Guide to Effective Stock Management Using Advanced Technology

Stock management is an essential aspect of determining the success of a business. Effective inventory stock management reduces costs by 10% by controlling stock-outs or over-stocking. Stock management is involved in every stage of the production process, from acquiring raw materials to making the finished products.

There are a couple of things to consider while dealing with inventory stock management

• Do you have the right stock of products?
• How can you be notified of the right stock level?
• Have you ever faced stock-outs?
• Are you facing losses due to overstocking?

Ineffective stock management can eat up a lot of your cash. Hence, proper management is necessary. Currently, stock inventory management software plays a massive role in enhancing stock management practices.

Let us move forward.

Stock Management

Also known to many as inventory control or stock control, stock management is the ordering, storing, tracking, and monitoring of stock levels. In the production process, from raw materials to finished goods, every item must be hoarded before it is transferred to the next level. Stock management plays an essential role in hoarding, or storing the items in the warehouse. Apart from this, it also notifies the appropriate time to reorder items and minimizes cost at the same time.

The Importance of Stock Management

Here are the two main reasons why stock management is necessary:

1. Efficient Cashflow – Effective stock management is crucial for any business because it ties up cash flow. As an asset that your business has already paid for, a stock that is not being sold and generating revenue is simply taking up valuable space in your warehouse. By accurately managing your stock with your inventory and stock management software, you can free up cash flow that can be used for other operations within your business. Therefore, stock management is essential to maintaining a healthy cash flow. To effectively manage your stock, you should be able to monitor your current inventory levels, anticipate when you will run out of stock based on forecasted sales, and identify when it is time to replenish your stock. By doing so, you can ensure that you have more cash set aside that is not tied up in stock. Remember, better stock management leads to improved cash flow.
2. Cost Saving – Efficient inventory stock management is crucial for your business to save costs. A vital aspect of this is predicting and forecasting the demands of your product so that you always have enough stock to meet customer demand. Effective stock management also helps prevent situations, where you lose money from products being out of stock or having excess stock that takes up valuable warehouse space. Moreover, it can help you avoid product spoilage, which is especially important for businesses selling perishable items such as food, drinks, or makeup. Spoiled products can no longer be sold, resulting in a loss of revenue. Additionally, good stock management can help you avoid losing money on dead stock, which are products that have gone out of season, style, or have become irrelevant. In summary, efficient stock management can save your business a significant value of money. Handling all this manually could be a trouble for many businesses henceforth, employing inventory and stock management software can simplify these operations and also perform them in less time and with accuracy.

Is There a Way to Categorize Your Stock?

There are 4 ways you can categorize your stock:

1. Raw Materials
2. Work-In-Progress
3. Finished Goods
4. Consumables

Categorizing your materials makes it easier to organize and track the items and ascertain which product needs replacement.

Managing Your Stock Effectively

Let us find out the different ways to manage stock efficiently and how stock inventory management software plays a crucial role in it:

1. Minimum Stock Levels – Stock management software plays a very important role in setting up a minimum stock level for the products. This is a systemic way for stock management. It is keeping the lowest amount always in stock. So, when the amount dips, the manager will be notified for further ordering. Inventory and stock management software keeps track of the minimum stock level and alerts the inventory managers when it is time for more orders.
2. First in, First out – Many businesses follow the FIFO stock management rule, which stands for “first in, first out”. This means that the goods that were acquired first should be sold first, particularly perishable products so that they do not end up expiring, becoming worn out, or obsolete. To implement this system effectively, you should place your new products at the back and ensure that your existing products stay at the front for easy access. Advanced inventory control systems are integrated with FIFO methods that enable a quicker functioning of the process.
3. Relation with Supplier – Keeping a good rapport with your co-workers or clients is always said to be a plus in any business. Now with inventory management in discussion, the stock inventory management software role is the ideal program to maintain strong relationships with suppliers. Maintaining a strong relationship with your supplier can be beneficial. They may assist with restocking, provide better quality products, negotiate minimum order quantities, and potentially lower prices. For this, suppliers must also be aware of the happenings at your end. Which is where the software will come into play. These systems have a separate supplier interface, letting them track and inform the status of their connected warehouse.
4. Accuracy in Forecasting – The most crucial part and the backbone of inventory stock management comes down to accurately forecasting demand. You do not want too much stock, but you also do not want too little either. Multiple factors make the balance a bit difficult for the managers. These are a few things you should consider when predicting demand accurately:
   
   Market Trends
   Comparison with the previous year’s sales
   Annual growth rate
   Seasonal factors
   Economy
   Future promotions
   Advertising cost
   Political factors
   Social trends
   Technological trends.
5. Inventory and Stock Management Software – With so many inventory management software available now, look for one that provides real-time sales and stock analytics. It means the data is accessible from any location and at any time.

WrkPlan’s stock inventory management software allows you to do this. Not only that, but it directly connects with your POS system, so whenever you make a sale, the appropriate level is deducted from your existing stock data. You will also receive daily stock updates at day end, and get automated notifications whenever you are low on stock. Additionally, you can set the minimum stock level, and WrkPlan’s software will automatically inform your supplier to order more of that particular stock for you.

With WrkPlan, you can:

• Minimize cost and optimize cash flow
• Track your stock in real-time.
• Access and analyze your stock data, anytime and anywhere from any device.
• Accurate inventory forecast for efficient planning.
• Avoid under-stocking.
• Prevent over-stocking
• Directly connect with your POS system.
• Use barcode scanning for tracking stocks and appropriate SKUs (stock-keeping units) for each item.
• Transfer and monitor stocks in multiple locations.

Choose Your Stock Management Software Today

Investing in the ideal inventory and stock management software will ensure multiple business benefits that help you to increase the profit margin through savings. Inventory is the greatest asset for any business, and accurately managing it will develop more savings, better relationships, and better customer satisfaction, basically, an optimized inventory control. To enhance your stock management function and keep your business operations stable, sign up with WrkPlan. WrkPlan is a cloud-based ERP system that provides a free demo with all the modules like inventory management. You can also dial 1-800-120-2449 for more information.