{"id":16934,"date":"2017-07-17T11:36:33","date_gmt":"2017-07-17T16:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/?p=16934"},"modified":"2019-07-10T09:01:20","modified_gmt":"2019-07-10T14:01:20","slug":"set-up-business-inventory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/set-up-business-inventory\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Set Up Your Business Inventory"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Set<\/p>\n

6 Steps to Business Inventory Management<\/h2>\n

One of the big, complicated parts of running a business that sells physical products is keeping up with inventory (unless you use dropshipping<\/a><\/span>, but that\u2019s a whole other thing). <\/span><\/p>\n

For your customers to have a good experience, you have to make sure that every item you sell is in stock. <\/span><\/p>\n

For you to make a profit, you need to make sure you don\u2019t overstock items customers don\u2019t buy much of, lest you\u2019re stuck paying to buy and store items you don\u2019t need.<\/span><\/p>\n

You have to maneuver the tricky balance\u00a0between having too many items to store and too few to sell. And the profitability of your business depends on getting it right.<\/span><\/p>\n

Developing a strong inventory management system is therefore an important step in running a successful business. It enables you to track all your inventory easily and effectively, do a better job of spotting inventory issues (like theft, breakage, or incomplete orders), and improves your ability to figure out the right quantities of each product to buy when you make a new order. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re in the early stages of getting a new business off the ground<\/a>, or if you\u2019re trying to figure a better system than the one you have now, this post will help walk you through how to set up business inventory.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Organize Your Physical Space<\/h2>\n

For business owners, space is money. You need a storeroom to keep your inventory in so you have the items on hand when orders come in. But generally speaking, the bigger that space is, the more you\u2019ll be paying for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

That means it\u2019s crucial that you use the space as efficiently as possible and keep it well organized.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Create a Plan for The Space<\/h2>\n

First, you need to establish a plan for using the space. Research shelving options that will help you make the most of it. Use the measurements you have for the storeroom to figure out how many rows of shelves you can reasonably fit and how high up they can go.<\/span><\/p>\n

Use that information to start working up a floor plan. Make sure you don\u2019t get so focused on products during this step that you forget about people. You need to leave enough space between rows to allow your staff access to the inventory, and the higher you build your shelves, the harder it will be for people to access the items on the top.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"OrganizeWhen you\u2019re working out what specific products should be stored where, remember to make sure that the most popular items are the most easily accessible and that anything fragile or heavy should be stored where it\u2019s easy to move it without too much trouble. Keeping a heavy box of breakable dishes on a shelf that someone would need a ladder to reach probably won\u2019t end well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Try to organize the space so that it\u2019s intuitive for people to find things. If you have a few main categories of products, group them together in the same section of the storeroom. For instance, put the basketballs in the same section as the footballs, rather than next to the kitchen products.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Provide Proper Signage<\/h2>\n

You need it to be as easy as possible for your staff to find the right product at the right moment. Good organization is a big part of that equation, but clear signage is at least as important.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hang big signs to label the main sections of the storeroom you want your staff to be able to see them from a distance when they\u2019re scanning the room to figure out where to go.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then make sure every row is labeled, as well as each individual product. You\u2019ll benefit here from working out a numbering system to keep everything more organized and easier to find. Luckily, many types of inventory software help with that part.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Choose Your Inventory Software<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s not impossible to do inventory management without software some businesses still walk around with a clipboard and paper and laboriously load their inventory into a spreadsheet. But using inventory software that\u2019s specifically designed for the process will save you time and help you stay more on top of what you have in stock at any given moment.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to making the process of adding new inventory into the system and tracking it as it sells easier, inventory software can also process the data that helps you make better predictions about your future inventory needs so you can order the right amount of stock moving forward. And if you find a product that\u2019s compatible with the other software you use, it will be easy to link them so you don\u2019t have to manually update your inventory software when your POS system registers a sale.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Business<\/p>\n

To identify the best inventory software for your needs, do some preliminary research into what\u2019s out there<\/a>. For some industries, you\u2019ll find industry specific inventory software that\u2019s especially well suited to the types of products and processes you use. Get a few quotes and compare the features different tools offer against your particular needs. Once your software is picked out, the way it functions can help shape the inventory process you develop.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. Determine Your Inventory Process<\/h2>\n

Now it\u2019s time to figure out the exact steps your staff should take:<\/span><\/p>\n