a storage unit to make space for other items. To promote the winter coats, you can use digital marketing approaches such as sending out email campaigns or promoting them through social media or your eCommerce website so your customers can purchase them online.
In addition, you can store these coats for the next short while in a storage unit and bring them out again when it is autumn or winter season and you can promote the coat actively through heavy discounts or promotions.
Using this approach helps your business greatly reduce the amount of wasted space in your store.
3. Use Inventory Management Apps
There are a number of inventory management apps you can use to better manage the flow of your inventory.
Inventory management software is one of the best ways to improve how you manage your small business inventory. There are many software options that can help small businesses digitize their inventory in a way that helps them keep track of it, forecast demand, and analyze inventory from various devices like your smartphone, tablet, or computer.
Some management apps for you to choose from include:
TopShelf Inventory Management Software
4. Audit Your Inventory Regularly For Quality Control
Finally, you never, ever, want to forget about quality control. No matter what you sell, you want to make sure that your product looks good, works right, and does what it is supposed to do. Some businesses have a person in charge of quality control, while others have a team that does quick checks during stock audits or when the stock is coming in, to check for damages and other issues.
When your product is of the highest quality, it shows your customers that you care about what your business produces. This also helps with inventory management by filtering products to ensure that your shelves are stocked with only the best products at all times.
When you find products that have minor flaws, you can store them in a storage unit and sell them online at a discount rate, letting your customers know about the flaws. That way, broken, faulty, or aesthetically displeasing products will not clutter your storeroom, giving your best products the spotlight they deserve. Taking this approach lets you create space for higher value products in your store and sell products of the best quality.
Questions? Feel free to call us at 1.866.647.8673 or contact us online at https://www.selfstorage.ca/contact-us and our staff will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have!
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