Selling online means having available goods that need to be quickly transferred from your warehouse to the customer who buys. But before shipment, the goods must be ordered, cataloged, registered, allocated. They are to be followed during the shipment, but they must also be re-ordered to the supplier, managed the availability, the minimum stocks, the sales priorities.
The development and growth of online sales also passes (often passes first of all) through the orderly management of goods. The warehouse management systems are widely used by large organizations where the volumes of stocks and orders require high levels of control. The smaller companies, even if they have fewer stocks and fewer orders, have the same problems during the movement of physical stocks.
These companies are in two possible conditions …
- They have nothing to manage the warehouse and trust that the warehouse management is done by the sales tool.
- They use basic products for inventory and inventory management. Often these tools are provided as part of the accounting and order processing tools.
The first solution is pure adventure and leads to continuous misalignment as sales begin to grow. The second solution is valid when physical stocks are easy to manage. However as soon as the business expands it is very risky to rely on this type of control.
Have you ever loaned money to a family member or friend? Many times it ends in a loss of a friendship, uncomfortable holidays, and losing your money. I remember back as a teenager when my Dad told me the best way to lose a friend is loaning them your money. Of course my Dad didn’t know what he was talking about, right? Well as we later find out in life our parents know what they are talking about. Here are some tips that may keep your money in your pocket and your family/friendships in tack.
- Be suspicious when someone asks for money. You need to ask WHY? If you have a friend with medical bills that is totally different than a drug problem, gambling debt, or just wanting the money for fun.
- Never Cashfloat UK loan what you can’t afford to lose. This goes without saying….Sometimes its best to say I just can’t afford to loan money right now.
- Never ignore a risk on a business loan. Many people have pipe dreams on business startups that don’t have a chance. While it may sound like a business plan that has promise it’s usually not. Most anyone that needs money to start a business can go through the SBA. They make a determination on the business plan and help the individuals get the loan they need. So please avoid the friend that needs money to start a business.
If you need absolute warehouse accuracy, you need a system that controls inventory in a physical sense and that’s what makes a WMS (Warehouse Management System).
Do not underestimate these problems!
- Efficient business organization
- Robust hardware and infrastructure
- Accounting and business analysis
- Inventory management and control
On inventory management and control, many companies are convinced that their inventory management systems do the same thing as a WMS. In many situations, companies expand their business and continue to suffer from the same problems, which only a well-set system can easily correct.
The consequence is a reduction in efficiency, repeated errors and inventories with inaccurate information that affect customer retention and profitability.
Address the problems
In some situations I have seen that instead of addressing the root problem and solving management errors, the answer has been to increase labor and increase business costs, without solving problems. In reality, adequate solutions allow you to work efficiently and use labor to improve other business activities.
The questions you need to understand problems and solutions
Problems with goods entry
Time needed to process a received goods
Is this a time-consuming process that could be simplified to make it more efficient?
Errors in receiving data collection that cause problems
Are data acquisition methods disappointing and causing problems?
Too many manual systems or software applications to upgrade
Do you have too many recordings to make or duplications to be managed on multiple systems?
Receiving products is an intense labor process
The reception of products involves more people and more procedures, wasting time?
So much time wasted looking for space to receive the goods
Who receives the goods spends a lot of time to find the appropriate space to place the new goods on arrival?
Goods placed erroneously upon arrival
Are inventory stocks placed in a wrong spot which causes problems later?
Inventory management problems
Space optimization problems
Your space is badly managed because you do not have a real control of the position?
You can not adjust inventory at the position level, but only for numeric totals
Do not correctly adjust stocks due to incorrect figures?
Poor traceability of adequate stocks
It is difficult to register the correct stocks and this causes actions that can not be carried out (incorrect sales)
Poor traceability of the transferred stocks
Can you easily move stocks and maintain full traceability?
Collection and shipping problems
Warehouse not correctly positioned for collection
Do picking people waste a lot of time looking for stocks to collect?
Stock that is not found or is not enough for collection
Can not process orders because stocks are not available?
No automatic control of the rotation of goods
Do you control the turnover index of goods and set specific functions for monitoring and reorganization?
Traceability of batches and serial numbers
If you see products in batches, can you register the stock of products numbered in series?
Stocks with deficient verification process
You notice the errors of inventory detection always at the wrong time: when you immediately need those goods.
Errors in shipping and inadequate control process
Can not stop sending incorrect orders?
Inadequate picking flexibility for your business
Does your system allow you to take inventory for maximum efficiency?
Too much reliance on paper documentation
Do you rely on paper documents to manage the withdrawal process?
Management and monitoring time dedicated to the resolution of errors
Are you taking expensive time to fix errors and problems?
Real-time information shared with unreliable systems
Is information shared with other systems always accurate?
Selling online is impossible if you do not have a precise strategy of what you want to do and what you want to do. It also means bringing efficiency to business processes and fixing all the most hidden, but very substantial, aspects that support your business.