Are you content with your inventory management system?
If you’re like most SMB owners, the answer is probably “no.”
As an SMB owner, it’s important to recognize that effective inventory management is essential for staying competitive in the market. SMBs face unique challenges, such as limited resources and a lack of economies of scale, so any hiccups in inventory management can lead to significant issues. These issues may include lost sales, poor customer satisfaction, and increased inventory costs because of overstocking or stock-outs. Inaccurate inventory counts and inefficient warehouse layouts can cause further problems.
Thankfully, there’s a solution to these inventory management woes. Acumatica Cloud ERP provides SMBs with real-time visibility into inventory levels, which allows for the reduction of lead time and minimizes inventory costs. You can also use the tool to automate purchasing and sales processes, which can further reduce costs and improve efficiency.
It’s important to recognize the unique constraints and challenges that your business faces. By utilizing Acumatica Cloud ERP, you can streamline your supply chain operations and achieve a level of inventory management that will keep you competitive in the market.
The Challenges of Inventory Management
Good inventory management is a vital part of building a winning business. Yet many SMBs lack the robust, cloud-based ERP system they need to address and overcome common inventory management challenges.
Consider a small retail store. Early on, it was straightforward and cost-effective to track inventory levels manually. The owner simply used their best guess on what they would need and placed orders with suppliers accordingly. Then, the store grew, and they added more products. Now, managing the inventory is taking more of the owner’s time. Errors creep in because of the manual process. Unpopular products are overstocked, and high-selling products run out of stock. End result? Fewer sales and many unhappy customers.
Besides stocking issues, SMBs without an inventory optimization solution must deal with inefficient warehouse processes. Employees often waste time searching for or fulfilling orders inefficiently, leading to delays and mistakes.
Acumatica’s Inventory Management Features
Several key features of Acumatica made it the ideal solution for optimizing inventory management, improving customer satisfaction, and accurately forecasting future demand. With real-time inventory tracking, you can monitor stock levels and make informed decisions about reorder points to optimize stock levels and avoid stock-outs. Acumatica includes stock-level optimization features like automatic reorder points, ensuring that your most popular products are always in stock. Plus, the system streamlines warehouse processes. It completes much of management automatically. This saves your employees’ time. That way, they can focus on higher-value tasks.
Inventory Control and Cost Savings
Overstocking can lead to major costs, like unnecessary expenses. Acumatica’s real-time tracking system enables you to avoid these costs. In addition, better inventory control thanks to the power of a cloud ERP can bring several cost savings to your SMB, including:
- Reduction in holding costs.
- Avoidance of stock-outs
- Prevention of overstocking (reduced requirement for safety stock.
- Improved cash flow (instead of having cash tied up in excess stock.
- Reduction in order and carrying costs.
- Minimization of discounts and losses.
- Enhanced supplier relationships.
- Reduced risk of shrinkage and theft.
Each of these benefits is money in the bank for your business. Even if some of these additional costs are small for your business now, they can grow into major problems if you let them.
Demand Forecasting and Planning
The ability to forecast demand for products in your inventory is crucial for determining the amount of inventory to have on hand. Instead of relying on guesswork, data should power these predictions. Accurate demand forecasts help reduce excess inventory, optimize your supply chain, and improve customer service levels. Your customers want to know that when they want a product, they will always be able to get it. With Acumatica, you can always get it to them. Acumatica ships with powerful analytics that help predict demand patterns. You can even get modules like this one that use AI to analyze Acumatica’s data and provide you with the most in-depth and accurate forecasting information so that you can always meet customer demands.
Case Studies: SMBs Achieving Inventory Efficiency with Acumatica
Let’s look at two case studies showing how Acumatica empowers SMBs with powerful inventory optimization tools.
Shoebacca is an online retailer offering the latest in shoes, apparel, and accessories from brand names like Adidas, Sketchers, and Puma. As with many startups, they managed their business using a variety of disconnected software products. This disconnection created issues with inventory management. With Acumatica (integrated with Fusion), Shoebacca could get real-time inventory management control. This helped them cut costs and improve their bottom line through less overstocking and allowing them to sell merchandise right out of their warehouse. Gaining control over inventory was key to cutting costs and helping the company to grow.
Ray Allen Manufacturing faced many similar challenges to Shoebacca but with the added issue of having multiple companies sharing inventory. Acumatica provided a “much better grasp on inventory,” to quote Steve Cates, Former President of Ray Allen Manufacturing. Real-time inventory tracking and automation features enabled the company to increase its efficiency and cut out manual, paper-based tasks such as putting tracking numbers on shipments.
Warehouse Management and Fulfillment
Acumatica also features a warehouse management system (WMS). It facilitates efficient order fulfillment with several features, including automated data capture, native support for small parcel shippers, and packing automation. With Acumatica’s simplified tracking, serial and lot numbers are scanned and printed on the pick list and packing slips so that you can always keep track of your shipments.
Integrating Inventory with Other Business Processes
Effective inventory management affects sales, purchasing, and finance departments. Integrating it with these departments can streamline workflows and improve overall business performance. Acumatica’s ERP system offers a seamless integration of inventory management with sales, purchasing, and finance. This ensures that all departments have real-time access to inventory levels, sales data, and purchase orders.
The system’s advanced reporting and analytics capabilities provide business insights to make informed decisions and optimize supply chain operations. With Acumatica’s ERP system, businesses can eliminate the inefficiencies and errors associated with manual inventory management and achieve greater efficiency and profitability.
Scalability for Growing Inventory Needs
Acumatica’s scalability is a critical factor in supporting businesses as their inventory requirements grow. With Acumatica, businesses can easily manage increased order volumes and diverse product lines without compromising on their operations. The platform is flexible and can easily adapt to the changing needs of a business, allowing companies to expand their inventory without worrying about system limitations. Acumatica’s cloud-based platform means businesses can easily access their inventory data from anywhere, making it easier to manage and track inventory levels even as they grow.
Conclusion
To recap, here are just a few of the benefits that optimized inventory management can bring to SMBs.
- Inventory Control and Cost Savings
- Demand Forecasting and Planning
- Warehouse Management and Fulfillment
- Integrating Inventory with Other Business Processes
- Scalability for Growing Inventory Needs
If you’re interested in learning more about how you can leverage Acumatica for better inventory control and cost savings, reach out to us today. We have years of experience working with Acumatica ERP implementations and can help you enable supply chain efficiency and unlock rapid growth.
