If you’re an e-commerce brand, managing your inventory can give you an edge over your competitors, especially when it comes to providing superior customer support. And good inventory management leads to good customer support. And according to Gladly, 68 percent of customers are prepared to pay more for good service, making it even more crucial for your business to have a good inventory management system.
Good customer service isn’t the only benefit of efficient inventory management. It’s also important to find ways to adapt to the market and impulse purchases, while still keeping up with orders. However, in recent years, accurate inventory seems to be an issue for many retailers, mostly due to high customer expectations on order fulfillment and deliveries. But how do you keep up?
With distributed order management and good, reliable software to support. This allows you to optimize fulfillment and get orders to customers on time at the lowest cost possible. All while still meeting customer expectations without any negative impacts on the customer experience.
It also gives you enough visibility into your entire inventory –across your entire supply chain. So you can obtain the most accurate inventory –the number one priority that every retailer has to get right.
Good Inventory Management Is Crucial in Ecommerce
Retail brands in the e-commerce space need to do whatever it takes to meet customer demands. For example, some customers expect order delivery within the same day, while others can typically wait for a day or two.
Good inventory management allows warehouse managers to prioritize orders based on shipping times and customers' expectations. And because you may handle inventory between multiple warehouses and e-commerce systems as a fashion retailer, it's critical that you don't understock or oversell. This level of control will help you keep up with delivery expectations, and increase your NPS.
4 Benefits of a Good Inventory Control
The more you know about your inventory, the more you can control it. It all starts with a good, efficient system and real-time visibility into your operations. Here are the advantages of having inventory control in your business.
1. Reduce Out-of-Stock Inventory
Good inventory control ensures that your stock is always up-to-date. Order and inventory data show you what your most in-demand items are so you know what to restock. And when. A system that generates purchase orders based on your e-commerce sales reduces the chances of overselling or running out of an item in high demand.
2. Increase Supply Chain Accuracy
Real-time item tracking, optimized warehousing, and rapid delivery are some of the elements that contribute to any brand’s supply chain success. With reliable inventory management technology, fashion retailers can track their supply chain comprehensively from checkout to delivery.
3. Improve Forecasting
The most successful brands leverage inventory forecasting and proper planning to meet client expectations while maintaining or lowering operating expenses. Inventory forecasting and proper planning are used by the most successful brands to meet client expectations while maintaining or lowering operating expenses.
A good inventory management system continuously monitors your sales, so you'll know what to stock, and what not to –ensuring that your customers will always find what they want. Moreover, correct forecasts give you insights on the products that sell better, so you'll consistently deliver to your clients on time. On the other hand, poor forecasting leads to rushed orders, overstock or stockouts, inefficient resource utilization, and obsolescence –all damaging to your brand loyalty and business success.
4. Reasonable Pricing
A major function of having an inventory system is to prevent the slow-moving items from overstaying in your store to improve your carrying cost. As a result, your fast-moving items and warehouse costs decrease. Even better, you can utilize different inventory management techniques to maximize the cost of goods sold and still maintain a better price point for customers.
How a Good Inventory Control System Impacts Customer Experience
According to Jeff Bezos, 'it's an everyday job to make important aspects of the customer experience a little bit better.' Below are different ways your inventory system can truly impact your customers' experience.
Improved Order Fulfillment
Customers expect to order and get their items in the shortest time possible, as effective inventory control allows you to reduce your order fulfillment time. Implementing an inventory management system can identify slow and fast-moving items. This helps you organize your storage areas and/or fulfill at the right location to hasten dispatch and ensure that you'll always have the popular item in stock to fulfill customers' orders quickly, all for a better customer experience.
Minimize the Likelihood of Error
Using an inventory management system gives you transparency and visibility into the number of items available for sale, the location of each item, and the order tied to each product. Moreover, modern inventory tools assist you in updating stock levels in real-time. You'll also have an environment in which:
- You quickly identify broken goods
- There are fewer shrinkage rates since items rarely get lost
- Teams have full visibility of the inventory levels, so they can align sale and marketing plans with the availability of the item
- You have real-time access to repurchase orders data when supply is below the preset parameters so that items on demand are always available
Smooth Order Processing
Whether you are dealing with a new or returning customer, they expect smooth order processing. Data shows that 89% of customers are willing to repurchase after a good customer experience. That's why you need an order management system to ensure that you offer every customer a smooth and quick ordering procedure that also guarantees secure payment so they keep coming back.
How ChannelApe Can Help
ChannelApe's inventory and order management software is built for brands dealing with high SKUs. Our software will give you the insights and tools you need to manage your inventory, re-fulfillments, returns, and everything in between.
You'll also gain 360-degree visibility into your entire inventory operations, enabling you to grow your volumes by offering clients pre-sell options and date promises. Additionally, you'll have all your financial data in one source of truth for accurate reporting.
Want to learn more? Get a free demo today.
