Having the skills to manage your eCommerce inventory is essential in running a great business. After all, managing your eCommerce store inventory tells you how many of the products you have in stock and the location of the products. And if you have a variety of products, how many of each of the items you have.
Being able to sufficiently manage your products can tell you if you are overstocked, understocked, or entirely out of stock of the products your business sells. Which, in turn, can tell you how much of a profit you can make on what you have available and what you need to order.
But, what are the biggest challenges of managing your eCommerce store inventory? We have some answers for you.
1) Being Understocked
If your business is selling a product in high demand, like toothpaste or cookware, you may run into the problem where you do not have enough product stocked. Not having enough product can result in shipping delays, or worse yet, not having the product at all for customers who want it. Being understocked can result in some seriously disappointed customers. Being understocked can also result in losing customers, so be sure always to have products handy.
2) Being Overstocked
Opposite the problem above, another challenge that eCommerce businesses face is being overstocked. Being overstocked happens when you have purchased too many products, one item sells more than another, or your product is seasonal.
Being overstocked is not a great problem to have overall because every eCommerce business wants to make money. Plus, it costs money to store products.
3) Miscounting and Misplacing Products
If your eCommerce business is booming, then you may have products in many different storage locations. Having many places where you keep your products can lead to your employees miscounting and misplacing products, which can be an absolute inventory nightmare.
Miscounting and losing products can lead to never knowing what your actual inventory is at all times. Miscounting and misplacing products also results in not selling your products accurately, and no business owner wants to lose products intentionally.
4) Inconsistent Safety Stock
Many eCommerce businesses have a safe stock. Safety stock is there in case of emergencies where you need to have a supply of your products. Emergencies can include things like your manufacturer is low on product for a couple of months or making a flash sale only to find you do not have enough products. Many eCommerce businesses face the challenge of inconsistent safety stock, which makes you not safe in an emergency. Thankfully, if you have a safety stock, it can help minimize surprise situations.
Thankfully, many solutions can help you with this problem. One inventory solution includes drop shipping, where you do not have to store your products anywhere. By drop shipping, you can simply ship your products on-demand from your supplier. Dropshipping streamlines the inventory process, making mistakes much rarer.
Many success factors go into eCommerce, but having control over your inventory is essential and will help you create profit in the long run.