A stockout occurs when there’s not enough inventory to fill customer orders. It can wreak havoc on a business. Suppliers may charge a premium to replenish low inventory and customer dissatisfaction can hurt the company’s reputation. The overall impact is a dent in the organization’s bottom line.
Inventory management software (IMS) can help manage stockouts. An IMS gives you a high-level view of available products across the supply chain in real time. It can also help you forecast customer demand so there’s less risk of stockouts.
Why is real-time inventory tracking important?
Inventory doesn’t stay static for long. Orders come in and products go out throughout the day, rendering manual counts inaccurate very quickly. In the past, retailers and warehouses relied on cycle counts to track inventory, but that’s no longer a sufficient tool. Businesses require live insights into inventory counts, which is where real-time inventory tracking shines.
Real-time inventory tracking allows businesses to view current product counts without delays. You can check inventory levels across your entire supply chain or in specific areas, such as a single warehouse.
When it comes to preventing stockouts, real-time inventory tracking is a key tool in your management toolbox for several reasons.
Immediate visibility into stock levels
Real-time inventory tracking lets you skip the middleman and quickly check available stock. There’s no need for emails or phone calls to warehouse staff asking them to do a quick cycle count. Enhanced visibility saves time and puts organizations in the driver’s seat of inventory control.
Prompt identification of low-stock items
An IMS with a real-time tracking system quickly pinpoints low-inventory items. You can customize it to display when each product’s levels dip below a specific threshold, giving you adequate time to order replenishments.
Enhanced decision-making for reordering
A fulfillment management system (FMS) like Logiwa IO incorporates real-time inventory tracking with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Its advanced tech stack quickly processes inventory data and past order history to recommend reorders on a timely basis.
Leveraging automation and workflows
We touched on the age-old inventory management practice of hands-on cycle counts performed by onsite workers. That approach lasted decades but is highly inefficient and error-prone. It’s all too easy for an employee to make a mistake during the count or for incoming and outgoing orders to distort results. Fortunately, technological improvements provide a basis for automating certain workflows so companies can better track inventory and prevent stockouts.
What kind of features can benefit a company seeking to optimize inventory management and streamline processes? Look for these—which are all available through Logiwa’s leading warehouse management system.
Automated reorder point settings
Businesses juggle a lot of tasks when it comes to inventory, and reorders are just one of them. Companies may find it hard to avoid stockouts, especially if they’re managing reorders manually.
With your IMS you can set automated reorder points for each SKU in your catalog. Once inventory reaches the reorder point, the system alerts your team and submits a replenishment request to the supplier. That significantly reduces the risk of a customer encountering a dreaded stockout with your organization.
Inventory allocation across multiple channels
Many companies use multiple sites to house inventory, from storefronts to domestic and international warehouses. Managing so many products across different locations can quickly grow unwieldy, even for experienced teams. With manual processes, you risk sending too much (or too little) inventory to each site. Misallocated inventory may need to be shipped elsewhere, incurring extra costs that hurt profits.
IMS simplifies multi-location inventory management with allocation features. It combines historical data, predictive analytics, and real-time inventory tracking to recommend optimal product counts for each location. You can reduce unnecessary transfer costs and right-size inventory to match customer demand.
Supplier performance tracking
You might use multiple suppliers to replenish inventory and ship items. But not every supplier’s performance may meet your expectations. Delayed deliveries, broken products, and high pricing are just a few problems commonly encountered.
Adopting an IMS that tracks performance can help you avoid working with undependable suppliers. Its automation features select preferred suppliers over ones that frequently underperform. That way, you’re less likely to experience disruptions in the supply chain.
Advantages of automated workflows
At its core, inventory management is highly susceptible to inefficiencies. Automating routine processes can help eliminate those inefficiencies and streamline your entire supply chain. Some of the benefits you can expect include:
- Reduction in manual errors: Incorrect inventory counts or demand forecasts can lead to costly mistakes. Automation reduces the chance of those errors ever occurring.
- Time savings: Your staff may spend too much time on redundant, non-value-added tasks. With warehouse automation tools, you can leverage your team to work on bigger issues and leave smaller problems to your software.
- Consistent inventory replenishment: Automation helps avoid stockouts that frustrate customers. With Logiwa IO, you can automatically schedule replenishments when inventory gets low.
Order management and synchronization
For businesses with multiple locations and warehouse storage areas, there’s a need for inventory synchronization that harmonizes with customer orders. It can optimize fulfillment processes and expedite customer deliveries.
Logiwa’s omnichannel fulfillment facilitates synchronization in a few ways. First, it can share real-time inventory updates across sales channels. The updates help businesses avoid displaying out-of-stock items on their website and other platforms.
Logiwa supports centralized order processing. Instead of using multiple systems to track inventory and orders, all details are available through a singular platform. Stakeholders don’t need to transfer order data manually.
Logiwa IO integrates with most ecommerce platforms, including Shopify, Magento, Amazon, and Squarespace. That makes it incredibly easy to track orders and shipments from one place.
AI-powered demand forecasting
When you look at your current demand forecasting processes, what tools do you use? Are they spreadsheet-heavy with lots of historical data? Or are you benefiting from the advantages that AI offers?
Modern ecommerce operations thrive on data-driven inventory management platforms that take the guesswork out of stock control. Logiwa incorporates predictive algorithms to streamline ordering patterns and enhance distribution efficiency. By leveraging real-time analytics, businesses can maintain optimal stock levels while minimizing holding costs and preventing stockouts. These integrated solutions enable merchants to synchronize their inventory with actual customer demand, creating a more responsive and profitable supply chain.
Elevate inventory management with advanced software
Is proper inventory management standing between your organization and happy customers?
With Logiwa IO, you can unleash the power of automation and AI. Our software provides real-time inventory tracking, enhanced demand forecasting, and order synchronization—all of which can dramatically enhance your current inventory processes. To learn more about Logiwa IO and how it can benefit your business, schedule a demo with our team.
