Inventory management is crucial for retailers because it helps with increasing profits and improving the bottom line. By doing inventory management right, you will always have enough inventory to fulfill every order. That way, you can avoid overstock, missed sales, and unhappy customers, while also minimizing expenses. In addition, from a strategic point of view, retail inventory management increases efficiency and optimizes fulfillment. 

Still, tracking inventory is one of the tasks that business owners tend to avoid because, although essential, it’s tiresome and definitely not fun at all. So if you’re looking for ways to make taking inventory as effortless as possible, check these tried and true methods and choose the most suitable one. 

The Pen and Paper Method

Using simply a pen and paper, you can conduct a physical count to support inventory evaluation and track possible inventory losses. This method is straightforward to implement and it will cost you nothing. Moreover, if you’re a small retailer, it can work perfectly. 

The pen and paper method involves counting the inventory by hand, either daily, weekly, or monthly, and breaking down everything into set categories. For example, you can have a coat category with subcategories for women, men, size, style, and so on. 

The potential downside of this method is that it’s prone to human error. Additionally, if you’re a large retailer, it can be unattainable to count everything by hand. Finally, as your business expands, the pen and paper can’t keep up, so you’ll have to look for other alternatives. 

Invest in Forefront Clothing Inventory Management Software

Using dedicated clothing inventory management software ensures greater accuracy and control. You can also manage your inventory on a larger scale. In addition, the best solutions on the market allow you to upload unlimited images and files for every product, giving you complete data visibility and an intuitive experience. 

The most significant advantage of such software is that it offers a solution for more complex needs. You’ll be able to manage your inventory and supply chain across multiple sales channels and locations. It will simplify tracking the number of products and materials and ensure that the orders are shipped on time and from the closest warehouse location, bringing about a stellar customer experience. 

Moreover, you can integrate your POS to keep counts accurate and rely on barcode and RFID technology to eliminate potential administrative errors. You can even track demand in real-time and improve your cost margins with better planning.

Spreadsheets

Using spreadsheets is another inexpensive strategy for managing clothing inventory similar to the pen and paper method. It offers the same functionality, but it’s more sophisticated and gives a better overview of the inventory organized in rows and columns. 

When using this method, you must manually count the items and add them to the spreadsheet. You can easily manipulate the sheet by adding or deleting rows and columns. There are also tools for more detailed analysis, and keeping everything organized is easy. You can access your data anywhere if you opt for a cloud spreadsheet. The negative side of this strategy is that there’s a high probability of human error, and the method won’t scale along with your business growth. 

Get a Clothing Inventory App

If you’re worried about the accuracy of the paper or spreadsheet methods, you should consider employing an inventory counting app. The most basic options of an inventory tracking app include giving you the ability to take a picture of an item and manually enter information into the cloud. There are also more advanced options, which you can use to scan items using an SKU barcode. The information will be automatically uploaded to the cloud, and you’ll be able to download data in a CSV format. 

Using scanners is an excellent alternative for mid-sized retailers as it’s less inclined to errors and makes the entries immediately made available via the cloud wherever you are. However, the potential downside of this inventory management method is that it comes at a cost and requires some effort to set it up, especially if you’re switching over to barcodes. 

Final Thoughts

Inventory management is essential for any business, including retail. Whether you’re operating exclusively online or have several brick-and-mortar locations, skipping inventory management can be disastrous and ultimately decrease your company’s profitability. The good news is that there are several simple-to-use strategies. From the good old pen and paper to sophisticated software, you can find a solution that works best for you without breaking the bank.

Also Read: How Can Store Inventory Software Help You Grow Your Business