Technology has made vast improvements in the way inventory gets tracked. Many companies have a completely automated inventory tracking workflow.

• Consumable inventory tracking is the process of monitoring and tracking inventory.
• How much time it consumes depends on your inventory, which is why this drawback doesn’t have much of an impact on smaller businesses who don’t work with large quantities of stock.
• The specifics of inventory tracking depend on the inventory control methods use.
• It is best reserved for rare orders or items you cannot accommodate in your warehouse, because it means your customer’s satisfaction is in the hands of your supplier, rather than your own business.
• Your inventory tracking procedures help to locate and track where your SKUs are within the warehouse.

To help make things easier for you, we’ve put together a simple inventory tracking sheet. Just download the inventory tracking template, change the sample data to your own, and begin tracking! Manual inventory is best tracked using an inventory tracking spreadsheet. You must keep track of initial inventory, ending inventory, and received inventory. Read on to find out how to track your inventory, limit inventory variance and dead stock , improve inventory, and download a free inventory spreadsheet. We’ve put together a comprehensive guide to better track inventory control and understand how to calculate ending inventory. That scenario is a bit dramatic, but it can certainly feel that way when you discover your inventory numbers are off.

What is an inventory tracking system?

Thanks to the technology that Thill Inc. offers, companies of all sizes are able to track their inventory in real-time. Some of the largest investments your company makes involves inventory. Inventory management for an E-Commerce business can be complex if the right pillars are not in place. Barcodes can also be used to track inventory, get product descriptions, product prices and its unit of measurement. Before we dive in, let’s take a look at the definition of inventory tracking. Here’s what each of these inventory management system optimization strategies involves. Supply chains will master inventory visibility with improved demand forecasting and automation.

• Another option is to outsource order fulfillment to a third-party logistics firm and thus let it take care of the whole process.
• Most manual methods literally only require a pen and paper or spreadsheet, and your inventory ledger, which is a document that tracks all of your inventory transactions.
• Because smaller lots are more efficient in many cases, this minimum allows for more efficient manufacturing.
• Work-in-progress – Work-in-progress inventory includes items that are currently being processed.
• Many owners who start an online store adopt drop shipping methods, but this supply chain fulfillment strategy can be adopted by many types of businesses across all industries.
• Even with good inventory management software, periodically you still need to actually count your inventory to make sure what you have in stock matches what you think you have.

A delivery truck will unload at your facility, directly into trucks shipping your sales out to customers. This eliminates the need to bring new items into your storage facility and bypasses your inventory management process.

Using the inventory tracking spreadsheet

An effective inventory management process ensures that your products are always in stock and that pickers can quickly locate them and send them out for delivery. This, in turn, boosts customer satisfaction and increases the likelihood that you will gain repeat business. It’s the most basic type of inventory management system and can be recorded manually on pen and paper or an Excel spreadsheet.

Inventory tracking apps allow users to be mobile while still using their inventory tracking systems. They can be incredibly user-friendly and allow for real-time results without the need for a computer station. Some popular inventory tracking apps include ShipBob, TopShelf, MyStock, and Inventory Now. Knowing how many SKUs you have in your warehouse is essential to avoiding out of stocks and backorders for customers. This may seem obvious, but without good inventory tracking, you won’t have accurate numbers, and that can cause huge issues. Inventory tracking not only keeps a precise number of the SKUs in your warehouse but lets you get ahead of low stock, which is very important.

What Does Perpetual Inventory in Retail Mean?

Finished Goods – Finished goods represent the final product that can be used to fill customer orders as a unit or as a count. Ideally, you will bring a laptop or other portable device with you during the inventory to update it as you go. “Now where did I leave that inventory,” you say as you walk dazedly through your warehouse. Input changes in projected order volume or scenarios to calculate changes in inventory turnover.

Tracking inventory is one of the most important parts of running a successful business. These strategies are also an important part of our inventory control guide. Accurate inventory audits typically take hours, especially as your business grows. You can mitigate this by performing advanced inventory cycle counts or using a perpetual inventory tracking system.

Track inventory across multiple locations, automatically manage re-order points, forecast demand and plan distribution. Learn more about NetSuite’s inventory https://www.bookstime.com/ tracking and warehouse management systems. Study the supply chain for opportunities to improve the movement of stock through your organization.

Even after a customer has completed checkout and their order has left your warehouse, there’s no guarantee that product is gone for good. Although returns are an unavoidable part of the ecommerce landscape, that doesn’t make them any less difficult to deal with. And yet, it’s crucial you take care of returns in a timely, inventory tracking methods thoughtful manner that translates to customer satisfaction and accuracy among your inventory counts. Although spreadsheets are a step up from paper copies, you still have to enter information manually. But if you use Google Sheets, there’s a way to automatically update your inventory every time it changes.

Bigger businesses can devote more resources to warehouse management and inventory control. Some even have specific departments concentrating entirely on this work. For smaller businesses, this is obviously less realistic as an option. Nevertheless, tools such as inventory tracking software can help these small firms keep on top of warehousing, fulfillment, and more.

Using TopShelf, you will be able to cover all of your bases while still sticking to what you know—warehouse management. Check out a FREE demo today, and see how you can improve your processes in no time. Third, your warehouse staff will appreciate having insight into your exact inventory levels and locations. You should start using warehouse management software if you haven’t been already. Order fulfillment speed is also increased and your staff will waste less time searching for missing items or sifting through an overwhelming amount of inventory.