Why You Need to Move Away From Manual Inventory Tracking

Inventory control is an important element of your retail business, and there are many ways to improve sales, reduce loss, and increase product turnover simply by analyzing reports. However, if your business is using an ‘old' way of counting the actual inventory, you may be slowing down your sales potential. Consider the time it takes to bring a product into your store, implement your quality control protocol, add a price, place it on a shelf, and then record it in inventory accordingly. While this has been the standard for many small retail businesses in operation today, the move towards a digital tracking system offers some impressive benefits.

With the increased availability of real-time systems using barcodes and scanners, your retail business can benefit from a much smoother and efficient inventory monitoring system. While many retailers find value in manual inventory tracking systems, there are many advantages to switching to a digital version instead.

If you think your retail business needs to be streamlined and more efficient, a digital tracking system for inventory may be just what you need. A digital or online inventory tracking system can help you ‘view' reports in real-time, letting you print off reports of current products at any given time. You can also look up products for availability, instead of referring to log files or past month's inventory counts. Scanning helps you monitor products, and barcodes can help you manage product loss and improve security.

Deciding if an online or digitized tracking system is right for your retail business can take some time. Key benefits of moving away from traditional methods include:

• Increased accuracy in reports
• Improved turnaround speed from warehouse to the store floors
• Access to online reports of current inventory status
• Improved customer service when you know if a product is out of stock immediately
• Increased security as each item is logged immediately as it enters the building--before being put on any shelf
• Improved order processing, especially if a product simply needs to be ordered and shipped directly to a customer

Software that accompanies digital tracking system can also help you:

• Work with distributors online so you can ‘pull' orders directly from their warehouse, without initiating formal purchase orders
• Watch turnaround times of specific products using real-time data reports. This helps you determine how much of each product to order-and when.
• Backup and restore all data so you can recover after any damages
• Reduce labor costs associated with manual inventory tracking reports

Tracking inventory can be a tedious task, and no matter how many products you may have in stock, the risk for error and poor reports stands high. Traditional methods of inventory tracking include spreadsheets and log files; in some cases, stores and retail outlets rely on hand counts and reports from distribution sites which an often be miscalculated and lead to inaccurate numbers.

If you're looking for ways to improve business processes and create an effective system for the long-term, a digital or online inventory tracking system can help you move away from a manual tracking system for good.