WHY SMALL BUSINESSES NEED TO AUTOMATE THEIR INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

In every business, all the processes should ideally be seamless and effortless, like that of water flowing in the river. Inventory management is like the melting of ice for the formation of the river. It is the initial stage of the chain of operations in a business. As such, it is of utmost importance both for large scale and small scale businesses.

I am sure that small business owners are also serious, dedicated, focussed, and take into account the importance of inventory management. However, in this modern era, mere dedication is not enough for your growing business. An automated inventory management system is the key to proper inventory management for small business. You may ask, “what is the need for inventory management automation?”   Short answer: “it is to gain the upper hand in this competitive world, minimizing human errors and maximizing customer satisfaction.”

Most of the time, people avoid automation, thinking of it as a complicated and costly solution. Guess what? People are wrong! Inventory management automation is a scalable solution to all our repetitive and mundane tasks.

This blog is specifically dedicated to giving an insight into automation and how automation can help in inventory management for small business owners.

In the world of ecommerce, there are two ways to achieve your goals; the hard way and the easy way. The hard way involves manual intervention, while the easy way revolves around automation.

Calloway Cook, Founder of eCommerce Supplement company Illuminate Labs, shared his thoughts:

“I would recommend that small business owners look for a cost-effective automated inventory management system. This will be much cheaper than building an internal system.

The reason that inventory management automation is so important is that inventory management can be incredibly time-intensive. Manually keeping stock of inventory and shipping packages can take up most of the workday. For companies that have the budget, leveraging software to automate this can free up time for marketing and scaling the business, which is what key business decision-makers should be focused on rather than counting pallets and inventory.”

Here are the top three reasons why a small business should automate its inventory management systems:

1. Eliminating human errors & save time:

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to you. Specifically, small businesses should pay attention to this as this can eat up their valuable time during the initial booming stage of their business.

Do you know,

Only 50% of businesses survive five years — though most (70%) hit the two-year mark

The number of companies without a robust inventory management system in place is shocking. 46% of SMBs either don’t track inventory or use a manual method.

Whenever there is human involvement, errors are inevitable. Manual stock management is not only challenging but eats up your valuable time too.

2. Proper Inventory Planning:

Small businesses need to plan their inventory to safeguard themselves both from overstocking and understocking.

Statistics show us that,

Days inventory outstanding” – the amount of inventory on hand based on average sales per day – has risen 8.3% over the past five years.

It is not advised for a small business to hold outstanding inventory. It is one kind of financial blockage which could be better utilized in other sectors of the business.

David Altemir, the Senior Consultant at Altemir Consulting, shared his valuable thoughts on Inventory Planning

“This is an area where things often go wrong. It is a critical issue to have the right approach to planning inventory levels in the first place so that automation can be fruitfully applied.  This can be especially helpful to small businesses because effective inventory planning can reduce the cash required to maintain inventory while still fulfilling customers at a reliable level.”

With the help of inventory management automation, you can automate your inventory’s replenishment based on your inventory’s sales data. An automated inventory management system can make sure, you never go understock and you have in stock what is in constant demands.

You can now say “Ciao” to those long debates and discussions on what to purchase and when to purchase.

3. Just In Time Purchasing:

Small businesses don’t have large warehouses to store a surplus of inventory. Therefore, there can come a time where you would require to purchase JIT.

If you get flooded with orders demanding for a certain product which you don’t have in abundance in the store, your business is going to suffer.

How cool it would be if you could automate the process of creating a purchase order of your supplier as soon as your inventory falls lower than your prescribed limit.

If you are convinced that automation can be a lifesaver for your small business, the next question left unanswered is “What inventory management software for small business offers automation that could benefit small businesses?”

You may feel free to search the internet. But if you are looking for an affordable automated inventory management system, “Orderhive” logically should be the undisputed choice.