You will be surprised at how very few retailers take the full advantage of their POS systems, and inventory is in fact, one of the areas where most retailers miss the boat. If you are not making the most out of your POS system to help you in managing your inventory, then you are wasting lots of money and time. If you want to get on track, just read on because here are very simple tips to help you get better control of your inventory, as well as reduce lost sales and inventory costs:
Count your votes
It is crucial to count your votes so as to have an accurate inventory that is not too small, yet not too big. You should note that every time your customers buy something from you, they truly are voting on what pleases them. Your POS system will definitely make it easy for you to track these votes so you know how often you should be ordering, how much you should order and whether you should carry certain merchandise or not. You need to ensure that your POS system keeps track of this information, correctly. In fact, this is one of the most important tips if you want to improve your inventory control.
Your POS system should be used to suggest and create purchase orders
Once the inventory order levels are set, you can automatically create your purchase orders based on those levels. Alternatively, you can decide to create the purchase order based on your actual sales history. It can save you a huge amount of time. And there are POS systems that support the “open to buy” inventory forecasting techniques, so you may want to take advantage of them too. You need to create your purchase orders automatically, not hand entering!
Transmit the orders automatically
You should be able to submit your purchase order automatically. It is easier, faster and more accurate than faxing it, calling in the order or hand-entering products into the supplier’s website. You don’t want to receive the wrong merchandise; avoid using the old fashioned methods of ordering. And of course you don’t want to lose sales or customers.
Your POS system should track special orders
Chances are high you take special orders, if that is the case, your POS system should track such orders. And the software won’t ‘forget’ that you need to order; it will always remember. And it tracks which customer placed the order, so you can notify them when it arrives. If you are not using this invaluable feature, it is the highest time you should start.
Consider Open To Buy (OTB)
Your inventory needs to be stocked accurately, so it is important to use the open to buy method. What happens is that this feature forecasts based on the sales history as well as the merchandise available. Although this method takes effort to implement, it is very accurate and you will never go wrong. It is the highest time you should fully make use of your POS systems, just find a good vendor and ask if they offer additional business solutions as well!