THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO INVENTORY 1

MANAGEMENT

Conten
ts
Chapter 1: What is Inventory Management? 2
Chapter 2: Types of 11
Inventory Chapter 3: 1
4
Inventory Forecasting
2
Chapter 4: Purchasing
0
Inventory Chapter 5:
2
Inventory Storage Chapter 6

6: Inventory Analysis 3
3
Chapter 7: Inventory Management
41
Techniques Chapter 8: Multichannel
4
Inventory Tracking Chapter 9: 9
Click Here
Inventory to View This Whole
Accounting 5
Guide Online
Chapter 10: Choosing An Inventory 8
Management System 64

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Chapter 1: What is Inventory

Management?
Read this chapter online here

Inventory management is the process of ordering, handling, storing, and using a

company’s non-capitalized assets - AKA its inventory. For some businesses, this
involves raw materials and components, while others may only deal with finished
stock items ready for sale.

Either way, inventory management all comes down to balance - having the
right amount of stock, in the right place, at the right time. And this guide will
help you achieve just that.

Retail inventory management

Retail is the general term used to describe businesses that sell physical products
to consumers. While not exclusive to retail, inventory management tends to play
more of a role in this industry than any other.

We’ll therefore be focusing mainly on inventory management from a retail

perspective within this guide.

Retail can be split into several areas:

● Offline. Where a company sells via a brick-and-mortar store or physical

location.
● Online. Where a company sells over the internet via an ecommerce
website or marketplace.
● Multichannel. Where a company sells in multiple different places,
usually a combination of online websites and marketplaces.
● Omnichannel. Where a company provides a unified, integrated
experience for customers across all the different online and offline
channels it sells on.

Businesses may also choose to trade via wholesale channels. This involves
selling inventory (usually in bulk) directly business-to-business (B2B) or taking
part in B2B ecommerce.

A company’s inventory will therefore need to be managed in accordance with

which of these retail models it operates within.

Inventory management in action

We’ve covered the broad definition of inventory management. But what’s
actually involved when it comes to making good inventory management
happen?
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You want to keep inventory levels balanced at all times
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much or too little of each product in stock.
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And there are a few key aspects in achieving this:

● Types of inventory. So you know what type of inventory is where and

can have full visibility over it.

● Forecasting. So you know how much stock is needed to satisfy

demand over an upcoming time period.

● Purchasing. So you know when and how to create purchase orders to

re-order new stock.

● Storage. So you know how much of each inventory item can be suitably
housed, and where to send it.

● Analysis. So you can use metrics to make more informed decisions

about your inventory as time goes on.

● Techniques. So you can quickly and efficiently book-in, put away, pick,
pack and ship inventory as and when needed at your various locations.

● Tracking. So you have visibility on where exactly your inventory is as well

as additions (purchases) and subtractions (sales), to give as close to a live
stock figure as possible.

● Accounting. So you can properly record your inventory on financial

documents.

● Systems & tools. So you know which software is right for your business,
and when the right time is to implement it.

These are the basic ingredients of quality inventory management. And you’ll need
to take a
systematic approach to them in order to best equip your business for long term
growth.

The importance of inventory management

A retail business is useless without its inventory. And so while it may not be the
most exciting subject, inventory management is vitally important to your
business’s longevity.

Good inventory management helps with:

1. Customer experience. Not having enough stock to fufill orders you’ve

already taken payment for can be a real negative.
2. Improving cash flow. Putting cash into too much inventory at once
means it’s not available for other things - like payroll or marketing.
3. Avoiding shrinkage. Purchasing too much of the wrong inventory and/or
not storing it correctly can lead to it becoming ‘dead’, spoiled, or stolen.
4. Optimizing fufillment. Inventory that’s put away and stored correctly can
be picked, packed and shipped off to customers more quickly and easily.
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Key inventory management terms

Inventory management is a complex subject. And there’s a lot of systems,
processes and general pieces that go into the puzzle.

Here’s a glossary of key terms you’re likely to come across:

● Barcode scanner. A device used to digitally identify items via a unique

barcode, then perform inventory and fufillment tasks like booking-in,
picking, counts, etc.
● Bundles. A group of individual products in an inventory that are brought
together to sell as one under a single SKU.
● Cost of goods sold (COGS). Direct costs of purchasing and/or
producing any goods sold, including everything that went into it –
materials, labor, tools used, etc. Does NOT include indirect costs – like
distribution, advertising, sales force costs, etc.
● Beginning Inventory (BI). The value of any unsold, on-hand inventory at
the start of an accounting period.
● Ending Inventory (EI). The value of any unsold, on-hand inventory at
the end of an accounting period.
● Inventory valuation. The process of giving unsold inventory a monetary
value in order to show as a company asset in financial records.
● First-in-first-out (FIFO). An inventory valuation method that assumes
stock that was purchased first, is also the first to be sold.
● Last-in-first-out (LIFO). An inventory valuation method that assumes the
most recent products added to your inventory are the ones to be sold
first.
● Average inventory cost. An inventory valuation method that bases its
figure on the average cost of items throughout an accounting period.
● Average inventory. The average inventory on-hand over a given time
period, calculated by adding Ending Inventory (EI) to Beginning Inventory
(BI) and dividing by two.
● Back order (BO). An order for a product that is currently out of stock, and
so cannot yet be fulfilled for the customer.
● Sales order (SO). A document created when a customer makes a
purchase, detailing which products are to be received and how much has
been paid or is owed.
● Purchase order (PO). A commercial document created by a business to
its supplier, detailing quantities, items and agreed prices for new products
to add to on-hand inventory.
● Stock keeping unit (SKU). A unique alphanumeric code applied to
each variant in a company’s inventory, helping to easily identify and
organize a product catalogue.
● Third-party logistics (3PL). Refers to the use of an external third
party to handle warehousing, inventory, fufillment and/or customer
service on behalf of a retail company.
● Order fufillment. The process of getting a customer’s sales order
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● Order management. The systematic process behind organizing,

managing and fulfilling all the sales orders coming into a business. From
receiving orders and processing payment, right through to picking, packing,
shipping, handling returns and communicating with customers.
● Inventory variant. The variations of a single product that a company
may hold in its inventory. For example, stocking a t-shirt in various colors
and sizes.
● Inventory visibility. The ability of a person or business to see
exactly where its inventory is and how it is being used.
● Pipeline inventory. Any inventory that has not yet reached its final
destination of a company’s warehouse shelves, but is currently ‘en route’
somewhere within their supply chain - e.g. currently being manufactured,
or being shipped by the supplier.
● Lead time. The time it takes for a supplier to deliver new stock to the
desired location once a purchase order has been issued.
● Carrying costs. The total costs associated with holding and storing
inventory in a warehouse or facility until it is sold on to the customer.
● Inventory count. Also known as a stock take, this is the systematic process
of taking a physical count of inventory in order to verify accuracy.
● Dead stock. Inventory that remains unsold for a long enough period of time
for it to be deemed outdated and virtually unsellable.
● Inventory shrinkage. An accounting term to indicate inventory items that
have been stolen, damaged beyond saleable repair or otherwise lost
between the point of purchase and point of sale.
● Supply chain. The complete flow a product or commodity takes from origin
to consumer - including raw materials, to finished goods, wholesalers,
warehouses and final destination. A retailer might only be directly
responsible for certain chunks of this supply chain, but should still be aware
of it in its entirety for the products they sell.
● Multichannel. A retail model that sells in multiple different places, usually
online via a combination of websites and marketplaces.
● Omnichannel. A retail model that goes beyond multichannel to integrate
all of a company’s online and offline sales channels into one, unified
customer experience.
● Overselling. Taking online orders for a product that turns out to be
out of stock (usually through poor inventory management). Preventing
overselling is key to providing a high-quality experience for online
customers.

Key inventory management formulas

It’s not just common terminology you need to know when it comes to inventory
management. There are some specific formulas to take note of too.

We’ll be going into greater depth with how and when to use these formulas later
on in this guide. But here’s a quick run through to use as a reference point:

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1) Inventory turnover
Inventory turnover measures the number of times a company has sold and
replaced inventory over a given time period:

This gives an insight into the overall efficiency of a company and its inventory
management processes. The higher the inventory turnover rate, the more
efficient a business is at getting through its inventory.

2) Sell through rate

Sell through rate takes the amount of inventory a retailer receives, and
compares it against what is actually sold over a given period. It’s usually
expressed as a percentage:

This helps analyze if your investment in a particular product is working out well.
Low sell through rates indicate you either overbought or priced too high, while
high sell through rates indicate you may have under bought or priced too low.

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It’s a great way to make decisions on future purchase quantities for a

product or from a particular supplier.

3) Days of inventory outstanding (DIO)

Days of inventory outstanding (DIO) measures the typical number of days it takes
for inventory to turn into sales.

It’s hard to draw insights from just one calculation. But you should look into
typical industry standards, and also keep track of whether you are trending up
or down as time goes on.

4) Safety stock
Safety stock is the backup stock needed to meet unexpected supply problems
and/or sudden changes in demand.

Bear in mind that you want to have enough safety stock to meet demand. But
not so much that increased carrying costs puts a strain on cash flow.

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5) Reorder point
The reorder point helps determine when to order new inventory. It is a specific
point in time that acts as a trigger to re-order as soon as stock has diminished to
that certain level.

It’s important to consider the lead time for new stock to be delivered when setting
reorder points. Enough stock should be leftover to keep up with demand before
the newly purchased inventory becomes available for sale.

6) Economic order quantity (EOQ)

EOQ is a formula that helps calculate exactly how much inventory to order. It
takes into account a company’s typical demand, ordering costs and carrying
costs to provide the most economical figure possible:

This is obviously quite a complicated formula to use. But we cover this in

greater depth in Chapter 4: Purchasing Inventory.

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Inventory management software

An inventory management software or system does all the heavy lifting for a
retail business when it comes to its inventory. It tracks inventory additions and
subtractions automatically, without relying on manual, paper or spreadsheet
processes.

Systems like this are becoming more and more popular among growing
businesses as they tackle the challenges of modern multichannel and
omnichannel retail.

Choosing an inventory management system that’s right for your business can
be a tricky process. But here are a few pillar features of good software:

● Real-time tracking. Syncs a live inventory figure across all sales

channels and warehouses.
● Forecasting. Uses past sales data to project estimated inventory
requirements into the future.
● Purchasing. Helps manage all suppliers and purchase orders for quick and
easy stock replenishment.
● Rules & automations. Allows creation of inventory rules, e.g. to dictate
how much stock shows on each sales channel.
● Cloud-based. Accessed from anywhere with data never being
overwritten by team members making changes.

Many systems (like Veeqo) will also help manage and automate a plethora of
other operational tasks - like sales & wholesale orders, picking & packing,
shipping, and returns.

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This initial guide covers all the basics of inventory management you need to know.
But there’s much more that goes into it that we’ll explore in the coming additional
chapters, starting next with the different types of inventory you need to be aware of.

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Chapter 2: Types of Inventory

Read this chapter online here

There are several different types of inventory a company might come across. All
are critical to understand in the pursuit of effective inventory management.

This chapter covers all these different types, so your business is best equipped
to manage, plan and budget for stock going forward.

Basic types of inventory

There are five fundamental types of inventory when it comes to the products a
business might sell.

1)Raw materials
Raw materials are any items used to manufacture finished products, or the
individual components that go into them. These can be produced or sourced
by a business itself or purchased from a supplier.

For example:

A business that makes its own bespoke furniture may purchase materials from
a supplier. While a small business supplying specialty herbs may actually grow
these itself.

Either way, raw materials are still considered a type of inventory. And so must be
managed, stored and accounted for accordingly.

2) Work-in-progress (WIP) inventory

Work-in-progress (WIP) inventory again refers to retailers that manufacture their own
products. These are unfinished items or components currently in-production, but
not yet ready for sale.

For our furniture business, this may be products that have been put together
without yet being painted or packaged.

3) Finished goods
Finished goods are products that are complete and ready for sale. These may
have been manufactured by the business itself, or purchased as a whole,
finished product from a supplier.

Most retailers will either purchase whole, finished products from a supplier, or
have custom products manufactured for them by a third-party. Finished goods are
therefore often (but not

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always) one of the only types of inventory needing to be handled within retail
inventory management.

4)Maintenance, repair & operations (MRO) goods

MRO goods are items used within the manufacture of products, but without directly
making up any part of a finished product.

This can include items such as:

● Production & repair tools.

● Uniforms & safety equipment.
● Cleaning supplies.
● Machinery.
● Batteries.
● Computer systems.

And all items that are consumed or discarded during the production process.

Small types of inventory like this may seem menial. But MRO is inventory that still
needs to be purchased from a supplier, stored somewhere and accounted for in
financial records.

5)Packing materials
Packing materials are anything you use for packing and protecting goods -
either while in storage, or during shipping to customers.

This is therefore particularly important for online retailers. And may include
things like:

● Bubble wrap.
● Padding.
● Packing chips.
● A variety of boxes.

Many retailers don't think about packing materials when managing their inventory.
But stocks of these items need to be used and maintained regularly - and it's
therefore important to include them in overall inventory reporting and accounting.

Finished good types of inventory

Within a retail context, it’s also useful to further subdivide finished goods into a
few other types of inventory. This gives a business much greater inventory
visibility, allowing for improved allocation and management.

1. Ready for sale. Also known as ‘available inventory,’ this is stock that has
been manufactured/purchased and put away in the warehouse ready for
sale. It could be picked, packed and shipped without complication at any
desired moment.
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2. Allocated. This is inventory that has been bought by a customer and

allocated to a sales order. It is therefore not eligible for sale again, and
must be removed from the available inventory figure.
3. In-transit. This is unsold inventory that is currently on the move - e.g. a
purchase order delivery in transit, or stock being moved to another
warehouse.
4. Seasonal. Also known as ‘anticipation stock,’ this is inventory that has
been manufactured or purchased to specifically cover a forecasted upturn
in demand.For example, to cover Black Friday sales, or your peak season.
5. Safety. This acts as a buffer cushion of stock to cover you in the
event of any unforeseen upturns in demand, or problems with
supply.

Knowing (and using) these different types of inventory is critical to good

inventory management. In the next chapter, we’ll go into the art and science of
inventory forecasting.

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Chapter 3: Inventory Forecasting

Read this chapter online here

Inventory forecasting is crucial to the financial success of any retail business. It

helps strike a balance between sinking too much cash into inventory at once,
while ensuring demand can always be satisfied without going out of stock.

However, this is also one of the most difficult aspects of inventory management
to get right. So in this chapter, we outline all the techniques and best practices
retailers can use to forecast inventory requirements.

What is inventory forecasting?

Inventory forecasting is essentially making an informed projection on how much
stock will be needed to satisfy demand over a given time period. It starts with a
simple demand forecast, then uses what’s already in stock to plan how much
inventory is required going forward.

It’s important to note that forecasting will always be educated guesswork. No

forecast is set in stone, and there are several factors that can affect accuracy - such
as seasonality and sales history.

Good demand and inventory forecasting will therefore take these factors into
account, and be agile enough to allow for adjustments when circumstances
change.

Setting forecast boundaries

The first step in predicting your inventory requirements is to create a simple
forecast of your expected sales. For this, you’ll need to set some forecast
boundaries.

1)Forecast period
A forecast period is the specific amount of time into the future that a
forecast will be attempting to predict.

We recommend at least the following three periods:

1. Annual.
2. 90 day.
3. 30 day.

These should then be reviewed each month. If market trends or actual sales
performance is different than expected, then upcoming sales forecasts can be
adjusted accordingly.

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2) Base demand
Base demand is simply the exact current demand for a product at the specific point
a forecast is due to begin from.

For example, a company may be doing a 30 day forecast for white Nike sneakers.
If they sold 37 units over the previous 30 days, then base demand would be 37.

This just gives a starting point to work from in our forecast. To increase accuracy,
we’ll need to consider any trends and variables that may impact demand.

Incorporating trends and variables

It’s not enough to forecast inventory based purely on current demand. There’s a
whole host of factors that could impact the data going forward.

Most businesses will therefore need to take a variety of trends and variables into
account in order to achieve the most accurate inventory forecasting possible.

1) Sales velocity
Stock-outs shouldn’t happen, but in reality they sometimes still do. And sales
velocity takes this into account when it comes to looking over your past sales
performance for inventory forecasting.

For example:

Maybe you only sold 20 units of a product in the past 90 days. But it doesn’t
tell the whole story if you actually had it listed as ‘out of stock’ for 89 of those
days.

Forecast better for the upcoming period and you could sell

much more. We can therefore use the following calculation to

omit out of stock days:

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Note: The time periods are obviously not fixed here. You could work out 10 day
sales velocity from 180 days of sales, but larger data sets tend to yield more
reliable results.

All things being equal, sales velocity gives an indication of how much a product
should sell if continuously in stock over a 30 day period. Something that can be
very useful for forecasting inventory requirements into the future.

However, there are several other factors that can impact this too...

2)Marketing activity
It’s also essential that you consider marketing and advertising activity when
it comes to inventory forecasting. This should be taken into account in two
ways:

1. Past marketing activity when looking at sales history.

2. Planned marketing activity when planning for future sales.

The main thing to watch out for is whether planned marketing activity is
conceivably different or scaled up/down compared to past marketing activity.

For example:

It could be realistic to expect a 25% sales uplift if Facebook Ads worked well last
Q3, and you decide to increase budget by 25% in this Q3. So you’ll need to
account for this when inventory forecasting.

3)Seasonality
Seasonality is absolutely critical for forecasting your stock requirements.

Winter coats tend to not sell well in summer months. Good gifts will tend to pique
around the Holidays. Items you discount will possibly go through the roof during
Black Friday.

But there may also be more subtle, not so obvious variations in demand for

certain products. This is where 12 month sales data is powerful.

You’ll need to look back over the previous year (several years if possible) to
see which specific months and periods in time certain items:

● Start to trend up.

● Plateau.
● Start to trend down.

This allows you to make data-backed decisions on seasonality, and how much
inventory you might require during these periods.

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4)Unexpected publicity
Unexpected media attention or publicity may be unlikely. But it’s still something
you’d need to forecast for if it happens.

For example:

You’ll probably need to forecast an uptrend in sales if Kim Kardashian is pictured

wearing some of your jewelry. Or be prepared for a possible downtrend if you get
some bad press in a national newspaper.

Either way, unexpected publicity is definitely something you should be aware of

and reacting to with your forecasts.

5)Industry-specific effects
Events and goings on within your industry and marketplace in general can
also impact demand for products.

This could be a whole range of things, such as:

● A major competitor going out of business.

● A large company diversifying into your niche.
● Major changes to pillar marketing channels (if Facebook banned your Ad
account, for example).
● Law changes in states/countries you operate/sell in.

Again, these are slightly ad-hoc and unpredictable. But anything that does happen
should be reacted to with inventory requirements adjusted accordingly.

Forecasting for new products

As stated earlier, inventory forecasting is always going to be somewhat of a
guess. And that becomes even more so when it comes to new products with
limited sales data available.

The key is to try to inform your guesswork as much as

possible. So consider things like:

● Trends of similar products you’ve launched.

● Trends of other products within that category
you’ve launched.
● Trends of all previous products you’ve launched.
● Using a tool like Google Trends to see seasonality of when people search
for specific products most.
● Making use of market research, surveys and focus groups.

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You can also build up your data set slowly. So launching new products with small
amounts of inventory to judge initial reaction, then re-investing in greater stock
numbers going forward.

Inventory planning and replenishment

Sales and demand forecasting is one thing. But true inventory forecasting needs
to go a step further and actually plan out how you’ll replenish stock for the
upcoming period.

This means considering:

1. Current stock levels. How much is currently on-hand? There’s no point

purchasing 40 units to cover 40 forecasted sales if you already have 27
units on-hand.
2. Pipeline inventory. How many units have already been ordered and
en route as pipeline inventory? You don’t want to double buy stock.
3. Lead time. How long will it take for new stock to be delivered, received into
inventory and made ready for sale? We’ll cover lead time and reorder
points with more detail in Chapter 4: Purchasing Inventory of this guide.

Automated inventory forecasting

Forecasting demand, sales and, in particular, inventory can be an incredibly
complex task.

Luckily, one option is to use automated inventory forecasting.

Tools like this won’t do all the work for you - you’ll still need to analyze data and
consider any unexpected sales up or downturns. But they’ll be able to take
previous sales performance and run accurate reports on estimated inventory
requirements.

Veeqo, for example, helps take the guesswork out of the process by using past
sales history to calculate inventory requirements for your chosen upcoming
period:

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As you can see, there’s a lot of estimating that goes into forecasting inventory.
But the more you can base decision making on data, the more accurate you’re
going to be.

Many guides on inventory planning simply look at reorder point and economic
order quantity (EOQ) calculations, without addressing how to actually forecast
demand like done here.
However, we do look at reorder points and EOQ in the next chapter on
purchasing inventory.

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Chapter 4: Purchasing Inventory

Read this chapter online here

Purchasing inventory is about more than just raising a purchase order. Serious
businesses pay close attention to how much inventory they should order and
exactly when to do it in order to minimize carrying costs and achieve steady
growth.

This whole practice is therefore a critical aspect of effective inventory

management. And something we discuss how to optimize in this chapter.

Methods of purchasing inventory

There are several methods you can use for purchasing inventory. Each one
has its own benefits and drawbacks, and so what might work for one
business may not for another.

1)Bulk buying
Also referred to as ‘just-in-case’ inventory purchasing, this is where a company
would buy its inventory in bulk batches. Stock will then be held at a warehouse,
third-party logistics (3PL) facility or location of some kind in order to supply a
forecasted demand.

Bulk buying is perhaps the most well-known way of purchasing inventory. It

could involve purchasing finished products or raw materials in a vast array of
quantities - depending on what’s best for a business at that particular time.

Pros:

● Take advantage of bulk buying discounts.

● Potential for greater profit margins due to smaller cost-per-unit.
● Relatively simple purchasing system to set up.

Cons:

● Costs associated with a warehouse or 3PL partner for inventory storage.

● Risk of sinking cash into too much stock if forecasting is inaccurate.

Best for: Growing or established businesses that have a good handle on

expected demand and profit margins.

2) Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a method of purchasing inventory where the retailer doesn’t keep
any of the products it sells in stock. Instead, items are purchased from a third-party
supplier as and when each customer order comes in, with the supplier shipping
products directly to the customer.
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As a result, the retailer usually doesn’t ever see, handle, stock or own any of
the inventory themselves. This method may sound appealing, but it does have
several drawbacks too.

Pros:

● Effectively removes the need for any inventory management by the

retailer.
● Removes risk of cash getting tied up in inventory that doesn’t sell.
● Lower overall costs of not needing a warehouse, 3PL or fufillment team.
● Easy to find, source and test new products.

Cons:

● Profit margins can be thin from lack of bulk buy savings.

● Little to no control over fufillment speed and product/package branding.
● Products are easily accessible to other dropshippers, meaning you’ll likely
be facing stiff competition.

Best for: Startup retail brands, or more established brands wanting to test the
waters for a new product without investing in lots of inventory.

3) Just-in-time (JIT)
Just-in-time (JIT) is usually better associated with retailers that manufacture their
own products. This would involve ordering raw materials and assembling each
product as and when an order comes in - hence, it’s produced ‘just-in-time’ for
fufillment.

This method can result in holding much less ‘on-hand’ inventory, but requires
seamless management of the manufacturing process and a highly reliable
supply chain.

Pros:

● Reduced warehouse costs from needing to store on-hand inventory

and materials.
● Maintain control of your product quality and branding.
● Less waste of raw materials.

Cons:

● Any supply chain hiccup can have large effects on production.

● Supply chain lead times will need to be factored into overall order
fufillment speed.
● Requires highly sophisticated management and processes to get
right.

Best for: Larger businesses manufacturing their own products with sophisticated
production processes in place. These businesses will also tend to rely on fewer
orders that contain many quantity units in each one.
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When to order new inventory

Dropshipping and JIT speak for themselves when it comes to placing a new
purchase order - you do it as and when each sales order comes in.

But most growing retailers will most likely be going down the bulk buying route.
And this begs the question, when’s the right time to place a new bulk buy order?

There are three methods to use:

1. Order pattern method. This would involve simply making regular

fixed purchases of the same amount. It’s perfect for retailers who know
they’re sales numbers will rarely change, with a review taking place maybe
1-2 times a year.
2. Control rhythm method. This would involve checking inventory at fixed
intervals and purchasing inventory amounts that have been adjusted
accordingly. It’s perfect for retailers that have a good grasp of their demand
and inventory forecasting.
3. Reorder point method. This involves reordering stock once it gets below
a certain level, usually set via a calculation. It tends to work better for
retailers with fewer products, and who aren’t reliant on bulk buying
discounts from large purchase orders of multiple products at a time.

Determining which method to use depends completely on how your business

operates. For example:

Order pattern method could be catastrophic if you have products that are highly
seasonal or fluctuate in sales. But the reorder point method might not make sense
if smaller, more regular purchase orders means you’d miss out on significant bulk
buying discounts.

Calculating reorder point

Purchasing inventory based on reorder points is a very common method to use.

In essence, an item’s reorder point needs to be as soon as its safety stock levels
are hit.

But we also need to make sure we don’t run out of stock in the time it takes for
our new inventory to be delivered. So the lead time between ordering and
receiving the order needs to be taken into account.

Here’s the formula to use:

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For example:

Imagine we typically sell 11 blue t-shirts each day. If we aim to always keep 50 in
safety stock, and it usually takes seven days to receive and put away new
inventory - then reorder point would look like this:

Reorder point = (7 x 11) + 50

Reorder point = 77

+ 50 Reorder point

= 127

So a new purchase order needs to be created for our blue t-shirts as soon as
inventory levels hit 127 units.

How much new inventory to order

We’ve covered when the best time is to place a new purchase order. Next
comes the question, how much stock is best to order at one time?

To answer this, there are several things to consider:

● Forecasted demand.
● Bulk buying discounts.
● Carrying/storage costs.
● Ordering costs.

One option is to manually take these into account with your thought process
each time you go about purchasing inventory.

But we can also use a more scientific method known as economic order quantity
(EOQ).

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EOQ is a calculation that helps work out the most economical quantity of
inventory to order for a specific product. The three variables involved are:

1. Demand. The number of units sold over a given time period (usually a
year).
2. Relevant ordering cost. Total ordering cost per purchase order. This
includes all staff, transportation and any other costs associated with making
each purchase order - but not the actual cost of the order itself.
3. Relevant carrying cost. Assume the item is in stock for the entire
time period in question and decipher the carrying cost per unit.

You’ll then put this into the following equation:

This helps to determine the best amount of inventory to order each time. Helping
to strike a balance between minimal ordering and carrying costs, while still
satisfying demand.

Automated inventory purchasing

Purchasing inventory is another task that can be brought into the digital world.
This helps to automate a lot of the repetitive, manual tasks, while also taking care
of some of the complicated forecasting and mathematics involved.

Veeqo, for example, allows you to:

● Manage all your suppliers in one CRM-like database.

● Manually add and remove products to digital purchase orders.
● Auto-populate purchase orders with items low on stock and/or below re-
order point.
● Email the purchase order off to suppliers:

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You can then manage all active purchase orders in one place to see when
delivery is expected. And even send reminder emails to suppliers for any
order that’s past due.

In the previous two chapters of this guide, we’ve talked about how to plan,
forecast and purchase new inventory.

The next chapter moves on to optimizing your inventory storage procedures. We’ll
cover how to book-in and look after your stock in order to have it ready for sale as
soon as possible and minimize spoilage and shrinkage.

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Chapter 5: Inventory Storage

Read this chapter online here

Inventory storage is critical to long term retail success. Fail to look after your stock
properly, and you run the risk of it getting lost, stolen or damaged - wasting cash
that could be used on other important business expenditures.

So this chapter is all about how to most efficiently store, organize, maintain and
generally preserve the life of your inventory.

Broad inventory storage options

The first thing to assess is exactly where you’ll be storing inventory. To do this,
you typically have a few options.

1)Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a way of purchasing inventory where the retailer doesn’t keep any
of the products it sells in stock. Instead, items are purchased from a third-party
supplier as and when each customer order comes in, with the supplier shipping
products directly to the customer.

It therefore entirely negates the need for inventory storage or keeping stock on-
hand.

Pros:

● Inventory storage is entirely taken care of by the supplier.

● Supplier is liable for any inventory shrinkage.
● Lower overall costs of not needing a warehouse, 3PL or fufillment team.
● Less risk when starting out.

Cons:

● Little to no control over product quality or branding.

● Puts someone else in control of how well products are stored.
● Shipping speeds can be incredibly slow.
● Highly competitive with razor thin margins.

Best for: Startup retail brands that want to test the waters before investing in bulk
inventory.

2) Third-party logistics (3PL) service

A third-party logistics (3PL) service allows retailers to effectively rent space in
another warehouse. You can then send inventory units directly to the 3PL
location for them to store and ship on your brand’s behalf.

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This usually incurs housing and shipping fees, but again eliminates the need to
worry about having to store inventory.

Pros:

● Inventory management is entirely taken care of by the 3PL service.

● Can take advantage of bulk inventory discounts without the need for a self-
fufillment warehouse.
● Usually involves significantly faster shipping times and more control
over product quality compared to dropshipping.

Cons:

● Monthly storage fees can eat into profits for slow moving stock.
● Trusting someone else to ship products on your brand’s behalf.
● Usually requires investing in bulk stock quantities.

Best for: Growing retail brands that have proven, consistent sales and want to
buy stock in bulk without a dedicated warehouse.

3) Self-fufillment warehouse
A self-fufillment warehouse is a location set up by a retailer in order to
specifically store its own inventory and ship orders.

This usually comes with significant up-front investment of both capital and time -
like signing a lease and hiring a team. But if the sales are there and numbers
make sense, then the result is more control and lower operational costs in the long
run.

Pros:

● Complete control of the fufillment experience delivered to customers.

● Initial investment can result in long term savings compared to a 3PL.

Cons:

● Usually involves signing a long term lease, which can be risky.

● Will need to hire and train a team, and possibly invest in WMS software.
● May require moving to new locations several times as the business grows.

Best for: Established retail brands planning for long term growth.

Setting up your warehouse

The main goals of setting up your warehouse for optimal inventory storage are:

1. Safety. Any inventory should be stored safely to prevent both injury to staff
members and damage to the inventory itself.

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2. Security. Warehouses with large amounts of valuable stock will be a target

for thieves, so this should be prevented as best as possible.
3. Accessibility. Inventory will need to be stored in a way that’s easy to
receive and put away when new, then pick, pack and ship out to
customers later on.

In order to do this, there are several things to think about:

1)Warehouse layout
Your warehouse will need to balance having enough storage space for
inventory, while providing enough working space for staff to move around
and complete tasks.

Exact requirements will depend on each individual business, but the following
areas tend to be needed in a warehouse layout:

● Delivery/receiving area.
● Unpacking and book-in area.
● Warehouse office.
● Main storage area.
● Area for excess, obsolete or dead stock.
● Packing table(s).
● Shipping station(s).

This can be tricky – especially when dealing with a limited space. So it’s best to
sketch out your warehouse layout to scale before setting it up or changing
what you already have.

Space and manoeuvrability is a key thing to

remember.

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Pickers need to be able to walk up and down aisles without getting in each
other’s way. And should also have enough room to actually pick items.

2) Warehouse labeling
Specific locations and clear labeling are essentials for effective inventory storage.
Your team should be able to look at your inventory system and see exactly
where any product is located.

Practicality is king here.

Stick with simple alphanumeric combinations labeling specific rows, shelves and
then exact bin locations:

So you always know, for example, that all your blue t-shirts sized medium will be
in Row A – Shelf B – Bin 1. And the pattern can be continued like this.

Larger warehouses can extrapolate forward as much as needed with the same
concept:

The bigger your facility, the more in-depth you’ll need to go with your location
labeling to achieve optimal inventory storage.

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3) Arranging inventory
Another key part of inventory storage is determining the exact location each
product should be stored within your warehouse.

Ideally, sales volume should be taken into account for this.

Veeqo research found that 60% of a company’s sales tend to come from just
20% of their products. Meaning you can severely reduce picker walking time
by:

● Identifying that 20% of products from past sales data in your business;
● and then storing these as close to the packing desk as possible.

ABC Analysis is an inventory management technique that can become very

useful here. This divides all on-hand inventory into three groups – A, B and C:

A Items: Are of high value with low sales frequency.

B Items: Are of moderate value with moderate sales frequency.

C Items: Are of low value with high sales frequency.

You can then decide that ‘C items’ will be placed closest to the packing desk,
while ‘A items’ will be farthest away. Like this:

Some small and lightweight items may even be sold frequently enough to
warrant being stored on shelves above the packing desks themselves.

Finally:

You can take this concept another layer deep by also identifying which products
are most commonly sold together.

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So faster selling products are stored closer to the packing desk and products
commonly purchased together are stored close or next to each other. Meaning
you’re doubling down on reducing walking time for each picker.

Inventory storage equipment

Storing inventory in the safest and most practical way is almost impossible without
investing in some form of equipment.

This can differ heavily depending on the goods in question. Retailers selling
refrigerators, for example, may require large locations, forklifts and heavy-duty
shelving racks. While selling
t-shirts or jewelry can usually be done with simple shelves in a smaller space.

With that being said, here’s a look at some of the general equipment to consider:

Shelving units. Some warehouses can work with simple block stacking of
products on top of each other, but most will need some kind of shelving to
place products on. The most common ones have metal frames with wooden
shelves, are easy to build, yet robust. Access to both sides can also be very
useful - one side for putting in, one for taking out.

Bins. Warehouse bins are where your individual product variants go into,
particularly for smaller items. Each bin will be labeled and assigned to a
specific variant to make it easy to locate in the warehouse.

CCTV. Inventory is a business asset, and should be protected as such.

Make sure to get a good Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) system set up with
signage to indicate it’s in use in order to deter thieves as much as possible.

Barcode scanner. A quality barcode scanner will help with booking-in,

picking, packing, conducting inventory counts and generally keeping your
inventory accurate and aligned with what’s recorded in your inventory
management software.

Picking cart. Pickers will need a cart on which to carry all the items that
are being picked before returning to the packing station. This is
particularly useful if you commonly sell multiple items per order, or when
using a batch picking system.

Totes. These will sit on the picking cart and carry items for individual orders
during a batch picking route. Totes are usually simple plastic containers and
will only ever hold items for one order at a time.

Packing desk. A professional packing desk is very solid, larger than a

normal office desk and has rolls so that you can get easy access to your
packaging materials. It’s worth having at least two, so someone else can
jump in during busy periods.

Packaging materials. This will involve your different sized shipping

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costs. Plus, tape and all the protective inner packaging - like bubble wrap,
shredded paper or air pillows (determined by how fragile your items are in
transit).

Printers. You’ll need a good quality A4 laser printer for invoices, and a
typical 6x4” shipping label printer (Dymo is great for this). For your A4
printer, think about speed of printing the first page, speed of printing multiple
pages and cost per page.

Shipping computer. This is a dedicated computer solely for shipping

out orders - printing out labels, marking orders as shipped, sending out
tracking details and/or using shipping software. It’s best to opt for a
touchscreen to remove the need for keyboard and mouse in this fast-
paced environment.

Shipping scales. These weigh all packed shipments and send details to
your shipping computer via a direct connection. Dymo are, again, a great
option for scales.

Of course, retailers need to consider this equipment from the point-of-view of

their own business. Selling certain foods may require a refrigerated unit or cold
store, while very high value jewelry may need extra security measures.

The key is to use this guide as a blueprint to build upon and mould to your own
business.

We’ve now covered how to plan, replenish and store inventory as a retailer. Next,
we’ll move on to inventory analysis in order to use the best and most useful
metrics for keeping on top of your stock management going forward.

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Chapter 6: Inventory Analysis

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Inventory analysis is the regular auditing of inventory in the pursuit of continuous

improvements to how it is managed. This can be done through a variety of
commonly used inventory KPIs and ratios.

Regular monitoring of these metrics is a key part of inventory management,

and so we explore each one in-depth within this chapter.

The goals of inventory analysis

Before getting into any metrics, it’s important to understand what the specific
goals are when it comes to doing inventory analysis.

The general objective is to improve overall inventory efficiency. But breaking this
down even further would involve aiming to:

● Identify improvement areas. Metrics should be compared to past results

and industry benchmarks to identify where problem areas lie.
● Reduce stock-outs. Stock-outs should be seen as huge red flags for
retailers, and inventory analysis will help minimize them as much as
possible.
● Improve cash flow. Analysing inventory now will prevent sinking too
much cash into stock at any one time going forward.
● Waste less inventory. Analysis and improvements will help
minimize inventory shrinkage, such as stock that gets lost, stolen or
damaged beyond repair.

This all has the bottom line effect of making the business more profitable,
while also
improving the experience for customers.

ABC analysis
ABC analysis is a commonly used inventory analysis method that helps to
identify your most valuable inventory.

It’s based on the Pareto principle - AKA the 80/20 rule. Applied to retail, this
would suggest that around 80% of sales would typically come from 20% of a
company’s total inventory.

ABC analysis uses this theory to sort inventory into three buckets:

A inventory. Is inventory with the highest value - typically your 20% that
brings in 80% of sales/profits. These are usually items with the best profit
margins and/or most sales revenue.
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B inventory. Is inventory that sells regularly, but doesn’t have quite as

much value as A - often due to having slimmer margins or higher carrying
costs.

C inventory. Is the remainder of inventory that doesn’t sell as much

as A or B, generates the least revenue and is generally least
valuable.

This kind of analysis helps identify the key players in a retail business’s
inventory.

A inventory, for example should rarely (if ever) stock-out and be given the highest
priority and focus. While C inventory may not warrant quite so much attention.

Inventory analysis metrics

ABC analysis isn’t the only way to draw conclusions from your inventory. There
are several key metrics that can be used to measure performance and uncover
ways to optimize operations.

Average inventory
Average inventory measures the average volume of inventory kept on-
hand throughout a given period.

It comes from adding together the beginning inventory (BI) value at the start of a
period and the ending inventory (EI) value at the end of the period. Then simply
dividing by two to find the average:

This helps to even out seasonal fluctuations to see whether too much or too little
inventory is typically kept on-hand at any one time.

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Inventory turnover
Inventory turnover measures how many times your inventory is sold over
a given time period. It’s therefore a critical metric showing how effectively
inventory is being managed overall.

The formula takes cost of goods sold (COGS) over a specific period, and divides it
by average inventory over the same period:

This is affected by two key factors:

1. Purchasing. Getting forecasting and inventory buying correct to

ensure the right amount of stock is purchased in the first place.
2. Sales. Ensuring the marketing and conversion sides of the business are
on point in order to back up the projected sales with actual orders.

Poor inventory turnover performance could be stemming from failures in either

one (or both) of these elements.

Generally speaking, higher inventory turnover rates indicate better performance

and efficiency. This is because the company would be getting through its
inventory stocks more often - minimizing carrying costs per unit.

Inventory write-off
Inventory write-off is a measure of any unsold inventory that has become defunct or
no longer has any value for the business over a given period. Usually due to
loss, theft, damage or generally becoming obsolete and unsellable.

It involves identifying the inventory, disposing of it and officially writing off its
value in accounting records. So is more a procedure and final value, rather than
a specific formula.

But it’s worth regularly reviewing and tracking how much inventory is being
written-off.

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High or continually increasing amounts could indicate problems with forecasting

for certain products, or how inventory is being stored in the warehouse.

Gross margin return on investment (GMROI)

GMROI is a simple ratio to measure the profitability of your inventory over a
certain period. It gives the gross profit a retailer makes for every dollar of
inventory that’s purchased.

Here’s the formula:

(Note: gross margin is found by subtracting COGS from net sales.)

Any GMROI ratio below 1.0 means a business is not profitable, and is losing
money for every dollar invested in inventory. Anything above 1.0 means a
business is selling goods for more than what it costs the firm to acquire them.

It’s important to note that this is not a measure of bottom-line profitability -

as only COGS is taken into account as a cost, not total expenditure.

But this does give a clear indication as to how profitable your inventory is with
current price points and buying procedures.

Sell through rate

Sell through rate takes the amount of inventory a retailer receives, and
compares it against what is actually sold over a given period. It’s usually
expressed as a percentage:

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This can be used on a ‘per product’ (or even ‘per variant’) basis to analyze how
quickly the investment in inventory is paying off.

It’s useful when comparing one product or variant against another. Or when
comparing the sell-through of a specific product from one month to another.

Low sell through rates indicate you either overbought or priced too high,
while high sell through rates indicate you may have under bought or priced
too low.

Days inventory outstanding (DOI)

Days of inventory outstanding (DOI) is simply how many days it typically takes to
create or buy inventory and turn it into a sale. It’s even sometimes referred to
simply as average days to sell.

The formula involves dividing average cost of inventory over a time period by
COGS over the same period, then multiplying by number of days in the time
period (all usually a year):

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It’s hard to draw insights from just one calculation. But you should look into
typical industry standards, and also keep track of whether you are trending up
or down as time goes on.

Increases and/or poor performance could indicate a problem with

manufacturing/purchasing and/or the sales process.

Back order rate

Back order rate shows the percentage of your total orders over a given period
that ended up being placed on back order.

This gives an indication of how well you forecast, replenish and track inventory. A
high back order rate could stem from:

● Not buying the right amount of inventory.

● Not re-ordering at the right time.
● Not syncing and tracking multichannel inventory efficiently enough.

As well as a host of other reasons.

However, it’s also important to note this doesn’t account for sales that may have
been lost from poor inventory management. You could still have a zero back
order rate, but have lost sales from having to mark online store products as ‘pre-
sale’ or ‘out-of-stock’.

Conducting inventory analysis

Inventory analysis is not about simply looking at these equations once. It’s about
setting aside regular time to properly track, monitor and draw conclusions from
them.

It’s worth creating a spreadsheet, then setting aside monthly time to compare
trends and truly analyze the data.

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Good inventory management software should come with extensive reporting

features. Allowing you to automatically track and easily pay attention to vital KPIs
within the platform.

Veeqo, for example, lets you run all kinds of reports. From sales:

To products and
inventory:

Right through to warehouses and team

performance.

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This chapter should have provided you with some key insights on how to
analyze and understand your inventory better. The next chapter will focus on the
crucial inventory management techniques you need to know about to handle
stock in the most optimal way possible.

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Chapter 7: Inventory Management

Techniques
Read this chapter online here

In essence, all the inventory management techniques a retailer needs are covered
throughout the different chapters of this guide. These span across a number of
different areas and tasks within the field of inventory management - forecasting,
purchasing, storing, analysing, etc.

So in this chapter, we give a summary of key techniques and ideas you can use to
control and manage your inventory in the best way possible.

Inventory management techniques

For ease of consumption, here's a quick run-down of all the inventory
management techniques we mention in this article:

1. Choose an appropriate fufillment option.

2. Take forecasting seriously.
3. Set reorder points for each product.
4. Use EOQ for optimal order quantities.
5. Give each variant a dedicated warehouse bin.
6. Sell older inventory first.
7. Prioritize with ABC analysis.
8. Always track your metrics.
9. Verify accuracy with regular counts.
10.Automate as much as possible.

Let’s explore each one of these further below:

1)Choose an appropriate fufillment option

As a retailer, the whole point of having inventory is to sell it. And with ecommerce,
this usually means having to store and ship it somewhere too.

So deciding exactly how this fufillment process will be done is one of the
most crucial inventory management techniques to get right.

Your general options are:

● Dropshipping. This is where you never see or hold inventory yourself.

Instead, it is purchased as each sales order comes in, and shipped
directly to the customer.
● Third-party logistics (3PL). This is where you would purchase inventory
in bulk, but have it sent to a 3PL service. They would then manage
inventory and ship orders to your customers for a monthly fee.
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● Self-fufillment. This involves setting up your own facility and team.

You’d be totally responsible for controlling, managing and shipping
inventory.

Each of these options has its own benefits and drawbacks, with the best one
depending entirely on individual business requirements. We discuss this in
greater depth in Chapter 5: Inventory Storage of this guide.

2)Take forecasting seriously

It’s tempting to skimp out on forecasting inventory requirements. Instead, many
retailers will simply guess, or just buy inventory and hope they sell it.

The problem?

This leaves you extremely susceptible to ending up with way too much (or too
little) stock
on-hand at any one time. And the extra carrying costs involved will be eating into
profits every single day.

Make sure to use your past sales data in two ways:

1. Short term. Look at sales over the past 30-90 days to indicate your
short term sales trends and demand for the inventory you hold.
2. Long term. Look at what sales were like at particular points in the year
to indicate where sales tend to spike and dip.

We discuss this in greater depth in Chapter 3: Inventory Forecasting of this

guide.

3)Set reorder points for each product

Reordering your products needs to be done in a timely manner.

Leave it too long and you’ll run out of stock. Go too early and you’ll pile up
way more inventory than you need.

This is why each product (and ideally each product variant) should have its own
reorder point, taking into account:

● Safety stock. So you don’t eat into this emergency, backup stock
unnecessarily.
● Lead time. So you can still cover sales demand while new products get
shipped to your warehouse.

Here’s the formula to work out exact reorder points:

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Apply this to each product in your inventory. As soon as a product hits this level,
it’s time to place a new purchase order with suppliers.

4) Use EOQ for optimal order quantities

It’s not enough to know when to place a new purchase order. You need to work
out exactly how much stock to order at once to keep carrying costs to a
minimum.

And economic order quantity (EOQ) is one of the best inventory management
techniques to help here.

This is a calculation that helps determine the best amount of inventory to order
each time. Helping strike a balance between minimal ordering and carrying
costs, while still satisfying demand.

The three variables involved are:

1. Demand. The number of units sold over a given time period (usually a
year).
2. Relevant ordering cost. Total ordering cost per purchase order. This
includes all staff, transportation and any other costs associated with making
each purchase order - but not the actual cost of the order itself.
3. Relevant carrying cost. Assume the item is in stock for the entire
time period in question and decipher the carrying cost per unit.

You’ll then put this into the following equation:

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We cover reorder points and EOQ further in Chapter 4: Purchasing Inventory of

this guide.

5) Give each variant a dedicated warehouse bin

Organizing and arranging items in the warehouse is a key part of good
inventory management. Your team should be able to look at your system and
easily see where any product is located.

This means creating bin locations with clear labels for each product variant.

It’s best to avoid fancy names – simplicity and ease of understanding is king
here. Numbers and letters are therefore the best route to go.

Start by labeling each row, shelf, then bin location:

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So you always know, for example, that all your blue t-shirts sized medium will be
in Row A – Shelf B – Bin 1. And the pattern can be continued like this.

We discuss this in greater depth in Chapter 5: Inventory Storage of this guide.

6) Sell older inventory first

For most retailers, the last thing you want is to be always using the newest stock to
fufill orders. This leaves older inventory sitting in the warehouse and susceptible to
damage, decay or passing best before dates.

So it’s worth making a rule to store new inventory from the back of shelves
and then take from the front - automatically enforcing a first-in-first-out (FIFO)
system:

However:

It’s always worth discussing this with your accountant too as they may use
a different inventory valuation method for your end-of-year accounts.

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7)Prioritize with ABC analysis

ABC analysis is a very common inventory management technique that helps to
identify your most valuable inventory.

This means retailers can prioritize inventory better. Allowing them to place
greater focus on the particular items and products that bring in the most
revenue.

The whole process is about sorting inventory into three buckets:

● A inventory. Inventory with the highest value – typically your 20% that
brings in 80% of sales/profits. These are usually items with the best profit
margins and/or most sales revenue.
● B inventory. Inventory that sells regularly, but doesn’t have quite as much
value as A – often due to having slimmer margins or higher carrying costs.
● C inventory. The remainder of inventory that doesn’t sell as much as A or B,
generates the least revenue and is generally least valuable.

It might not make sense to prioritize like this at first. Surely all inventory is
important - otherwise you wouldn’t have it, right?

But in reality, some products will sell much better than others. And these are the
ones to focus on most to ensure they are readily available and never stock-out.

8)Always track your metrics

Tracking simple metrics and KPIs is one of the inventory management
techniques that often gets lost amongst other fancy ideas. But it can still be one
of the most powerful.

It’s essential to regularly track at least the following metrics:

● Inventory turnover. Measures how many times your inventory is sold

over a given time period, giving a critical insight into overall inventory
management performance.
● Inventory write-off. A measure of any unsold inventory that has become
defunct or no longer has any value for the business over a given period.
● Gross margin return on investment (GMROI). Measures the
profitability of your inventory over a certain period, giving the gross
profit made for every dollar of inventory that’s purchased.
● Sell through rate. Takes the amount of inventory a retailer receives, and
compares it against what is actually sold over a given period.
● Days of inventory outstanding (DOI). Measures how many days it
typically takes to create or buy inventory and turn it into a sale.
● Back order rate. Shows the percentage of your total orders over a given
period that ended up being placed on back order.

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We discuss ABC analysis and these metrics (including the actual calculations
needed) in greater detail in Chapter 6: Inventory Analysis.

9)Verify accuracy with regular counts

Unfortunately, errors are inevitable when it comes to your stock. Even with all the
inventory management techniques and automations mentioned in this chapter.

So taking a physical count of inventory with regular stock takes is critical.

The traditional way of doing this is to shut the warehouse down for a night (or
longer) and complete a big count once or twice a year. But this can be an
extremely time-consuming and complex task, especially for large inventories or
facilities.

Instead, try spreading it out through the year:

● Cycle counting. This is where team members would be given ‘counting

tasks’ of a small number of items to do each week. Over the year, each
product has then usually been counted and verified several times.
● Spot checking. This isn’t done with any specific regularity. It can simply be
done if a product is proving particularly problematic or if a team member
finds they have some spare time and needs something to do.

Good inventory systems will manage this for you. Assigning regular counting
tasks to your team and allowing for easy corrections via digital barcode
scanners.

10)Automate as much as possible

Inventory management is a complex job. And it becomes even more complex
the more you grow and the more products that get added into your catalogue.

So taking advantage of automation can be possibly the most important

inventory management technique out there.

This means utilizing quality inventory management software to do most of the

heavy lifting for you. Helping take care of tasks like:

● Tracking. So you can sync inventory in real-time across multiple

channels without overselling and back orders.
● Forecasting. To remove the guesswork and never have too much
or too little inventory on-hand.
● Purchasing. So you can handle all suppliers and create and
manage POs in one place.
● Counts. To keep inventory numbers accurate by automatically assigning
weekly cycle counting tasks to your team.

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● Organization. Recording exact bin locations for variants so you can

find and pick inventory quickly and accurately.

Quality systems like Veeqo will also let you create automation rules, handle
orders and shipping, run reports and push data to accounting software - all in
one platform.

Hopefully, this article has provided you with a solid summary of inventory
management techniques to utilize in your retail operation. The next chapter will
go into detail on efficient multichannel inventory tracking, and how to
perpetually keep an accurate live inventory figure.

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Chapter 8: Multichannel Inventory

Tracking
Read this chapter online here

Inventory tracking is the art and science of monitoring stock levels and exactly
where inventory is at any one time. It is therefore one of the most fundamentally
critical aspects of overall inventory management.

So this chapter of our guide covers the best practices in tracking inventory. We run
through detailed instructions on how to do this via manual spreadsheets (and
provide a free template), as well as when to start looking at an automated system.

What is inventory tracking?

Inventory tracking is the recording of stock levels for each individual SKU across
every location items are stored and sold in. This can be done in several different
ways - from pen and paper, to computerized spreadsheets, and even automated
systems.

Tracking inventory was once a relatively simple task. But it becomes more and
more complex as further sales channels and/or warehouses get added to a retail
operation.

Failing to track inventory properly can lead to:

● Selling inventory you don’t actually have in stock.

● Purchasing inventory you don’t actually need.
● Filing inaccurate financial records and accounts.

Putting a system in place to track inventory (whether manual or automated) is

therefore imperative for ecommerce brands wanting to scale successfully.

Inventory tracking via spreadsheet

A commonly used inventory tracking option is to record everything via
spreadsheet.

This is a form of periodic inventory system. So someone would be responsible for

periodically (usually at the end of each business day) updating the spreadsheet
with the latest inventory goings in and out (i.e. new sales and purchases).

We put together a sample inventory tracking spreadsheet, which you can see here
on Google Sheets. Just go to File >> Make a copy to save a version of your own to
edit and use:

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Setting up your inventory tracking spreadsheet

A basic inventory tracker will cover three pillars:

1. Product data. Including details like names, variants, SKUs, cost price,
selling price and beginning inventory.
2. Purchase data. To track all purchase orders being made, each causing an
addition to inventory levels.
3. Sales data. To track all sales orders being made, each causing a
reduction to inventory levels.

We’ve created three separate tabs in our spreadsheet, one for each of
these data pillars:

You’ll need to periodically enter and adjust information in all the tabs for optimal
inventory tracking. But the formulas will pull data between tabs, helping to
automate the actual tracking process as much as possible.

The ‘Products’ tab

The ‘Products’ tab is where the most up-front work is done. You’ll need to input
details about every single product and variant that you have on-hand.

Enter your product details for all the blue columns, and the dark columns will be
calculated automatically:

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Key tips:

● Be consistent with how you format product names, sizes and colors.
● Make sure the SKUs match across everywhere this data is used.
● Calculate your reorder point for each product scientifically.
● Do not edit the black columns, these are calculated automatically from
inputted data.

The ‘Purchases’ tab

The ‘Purchases’ tab is simply a running list of purchase orders in order to record
and calculate incoming inventory for each product variant.

Enter each variant within a PO as a separate line. Again, just focus on adding data
to the blue columns and the dark ones automatically generate:

To keep data consistent, there’s a drop down menu provided that pulls variant
information in from the ‘Products’ tab:

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The Delivery Date should also only be added when the product has actually
been received and put away ready for sale.

As soon as any delivery date is entered, the ordered amount will add to On-hand
stock in the ‘Products’ tab. Leaving delivery date blank will keep it in the Stock to
be received column:

Key tips:

● Enter each variant within a PO on a separate line.

● Leave Delivery Date blank until delivery is confirmed.
● Use the product drop down menu to ensure tabs can interchange accurate
data.

The ‘Sales’ tab

The ‘Sales’ tab is a running list of sales orders in order to record and
calculate outgoing inventory for each product variant.

Just like the ‘Purchases’ tab, enter each variant within an order as a separate line.
Once again, enter data to only the blue columns and let the dark ones
automatically generate:

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You’ll again be able to choose products from a drop down menu. But this time,
only enter a
Shipped Date once the order has actually shipped.

As soon as any shipping date is entered, the quantities will subtract from On-
hand stock in the ‘Products’ tab. Leaving shipping date blank will keep the order
recorded in the Orders awaiting shipment column:

Key tips:

● Enter each variant within a sales order on a separate line.

● Leave Shipped Date blank until shipment is confirmed.
● Use the product drop down menu to ensure tabs can interchange accurate
data.

Using the inventory tracking spreadsheet

Entering each sales order manually should be avoided if possible. Most
ecommerce platforms will allow you to filter orders over a specific timeframe, then
export all data to a CSV file.

With Shopify, for example, you simply head to the ‘Orders’ screen and then select
the Export
button at the top:

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You’ll then be able to export all orders from different time ranges directly into a
CSV file or Excel spreadsheet:

Simply tweak the exported data to fit your inventory tracking spreadsheet, then
copy and paste it in. You can repeat this with every sales channel to import
sales data as quickly as possible.

Once done, you should have correct inventory data reflected for each
variant in your ‘Products’ tab.

As soon as the pre-set Reorder Point is hit for any variant, the On-hand stock
figure will turn red:

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Meaning you can easily see as soon as new inventory needs ordering. And
helping to keep the cycle of inventory tracking and management as seamless as
possible.

The key thing is to keep the information up-to-date.

This means committing to (at least) daily updates and housekeeping if you
choose to utilize this method of inventory tracking. Do this, and you should be
able to manage and track multichannel inventory a lot better than with siloed
data.

Having said this, sustainable and manageable ecommerce growth will likely
need a more automated solution.

Inventory tracking via automated system

An automated inventory tracker effectively does the work of a spreadsheet, but
without the manual input needed.

It would connect to all sales channels together, and sync one live inventory
figure between them all. Meaning as soon as a sale is made anywhere,
inventory levels are updated everywhere else in real-time:

Exact functionality will depend on the specific system being used.

But quality ones, such as Veeqo, will also be able to do things

like:

● Manage purchase orders to stay on top of incoming

inventory.
● Sync across multiple warehouses, locations and channels.
● Sync data in real-time - not hourly or daily.
● Handle orders, shipping and returns in the same platform.
● Control exactly how much inventory shows for each sales
channel.
● Combine products together to sell in kits and bundles.

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Choosing an inventory management system can be a big job. And one that either
positively or negatively affects your business for years to come.

We talk more about this in the final chapter of this guide.

Automated vs manual inventory tracking

There are pros and cons to both spreadsheet and automated inventory
tracking methods. Let’s have a look through a few of the highlights:

Spreadsheet pros
● Most of us know how to use and edit a spreadsheet.
● Many templates available to help you create your own.
● Cheap and cost-effective option for start-ups.
● Can be updated fairly quickly.

Spreadsheet cons
● Inputting data and checking accuracy is hugely time-consuming.
● Spreadsheets (and your sales channels) won’t be updated
automatically as stock levels change, meaning you can easily oversell
without realizing.
● Different employees may edit and update spreadsheets without making
others aware of changes, causing confusion and disrupting the order
process.

Automated system pros

● Saves time by near-eliminating manual data entry.
● Frees up resources that can be re-directed towards company growth.
● Brings a consistent, scalable experience for customers across every sales
channel.
● New sales channels can be easily opened up without adding to workload.
● Many systems offer an extensive portfolio of features beyond simple
inventory tracking – such as order management, picking and
packing, etc.
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Automated system cons

● Pricing must be factored into your current financial plan.
● Staff may require training (though minimal, depending on the system
used).

Overall, spreadsheets may be a viable short term solution for startups dealing
with low order numbers and a small product catalogue. In today’s digital age,
however, it’s generally accepted to not be a scalable option for most ecommerce
businesses.

An automated system typically requires some level of monetary investment. But

it’s one that will prove its worth several times over when it comes to savings in
both time and resources.

This chapter should hopefully have given you some clear insights into how to
keep track of inventory across your retail operation. Next, we’ll move on to some
best practices for inventory accounting.

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Chapter 9: Inventory Accounting

Read this chapter online here

On-hand inventory isn’t simply stock that hasn’t sold yet - it’s a business
asset, and must legally be treated as such. Inventory accounting is the
practice of correctly valuing this business asset, so it can be properly
documented in end-of-year financial records.

This chapter covers the basics of inventory accounting for greater understanding
of inventory management as a whole. But it is highly recommended to seek the
services of a professional accountant and/or bookkeeper when it comes to
submitting any financial documents.

What is inventory accounting?

Inventory accounting is all about how a business would show the stock it holds in
its financial records - balance sheets, profit & loss (P&L) reports, etc. This is
typically more complex than it sounds as inventory is often a 'live figure' that's
constantly changing as sales are made and more stock purchased.

In retail, this can cover three types of inventory or production phases:

1. Raw materials.
2. In-progress items.
3. Finished products ready for sale.

Your on-hand, unsold inventory needs to be included as an asset in end-of-year

financial records. Meaning the crux of the matter in all this is to correctly track
both the cost of any inventory sold and place an accurate value on the unsold
inventory being held at the end of each accounting period.

Any increase or decrease in the value of goods affects your inventory value figure.
This then, in turn, affects the value of your overall business.

Inventory accounting key terms

There are two key terms retailers need to be aware of when it comes to inventory
accounting:

1. Cost of goods sold (COGS). The direct costs of producing any

goods sold by a company.
2. Ending inventory (EI). The value of any unsold, on-hand inventory at
the end of an accounting period.

Let's take a deeper look at each of these...

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1)Cost of goods sold (COGS)

Cost of goods sold (COGS) is a core element of measuring a retail business’s

profitability and inventory value.

As the name suggests, COGS refers to the amount it cost a business to produce
the products it sold, including everything that went into it - materials, labor, tools
used, etc. But (crucially) without factoring in costs not directly tied to the
production process - like shipping, advertising and sales force costs, etc.

As a result, COGS helps you determine the amount of gross profit made in one or

more sales. For example:

If you sell an item valued at $50 and the COGS is $30, your company has
achieved a gross profit of $20. It’s a simple formula, though it can become more
complex if manufacturing your own products.

All inventory sold will be listed under the COGS account in your income statement
at the end of each business year.

Calculating COGS

To calculate cost of goods sold (COGS) for an accounting period, you'll need to:

1. Determine what costs can be associated with the production process of

your specific products - like labor, raw materials, tools, etc.
2. Take the cost of beginning inventory (BI).
3. Add the cost of newly purchased inventory during the period in question.
4. Subtract leftover, unsold inventory at the end of the accounting period.

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2) Ending inventory (EI)

It's highly likely that a business will not sell the entirety of its inventory at the
end of each accounting period. Meaning any on-hand, unsold stock becomes
an asset that must be valued and included in financial statements.

This is referred to as ending inventory (EI), and is actually quite simple at first
glance.

1. Take the beginning inventory (the units carried over from the end of the
previous financial period).
2. Add any newly purchased inventory throughout the accounting period.
3. Subtract any units sold.
4. And this leaves the final inventory figure to be included as a company
asset.

However:

We need to assign an actual value to the unsold inventory figure (i.e. how much
this company asset is worth in monetary terms). And this is where it can become a
lot more complicated.

This is because:

● Numerous purchases of new stock and raw materials are usually made
during a typical 12-month accounting period.
● Each purchase may have come at a different cost per unit.
● Sales are also being made at the same time, turning inventory into cash.

So which cost per unit figure do you use to value unsold inventory when there
are so many moving parts in a typical accounting period?

This is where inventory valuation methods come into play.

Inventory valuation
methods

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Sticking to a specific method for inventory valuation is critical for consistent,

accurate and (most importantly) legally acceptable financial statements.

There are three main valuation methods retail companies use for inventory
accounting:

1. First In, First Out (FIFO).

2. Last In, First Out (LIFO).
3. Average Cost Method.

You'll just need to stipulate which one is being used when submitting
financial records and accounts.

1)FIFO

FIFO is a useful inventory management technique to actually use in the handling

of stock in your warehouse. But it's also a method of valuing unsold inventory.

It assumes inventory that was purchased first, is also the first to be sold. So
the oldest on-hand inventory available is what will be used to fufill an order.

There are a number of benefits to the FIFO method. Primarily, companies selling
perishable goods (food and drinks) face less risk of their products spoiling or
crossing best-before sale date. They can establish a smooth supply chain and
ensure their clients receive the freshest items in their inventory.

All products received and sold must be recorded individually when using the FIFO
accounting method. It’s possible that the FIFO system can lead businesses to
under or overestimate the value of inventory in the future, due to market changes
down the line.

2)LIFO

The LIFO approach works on the assumption that the most recent products
added to your inventory are the first ones to be sold first.

This system works well for retail businesses specializing in non-perishable

goods or those with a low risk of obsolescence. It can also increase COGS and
lessen net profit (therefore reducing annual tax liability) if more recently
purchased goods are more expensive.

Note: LIFO is an acceptable inventory accounting method in the US only.

3)Average Cost

Average Cost (or weighted-average) inventory accounting method is totally

different to the previous two.

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This applies to businesses that choose not to track cost per inventory unit for each
separate purchase delivery. Instead, inventory value is based on the average
cost of items throughout the relevant period.

You can work out the average cost by simply dividing the overall cost of products
for sale by the total number in the inventory.

Using inventory accounting software

Inventory accounting can be a time-intensive, frustrating process for retail
businesses - especially small or independent teams.

But it doesn't have to be a rush of spreadsheets and paper receipts the week
before every tax deadline. There's reliable accounting software available to help
automate and digitize as much as possible, the main two being:

1. Xero
2. QuickBooks

These programs won't 'do your accounts for you'. But they will make it
much simpler to organize and present come the end of tax year.

Both Xero and QuickBooks do also have tools available to help with the
inventory side of accounting.

However:

They are accounting softwares at heart. Meaning the inventory management

functionality within them is relatively basic and underdeveloped.

So for growing retail and ecommerce businesses, it's recommended to:

1. Utilize a high-quality inventory management software as master of stock.

2. Ensure this software has a direct Xero integration or QuickBooks
integration to push relevant data across.

This leaves you with the best of both worlds - two high-quality softwares
automating as much of your inventory and accounting processes as possible.

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Hopefully, this chapter has given you a good insight into the best inventory
accounting practices.

That being said, this can still be a hugely complicated task for retailers. So
we highly recommend employing the services of a professional
bookkeeper and/or chartered accountant when it comes to compiling
financial records and submitting tax returns.

In our next and final chapter, we'll take a look at inventory management systems
- including how to determine when it's time to start using an automated system,
and choosing the best one for your company.

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Chapter 10: Choosing An Inventory

Management System
Read this chapter online here

As we've seen throughout this guide, inventory management is a phenomenally

complex aspect of running a retail business. An inventory management system
can simplify this entire process by automating many of the manual tasks and
calculations involved.

In this final chapter, we discuss what exactly an inventory management system is,
some of the features to look out for, and also how to choose the right one for your
business.

What is an inventory management system?

An inventory management system is a piece of software used to track inventory
items in a business, and oversee all the processes involved in stock optimization.
Any system’s bottom line goal is to ensure the right inventory is available, in the
right amounts, at the right time - with as few manual tasks involved as
possible.

Benefits of using an inventory system

Any business selling and storing physical goods must track inventory in one way
or another. Otherwise, items would be in complete chaos with stock consistency
and fulfillment made almost impossible.

Tracking can be done via pen & paper or spreadsheets. But using an
automated, computerized system has many benefits:

● Less time wasted on manual tasks.

● More consistent customer experience.
● Stock levels updated in real-time.
● Reduced labor costs.
● More insightful analytics and reports.
● Faster fulfillment from being better organized.
● Less cash wasted on unnecessary inventory and storage.
● Company becomes more easily scalable.

Overall, automated inventory management systems are powerful tools

for retail businesses.

In the short term, they help overcome the operational challenges associated with
modern day multichannel and omnichannel ecommerce. While in the long term,
they make growth easier by reducing the reliance on manual processes and
individual people.
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Key inventory management system features

It’s important to note that systems can be very different from one another. So
when choosing an inventory management system, retailers should ensure that all
the necessary features are included.

Here’s an overview of what to look out for:

● Live syncing. A live, central stock figure is kept in one system, and
accurately reflected across all sales channels and warehouses in
real-time.
● Forecasting. Past sales data can be used to forecast demand and plan for
upcoming inventory requirements.
● Re-ordering. Purchase orders can be created and managed so
stock can be replenished quickly and easily.
● Suppliers. All suppliers and vendors can be organized in one system,
and easily contacted if purchase orders need creating, changing or
chasing up.
● Barcode scanning. System is compatible with barcode scanning to
enable easier tracking and identification of products.
● Stock notifications. Can set up notifications and alerts to signify when a
product has hit its pre-defined reorder point and needs replenishing.
● Reports. Provides insightful data and analysis on sales, products and
warehouses in order to make better inventory decisions going forward.
● Returns processing. Return orders can be handled with returned
inventory easily written-off or added back into stock.
● Multiple warehouses. Manage stock across several warehouses, stores
and locations in one system.
● Integrations. Connect the system to all necessary sales channels, POS
systems, shipping carriers, accounting softwares, etc. - and/or can build
desired integrations via an open API.
● Cycle counts. Assigns weekly inventory counting tasks to your
warehouse team so stock is perpetually kept up-to-date with minimal
discrepancies.
● Automations & rules. Stock rules can be created to show different
available amounts for individual sales channels and locations.
● Bundles. Products can be grouped together to sell in kits and bundles
while still maintaining an accurate central inventory figure.

Additional features for retailers

Managing a retail business isn't all about inventory. There are many other
aspects that companies might need to handle in order to run a smooth
operation.

So when choosing an inventory management system, it's important to also

consider what
additional
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brands provide beyond just stock to
best experience control.
their
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 THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO INVENTORY 6
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It's not unreasonable to expect a system to be able to handle:

● Order management. Automatically importing orders from all your sales

channels to easily view and edit in one centralized place.
● Shipping & fulfillment. Directly integrating with shipping carriers to view
quotes, print labels and ship orders.
● Picking & packing. Creating and organizing picking lists and packing
tasks via either paper printouts or digital scanner.
● Warehouse management. Organizing warehouse inventory, creating
automations and handling tasks like new stock put away, pick & pack,
physical counts, etc.
● Returns management. Giving all your teams one place to handle return
tasks from start to finish - like creating returns, booking back into stock and
processing refunds.
● Wholesale orders. Creating and issuing invoices, taking phone orders,
processing payments, and then actually fulfilling and shipping B2B
orders.
● Accounting. Either in the system itself, or by integrating directly
with specific accounting tools to push sales and inventory data
across.

These are all key operational tasks when it comes to running a retail and/or
ecommerce company. And they will all likely need some kind of software to handle
them in a scalable way and to an acceptable standard for customers.

It’s important to note that having as few systems in place to manage all these
operational tasks can be a huge benefit.

Choosing an inventory management system

Here are the key points to take into consideration when choosing an inventory
management system:

● Timing. There are several signs you've outgrown a standard inventory

tracker and require a more automated system. These include things like
constant overselling, inventory errors and spending more time on manual
operational tasks than on growth.
● Integrations. Create a list of must-have integrations, e.g. ecommerce
platform, marketplace, shipping, POS, 3PL, etc. It's important that any new
inventory system integrates with these directly (and doesn't require an
additional app or piece of software managed by another company). Failing
this, is there an open API to create new integrations?
● Features. Create a list of must-have features from the ones we've
discussed above. Do you need/want your new inventory system to be able
to also ship orders or enable digital picking? Do you do a lot of wholesale
orders and need this managed well? Do you manufacture your own
products and need a system to handle raw material types of inventory?
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● Ease-of-use. It's possible that you'll need some less technically-minded

staff members to use your inventory system. So is it relatively easy for these
people to learn and understand the software's UI?
● Support. You'll likely need support getting set up and to receive help
quickly if something goes wrong. Does the system you're looking at offer
support during your typical working hours? Does this include phone, chat or
just email support? And what's the quality rated like online?
● Development. Any software used is going to be powering a critical part of
your business, so finding one driven by innovation and built on the latest
technology is critical. Is the software you're looking at being actively
developed and improved on a regular basis? How often are new features
being released and bugs being fixed?

Every business is slightly different. So take these things into consideration when
choosing an inventory management system, but also do it within the context of
what's necessary for your individual business needs.

Inventory system options

In this section, we'll look at some of the popular inventory management system
options for online retailers.

Veeqo

Veeqo is an all-in-one system to help retailers manage multichannel orders,

inventory and shipping from a single platform. It also has a barcode scanner to
improve speed and order accuracy in the warehouse when it comes to tasks
like picking, receiving new stock and inventory counts.

Veeqo helps retail brands provide the best experience to their

customers everywhere
Click here to start your 14-day free trial today, or get in touch at
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 THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO INVENTORY 6
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Built-in features: Orders, inventory, purchase orders, shipping, digital pick & pack,
warehouse management, wholesale, returns.

Direct integrations: Strong, direct integrations with a range of major sales

channels, shipping carriers, 3PLs, POS systems, accounting softwares.

Pricing: From $156 per

month Capterra score:

4.5/5 Trustpilot score:

4.7/5

Brightpearl

Brightpearl's system handles orders and inventory for multichannel retailers and
wholesalers. It also has a built-in accountancy module, but needs third-party
software to manage shipping and warehousing.

Veeqo helps retail brands provide the best experience to their

customers everywhere
Click here to start your 14-day free trial today, or get in touch at
[email protected]
 THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO INVENTORY 6
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Built-in features: Orders, inventory, purchase orders, wholesale, returns,

accounting.

Direct integrations: A range of sales channels, 3PLs, POS systems, accounting

softwares. Will need to connect to third-party shipping software and WMS systems
in order to handle these tasks.

Pricing: Unspecified monthly cost + implementation fee

Capterra score: 4.3/5

Trustpilot score: 4.8/5 (Excellent)

Tradegecko

Tradegecko is an inventory and order management platform for multichannel

retailers. It can also handle manufacturing and wholesale orders, but requires
third-party integrations for functions like shipping and warehousing.

Veeqo helps retail brands provide the best experience to their

customers everywhere
Click here to start your 14-day free trial today, or get in touch at
[email protected]
 THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO INVENTORY 7
MANAGEMENT 0

Built-in features: Orders, inventory, purchase orders, wholesale, manufacturing.

Integrations: A range of sales channels, 3PLs, POS systems, accounting

softwares. Will need to connect to third-party shipping software and WMS systems
in order to handle these tasks.

Pricing: From $39 per

month Capterra score:

4.4/5 Trustpilot score:

Unrated

Linnworks

Linnworks is a system to manage inventory, orders and shipping in one place. It

used to be a desktop software, but has recently started being transitioned into a
cloud-based system like the others mentioned in this guide.

Veeqo helps retail brands provide the best experience to their

customers everywhere
Click here to start your 14-day free trial today, or get in touch at
[email protected]
 THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO INVENTORY 7
MANAGEMENT 1

Built-in features: Orders, inventory, shipping, product listing.

Integrations: A variety of sales channels and shipping carriers. Will need third-
party software and apps for WMS and accounting software connections.

Pricing: From $150 per

month Capterra score:

4.0/5 Trustpilot score:

3.9/5

Stitch Labs

Stitch Labs provide order and inventory management for multichannel retailers
that have grown to a size to be able to justify the relatively high starting price.
There's also a wholesale element, but you'll need third-party software to manage
shipping and warehouses.

Veeqo helps retail brands provide the best experience to their

customers everywhere
Click here to start your 14-day free trial today, or get in touch at
[email protected]
 THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO INVENTORY 7
MANAGEMENT 2

Built-in features: Orders, inventory, purchases orders, wholesale.

Integrations: A range of sales channels, 3PLs, POS systems, accounting

softwares. Will need to connect to third-party shipping software and WMS systems
in order to handle these tasks.

Pricing: From $799 per

month Capterra score:

4.5/5 Trustpilot score:

3.6/5

This chapter concludes our guide on the subject of inventory management. These
10 chapters should give you all the information necessary to manage your
inventory with reduced costs and minimal manual practices.

Veeqo helps retail brands provide the best experience to their

customers everywhere
Click here to start your 14-day free trial today, or get in touch at
[email protected]