Why is it just one sock always seems to go missing in the washing machine?
It’s a common household problem that has baffled many of us. While this might bring a smile to your face, on a serious note, the sock analogy is interestingly rather like inventory management especially in the fast paced world of retail and wholesale. Lost stock costs you money and causes headaches for your warehouse and customer services teams.
Accurate, real-time inventory management is a critical success factor for a profitable business. Just as a single sock can slip away unnoticed, so too can stock get lost and their levels fall through cracks if not meticulously monitored. The answer is easy – Implement an automated order management and warehouse management system.
Paper-based systems simply aren’t cut out for this task. These processes suffer from human error, time lags and data entry errors. Common problems include losing stock, shipping the wrong products or the wrong quantity, customer dissatisfaction at late delivery and a lack of accountability for errors. The problem gets even more complicated when selling through multiple sales channels and storing goods in multiple warehouses, retail outlets and depots. Imagine having absolute control over your inventory, never misplacing a product, always being aware of the exact location of goods and accessing real-time stock information. This is precisely what an automated order management and warehouse management system can provide.
Features of such a system included accurate bin location management, ensuring products are stored in exact locations and are never lost again. By optimising storage strategies, goods can be arranged to maximise space and minimise retrieval time. With real-time data you’ll never lose sight of your stock again – all stock is updated instantly and accurately.
By utilising barcode scanning, all challenges associated with paper-based manual systems simply vanish. This not only saves time and costs but also significantly reduces the risk of losing stock and thereby stopping you from selling out of your best sellers, keeping too much or too little stock – all of which have cost implications.
With a real-time accurate inventory management you won’t be losing any more socks! A full audit trail of transactions and inventory movements allows for constant and accurate monitoring of goods.
Never lose sight of your inventory again – take back control and run a lean inventory.
If the above resonates with you it’s worth considering an automated inventory management system.
Click here for more information about Stok.ly Inventory Management
Call us on 01432 804333
Author: Iain Coplans CEO Stok.ly
PS – have you looked down the back of your washing machine? 😮🧦🧦🤣