Stock And Your Business: 3 Essentials You Can’t Afford To Ignore

Despite the boom in businesses handling downloadable or internet accessible products and services, many of us still make our living the ‘old fashioned way.’ That is delivering a real-life physical product to a client. Of course, within this area, there are some specific challenges an issue that you need to be aware of particularly concerning the storage, organisation and shipping of your stock if your business is to thrive, that is. Something that my post below goes into more detail on.

Shipping

Your customers don’t see your warehouse or know much about your stock tracking systems. What is most important to them is that they get the product that they have purchased as soon as possible. What this means is that offering fast, and reliable shipping needs to be a top priority when it comes to getting your stock to the people that have bought it.

Of course in an ideal world, your shipping will be next or even same day and will also be free. Although, for many business especially smaller ones this can create undue strain on their budget.

However, it is worth bearing in mind that even if you have to charge for fast shipping options, it always better to offer them. The reason being that with services such as Amazon Prime and Argos Same Day, many customers are begging to value delivery dates above shipping cost, and so being competitive in this area can give your business a real edge and ensure you maximize your sales as much as possible.  

Space

One of the most important things that need to be considered when it comes to stock and your business is whether you have enough space to store the items you need to fulfill customer orders. Of course, part of this is being wise with your selection of premises in the first place.

Although, even if you have a warehouse or stockroom with a smaller square footage than you would like you can use a pallet rack system to stock products vertical. Something that can help you to maximize the space at your disposal without having to incur the costs of moving your premises to a larger location.

Tracking

The tracking systems that you use when it comes to the organization and shipping of your stock are hugely important as well. After all, it’s not much good if you have a warehouse full of product, but it takes your team 20 minutes to find the right item every time someone places an order.

Happily, there are some relatively simple ways to improve the stock tracking in your company including using a barcode or QR system that is read by handheld devices or even smartphones. Something that can not only keep track of how many of a specific item you have but also of its location as well.  This being something that can provide benefits such as making your business much more productive and cost-efficient, and therefore is a tactic that you really can’t afford to ignore!