Simple Solutions for Your Biggest Inventory Problems

Inventory is a key element of your business. You can’t ignore any ongoing problems that you’re having with your inventory. Otherwise, it will have a domino effect on your operations and potentially cause a disaster.

These are some simple solutions for your biggest inventory problems.

Not Enough Storage:

Your business has a lot of inventory but no ideal place to store it. Currently, the inventory is cluttering up an area that isn’t conducive to proper storage. It’s sitting in your house, your garage or your office. These are not ideal places for organizing your inventory, let alone keeping careful track of it.

Where can you store all of your inventory instead? You can purchase a used 20ft shipping container in top condition and turn it into a personal storage unit. Shipping containers are built to contain a lot of cargo, so one should provide you with plenty of room for your items. You can fit large items like furniture, bicycles, farm equipment and vehicles inside the container without any trouble.

Another benefit of using a shipping container as a storage unit is that you can have it close by. You can move the container near your center of operations as long as you have the space for it. This will give you visibility on your inventory. You can easily check it, track it and restock it whenever you’d like.

It also allows you to keep your inventory in a separate, dedicated storage space. Your items won’t blend in with the contents of your house, your garage or your office. This should minimize clutter and optimize productivity in both locations.

Uneven Sales:

Are some items flying off the shelves while others are gathering dust? This is an issue that you can resolve by conducting regular audits. Doing regular audits will help you check on which items need frequent restocking and which ones aren’t performing to your expectations—these do not need to be restocked at the same rate. Inventory management software can help you run these audits and track the performances of your products.

While running regular audits can prevent you from overstocking items that aren’t selling well, how can you sell the “less desirable” items that you already have? These are some solutions that will get the products off of your shelves:

• Lower the product prices
• Bundle the product with better-selling items
• Remarket the item to present it in a more enticing way

Supply Chain Disruptions:

There have been plenty of supply chain disruptions in the past few years. Ships have gotten stuck in the midst of their journeys. Strict COVID-19 mandates have slowed supply lines. Problems like raw material shortages, labor shortages and bad weather have also affected your ability to source materials and deliver products.

So, what can you do? Well, you can’t prevent supply chain disruptions from happening. But you can use supply chain management software to reduce their impact on your business.

SCM software will have a forecasting feature, which will help you stay on top of developments in the supply chain and react accordingly. It will also have supplier sourcing, which you can use to find better suppliers. For instance, you could find a supplier that’s located closer to your business, which means you won’t have to worry as much about delays from international shipping.

The solutions to your inventory problems aren’t complicated. They’re actually very simple.