Brace Yourself for the Holidays: How’s Your Inventory Management?

• October 31, 2017
• Topics:
  • Inventory Management

Brands: your retailer has thousands of products to manage – where does yours rank on the list as far as priority and attention?

The next two months represent the busiest time of year for most retailers and brands. With people gearing up for gift gifting and holiday planning, the next few weeks will, if the past few years have taught us anything, mean a greater level of activity and higher levels of frustration on all sides. Inventory management often plays a role in this frustration, so this year, mitigate the risk of loss of distribution and decreases with a plan that gets things straightened out before the rush.

For brands, inventory management can be a pain. Since you rely on your retailer’s system to identify stock issues, you often have little control over what’s going on in the stockroom. This also results in a degree of uncertainty and the feeling that you may not know what’s going on with your product. Are the counts correct?  Is there phantom inventory in the store stopping auto replenishment to reorder? Are your products going to be restocked? What if you don’t know the answer to these questions?

Issue A – System says there is stock, but it isn’t accurate. In this case, if your retailer’s system shows available stock, but the numbers are not accurate, you may be looking at re-ordering issues and empty shelf space.

Issue B – System says there is no stock, but it isn’t accurate. In this case, if your retailer’s system shows nothing in stock, but the counts are off and there is actually product in the store, you could be pushing inventory to the store when it isn’t needed.

In both these cases, independent inventory management can solve the problem

Recalibrating your count and making sure you’re cross checking your inventory is the only real way to stay on top of your product. Human error and/or theft are everyday concerns, and both can wreak havoc on your inventory counts.

With the fast pace of retail, especially during the busy holiday season, inventory management can become a major chore, one you can’t necessarily trust to your retailer’s inventory control system. That’s why it makes sense to conduct your own inventory audit just to confirm things are accurate and to avoid the unnecessary stock-outs or missed ordering of stock when counts are not reflective of actual inventory.

At Marketsupport, we appreciate how important inventory management is. Don’t get stuck with or without stock in-store. Call us today to find out how we can help: 1-877-421-5081.