Inventory Management Solutions

State-of-the-art inventory management solutions enable retailers, manufacturers, warehouses, and automotive part suppliers to turn over stock in a timely fashion and avoid tying up cash in excess goods. Business owners that stock merchandise constantly worry that goods won't move as quickly as anticipated and that they will be left holding end of season or shop worn products which will have to be sold at heavy markdowns just to break even. Retail merchandising can be a gamble at best: forecasting consumer buying trends, planning inventory levels to meet seasonal demands, and understanding changing customer needs. Twenty-first century technological advances in product management give retailers, manufacturers, and suppliers the power to efficiently control items that are in stock, while forecasting demand with greater accuracy.

Retail merchandising is an art and an exercise in skilled salesmanship. Merchants purchase wholesale goods and sell them to consumers, usually at a 200% markup or more. For instance, a boutique owner can buy a dress at wholesale in various sizes at a cost of $35 each. The dress retails for $70; but if it is a slow moving item, the store owner must cut the price to avoid losing money. At 20% off, the owner will net a $21 profit. But if at the end of the season, the dress is still on the rack, a 50% to 60% off sale just to reduce stock will wind up costing the boutique owner nearly half of the original investment. Add to this quandary the fact that there are still 50 dresses like the slow moving number in stock and that can spell trouble. But effective inventory management solutions could have enabled the store owner to predict from past buying trends that yellow polka dotted dresses were not a big seller the year before and that there was an overstock from the same dressmaker just two years earlier.

Merchants may know the merchandise, but they cannot continue to forecast consumer buying trends with a crystal ball, or a hope and a prayer. Inventory control software gives them an accurate account of top selling items, forecasts customer demands, and helps them achieve greater efficiency and profitability. Today's inventory management solutions calculate and report point-of-sale information that merchants can easily interpret and utilize to manage goods and know when to reorder fast moving items. Instead of overstocking and over-extending markdown budgets just to get rid of old merchandise, retailers, manufacturers and suppliers can quit guessing and utilize efficient management solutions.

Technological advances are a result of man's wisdom and enable entrepreneurs and individuals to experience better lives and livelihoods. While man may not want to acknowledge divine intervention in developing witty inventions, such as inventory management solutions, all wisdom comes from God. "Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions" (Proverbs 8:10-12). "Every good and perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17).

State-of-the-art inventory control software can also help prevent losses due to theft and mismanagement. Retail businesses are hotbeds for customer and employee thefts. Shoplifting cuts into profits and can drastically reduce productivity for industries that rely on inventoried parts and supplies. By utilizing computerized control applications, merchandise, parts, and supplies are accurately accounted for 24/7. Valuable tools, dies, jigs and calibrators can't just walk out of the warehouse on their own without accountability. Expensive stocks of clothing, electrical supplies, fixtures, copper tubing, plumbing supplies, and other portable goods are more difficult to steal when an effective system is in place. And once inventoried items begin to stay put, business owners can start realizing greater profits and increased production.

Computerized inventory management solutions are user friendly and compatible with most operating systems, from Windows 98 and XP, to the later Vista O.S. Most companies will have a dedicated server with two to three workstations loaded with software. Applications are integrated with most point-of-purchase software and compatible with retailers' existing barcode software. Inventory control applications can map individual items to store floor plans, scan and print barcodes for each item, and track moves from storage to store shelves and out the door. Some applications include product lifecycle management tools to alert owners when items have remained in stock too long and need to be moved or marked down to sell quickly. Software also enables merchants and manufacturers to backtrack the history of products from date of purchase to date of sale. Damaged goods logs and physical inventory worksheets take the guesswork out of merchandise management and provide up-to-date and projected forecasts of what's on hand and items that should be ordered in anticipation of heavy seasonal sales.

Retail merchants and manufacturers can also use inventory control software to generate quarterly and annual reports for filing timely taxes. Busy merchants can easily access analyses for profitability, profit and loss, and labor and overhead. Bookkeepers and certified public accountants can derive data to prepare asset and liability statements and prepare business income tax returns for federal and state governments. Today's entrepreneur need not rely on manual systems that only wreak mayhem in retail merchandising or manufacturing. Online software providers offer applications tailored to meet industry needs and help entrepreneurs keep their businesses operating in the black.

Savvy business owners will want to browse online provider sites to compare features and prices and determine which package best meets their needs. Inventory control software is designed for industries of all kinds, including healthcare facilities, educational institutions, food service companies, drugstores, boutiques, building contractors and suppliers, gift shops, plumbers, and more. Anyone who must account for valuable merchandise, parts, and supplies for resale can realize greater productivity and profitability with state-of-the-art inventory control solutions.

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