Consumer shopping habits and patterns took a drastic turn in light of the Covid pandemic, significantly impacting the business line. Modern retailers and mega mall chain operators need to anticipate demand in real-time. They need to be agile as to what customers are buying, what they are preferring over others and need to keep a close eye on their business metrics and inventory.
In some cases, grocery and food retailers are responding to an unprecedented demand for specific categories and items. This has called for an environment poised for innovation, with a need to realign supply chains and responding quickly to customer demands while offsetting increased costs.
So, how do businesses respond quickly while keeping a tab on their operating margins? How can they be ensured of the right inventory, in the right place, at the right time? There are three major challenges that every business confronts. Let’s refer them.
Challenge 1: Deal with Massive Inventory
Though we see this across many industries, the health and beauty industry is badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. With many orders come to a halt and more stores closing, these beauty brands need to plan to manage their unsold seasonal stock. The significant drop in demand with inventory buildup now seems inevitable.
Solution:
With pressure to reduce inventory and increase customer loyalty; retailers, grocers and the beauty industry need smart software to manage it all. They need a smart and enterprise-ready ERP to reduce inventory, eliminate manual processes, and keep a check of stock in real-time. With SAP Business One, you can overview the current stock situation such as stock that-
- Are present in the warehouse
- Have already been ordered, but have not been sent yet
- Are there in the warehouse, but have already been reserved for the customer
- Are in quality inspection
Challenge 2: No or little idea about how much inventory is needed
The retail industry generally works with a constant cadence of demand and supply. If a retailer has significant money tied up in excess inventory or is running out of stock, it can have serious repercussions on their business. The effect of lost sales would mean dissatisfied customers and low brand loyalty. It is therefore essential to rebalance inventory and keep a close eye on the stock to drive profits.
Solution:
SAP Business One empowers businesses to manage inventory in real-time across multiple warehouses. It helps to maintain cost-effective production, optimize inventory levels, replenishment, and improve on-time delivery by keeping a track of stock movement. The software helps in accurate in-season forecasting, optimal rationing, assortment and –
- Manage goods receipts, goods issues, inventory transfers, and inventory counts
- Track stock transfers, record goods receipts and perform cycle counts
- Create and maintain multi-level Bills of Materials (BOMs)
- Generating inventory-related reports
- Gain complete traceability with batch and Lot tracking functionality
Challenge 3: Having Inventory at the Wrong Place
Businesses continue to struggle with managing inventory at the right place. They can’t afford to lose their customers due to arising discrepancies in the supply chain or so. It is therefore critical to have exact inventory at the right location at the right time. A robust inventory system is required to eliminate the root cause of supply chain delay and irregularities.
Solution:
SAP Business One helps retailers and other businesses to easily move inventory between locations and channels to meet customer demands seamlessly. It helps you to analyze and correct data for historical anomalies.
- High visibility and accountability across your supply chain
- Managing item master data records.
- Keeping a track of goods receipts, goods issues, inventory transfers, initial item quantity settings, and inventory counts.
- Immediate and actionable insights for better decision-making
- Generating inventory-related reports.
You can mitigate all your inventory-related challenges with smart and advanced ERP. SAP Business One renders accurate and on-time information about inbound and outbound inventory. This helps business leaders to plan better, monitor stock levels and know excess stock situations well in advance. The software also assists in managing stocks at various locations and warehouses and maintains multi-level bills of materials (BOMs).
An efficient inventory management system will be a good start to mitigating costs and driving profits. As they say, well begun is half done – so don’t wait to invest in SAP Business One. With SAP Business One and Uneecops (Asia’s #1 SAP Business One partner), it’s easy to deploy this enterprise-ready ERP to manage inventory woes and bring in major profits.
