Inventory Management: Importance and Benefits (2024)

Tally Solutions |Updated on: September 29, 2023
  • Benefits and importance of inventory management
  • Why inventory management is important?

Inventory is one of the most crucial aspects of any business model. A close tab on the movement of inventory can make or break your business and that’s why entrepreneurs always emphasise on effective inventory management. While a few business owners do understand the significance and cruciality of tracking inventory on a regular basis, some fail to realise its importance making their business fall through the unseen cracks.

Benefits and Importance of Inventory Management

The importance of inventory management cannot be stressed enough especially for eCommerce and online retail brands. Accurate inventory tracking allows brands to fulfil orders timely and accurately. Inventory management in businesses must grow as the company expands. With a strategic plan in place that optimizes the process of overseeing and managing inventory, including real-time data of inventory conditions and levels, companies can achieve inventory management benefits that include:

Accurate Order Fulfilment

With an effective inventory management software, you can easily track the stock in the warehouse. Bid goodbye to overstocking, stocking of obsolete items, understocking and start focusing on making your brand become one of the key players in the market space. Develop a robust plan with the help of an efficient accounting software and avoid inaccurately filled orders, high return volumes and a loss of customer base.

Better Inventory Planning and Ordering

Striking a balance between the demand and supply is extremely crucial for businesses, thus, inventory management provides aid in better planning and ordering of stock items. Imagine having a huge demand for a particular product but not having enough material to supply the same. Sounds like your worst nightmare, right? A detailed inventory management mitigates these issues, allowing warehouse managers to refresh inventory only when needed. It’s both space and cost-effective.

Increased Customer Satisfaction

Since a systematic and robust inventory tracking system will give you a comprehensive view of your stock at-hand, it yields in an increased customer satisfaction. In retail sector, customers resent late deliveries or “out of stock” notifications and eventually never return to the website to fulfil their shopping needs. However, good inventory management leads to orders being fulfilled more quickly and shipped out to customers faster. The enhanced processes can help eCommerce and online retail brands build a strong repertoire with consumers – and keep them coming back for more.

Organised Warehouse

A good inventory management strategy leads to an organized fulfilment centre. An organized warehouse results in more efficient present and future fulfilment plans. This also includes cost-savings and improved product fulfilment for businesses utilizing the warehouse for managing inventory.

Minimise the Blockage of Financial Resources

The importance of inventory control is to minimise the blockage of financial resources. It reduces the unnecessary tying up of capital in excess inventories and also improves the liquidity position of the firm. With proper inventory tracking module, business owners can take quicker decisions about the stock lying in the warehouse more wisely.

Why Inventory Management is Important?

  • Cash Flow

Inventory control and planning allows small businesses to manage their cash flow opportunities. SMEs aren’t always able to purchase large amounts of inventory, due to limited capital. By having better control of their inventory, they can know exactly how much inventory they will need and when they need it. This can free up other capital to re-invest in other areas of the business.

  • Business intelligence

An inventory control and planning solution allows small businesses to gain insights into the fast-selling products. This allows them to adjust their product line and to make quick and smart business decisions.

  • Maximize profits

By being able to make better business decisions the inevitable outcome for a small business will be an increase in profits. This is because the stock in their inventory will only be stock that’s actually selling. Other stock that doesn’t grab customer’s attention can be deemed obsolete and can be abandoned. This makes the general business practice more efficient.

  • Limits employee mishandling

Inventory planning and control limits the ability of employees to steal from the inventory. Often employees use items from a business’ inventory for personal use. Without inventory control, the business owner would be none-the-wiser. This practice ultimately reduces the profitability of the business. By limiting the ability of the employee to steal, the employer is reducing potential ‘hidden’ costs.

  • Reduce labour costs

Improved inventory planning and control techniques allow small businesses to reduce labour costs associated with inventory. These include the time spent counting stock and the transportation of stock. Employing an intelligent inventory planning and control solution can significantly reduce all these labour-intensive activities.

FAQ:

What is the most important part of inventory?

One of the most critical aspects of inventory management is optimizing, managing and controlling the stock, thereby improving business efficiency.

What are the top inventory management benefits?

Inventory management helps businesses determine which and how much stock to order at what time. It keeps track of inventory from the time goods are bought to sold. To ensure that there is always sufficient stock to fulfill customer orders and to provide proper notice of a shortage, inventory management identifies and responds to trends.

Watch this Video to Know How to View and Analyse Inventory in TallyPrime

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Inventory Management: Importance and Benefits (2024)

FAQs

Inventory Management: Importance and Benefits? ›

Both for small businesses and big corporations, having a proper inventory management system is very important for any business. It can help you keep track of all your supplies and determine the exact prices. It can also help you manage sudden changes in demand without sacrificing customer experience or product quality.

What is the main purpose of inventory management? ›

Inventory management aims to have the right products in the right place at the right time. Inventory management requires inventory visibility, knowing when to order, how much to order and where to store stock.

What is the importance of inventory management in decision making? ›

Better Decision Making

Effective inventory management provides businesses with valuable insights into their operations. By tracking and analyzing inventory data, companies can identify trends, patterns, and inefficiencies in their supply chain, allowing for more informed decision-making.

What are the 4 main steps in inventory management? ›

To manage your inventory effectively, you can follow a 4 step process:
  • Assess what you have now.
  • Review what you had.
  • Analyse sales.
  • Identify items to repurchase or retire.
Jan 18, 2024

What are the benefits of doing inventory? ›

Having an accurate and regular count of your inventory positions can improve customer satisfaction and drive business growth. Precise inventory records help you identify top-selling items and those that might benefit from increased marketing efforts.

What is the most important thing in inventory management? ›

One of the most critical aspects of inventory management is managing the flow of raw materials from their procurement to finished products. The goal is to minimize overstocks and improve efficiency so that projects can stay on time and within budget.

What is the need and importance of inventory control? ›

Inventory control is the process of tracking stock levels while monitoring customer demand. This allows businesses to ensure they have the products people want at the time in the correct quantities. The quantities part is the most important because it helps businesses avoid over or understocking a certain product.

What are the main functions of inventory in an organization? ›

Functions of Inventory Management
  • Ordering: of finished products from a vendor or raw materials.
  • Handling: tracking incoming items or materials, including quantity, type, etc.
  • Storing: products or materials must be safely kept in a safe, yet easily accessible environment, such as an on-site warehouse.

Why is inventory management important in supply chain? ›

Risk mitigation: Inventory management helps mitigate risks associated with supply chain disruptions. By maintaining safety stock and safety lead times, businesses can buffer against unexpected events such as supplier delays, production issues, natural disasters, or changes in customer demand.

Why is inventory important? ›

Maintaining the right amount of inventory prevents selling out of items and upsetting customers or over-ordering and having overstock that costs money. Businesses that don't manage inventory effectively face several risks, a big one being poor application of financial resources.

What is inventory management in simple words? ›

Inventory management is the supervision of noncapitalized assets -- or inventory -- and stock items. As a component of supply chain management, inventory management supervises the flow of goods from manufacturers to warehouses and from these facilities to point of sale.

What are the 3 key measures of inventory? ›

The 3 most important inventory metrics for online retailers
  • Inventory Turnover Ratio = Cost of Goods Sold / Average Inventory Cost. This is arguably the most used metric in inventory management. ...
  • I/S Ratio = Average Inventory Value / Net Sales. ...
  • Sell-Through Rate = # of Units Sold / # of Units Received.
Apr 8, 2024

What are 3 benefits of inventory management? ›

Benefits of inventory management
  • Lower costs and saves money.
  • Prevent overspending on warehouse storage.
  • Minimize storage needs.
  • Reduce losses to improve cash flow.
  • Forecast sales trends.
  • Satisfies customers with timely deliveries.
Feb 15, 2024

What are the benefits of inventory monitoring? ›

This practice will help you evaluate your business's losses due to defective products, returns, or even theft. Maintaining a clear tally of your inventory will keep you informed of any unforeseen discrepancies or inconsistencies and allow you to take action as quickly as possible.

What are the three decisions in inventory management? ›

The three decision rules for inventory control are objectives, restraints and variables. Determining these in the context of inventory control will help organisations to establish protocols that will govern how they can then deliver on customer expectations.

What is inventory management decisions? ›

Inventory management refers to the process of ordering, storing, using, and selling a company's inventory. This includes the management of raw materials, components, and finished products, as well as warehousing and processing of such items.

What is the function of inventory decision? ›

One of the primary functions of inventory is to ensure that an organization can meet customer demand promptly. Having products readily available allows for timely order fulfillment, leading to customer satisfaction and repeat business.

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