Inventory management software to enhance the retail business

Over the past decade, technology has advanced exceptionally. Every business function in the retail industry that was being managed manually has a technological counterpart available in the market today. In spite of that, many brick-and-mortar stores still track inventory manually. Not only does that increase the time and effort involved in the entire process, but also is prone to erroneous or disintegrated data.

With the use of the right technological solution for inventory management, retail businesses can automate the process completely. All records would get updated in real time. In this article, we would share a few features that retailers need to look for before investing in inventory management software.

1. It can be synced with the point-of-sale

In a retail environment, it is important that the stock numbers are up to date at all times. This information helps to know about items that are about to run out of stock, items that are available in stock, items that are fast or slow moving through the store racks. The inventory management software should get readily synced with the store’s POS. This synchronization would mean that as soon as a sale is rung up, the stock numbers would get updated in real time. Even on the events of returns or exchanges, the inventory would get readily updated. Employees operating the POS would have knowledge about items that are in stock and the ones that need to be replenished.

2. It can be used to automate replenishment

There is nothing more disappointing for customers if their desired item runs out of stock. Keeping track of the inventory manually might lead to employees missing out on items that are about to run out of stock. Retailers need to invest in inventory management software that notifies users once a stock number reaches a pre-set value. That way, employees would know when they would have to place purchase orders for replenishing a particular item. If the entire replenishment cycle can be automated after the stock numbers reach the predetermined value is even better. This way, no items in the store would run out of stock and customers would always have access to their desired products.

3. It can be used to predict sales trends

There is a high upfront cost that retailers have to bear before launching a store. They need to stock up items in their inventory that might or might not sell. This initial risk is unavoidable. However, the risk can be minimized with technology. Using a good and reliable inventory management software, retailers would be able to understand what products are bringing the most profits for their business and also the ones that are not the most preferred products by their customers. With this information, they would be able to understand the sales trends, thus helping them make business-related decisions. For instance, in an apparel outlet, customers might prefer purchasing floral printed shirts over solid coloured shirts in the summer season. With this analysis, business owners would prefer manufacturing or procuring products in floral print over solid colours.

With smart software like Ginesys’ inventory management software, retail business owners can benefit multifold and scale up their business immensely.