Retail Inventory Management has assumed a lot of importance especially during the current COVID 19 pandemic times when all kinds of food and nonfood items were sold online on a very large scale. On the flip side, it had led to stock outages, broken supply chains, uneven distribution and unavailability of products. A lot of distributors and retailers were taken completely by surprise by the surge in online orders as they were not prepared. Optimum Inventory Management and Timely/ Safe Delivery became the two most critical challenges to address. With this background, this article tries to suggest solutions to the challenges using the latest technologies and scanning of latest trends that are doing the buzz.
The following are the most happening latest trends that we will analyze
- Automation - AGVs and AMRs
- AI based Demand Forecasting
- Omnichannel Inventory Management
- Hybrid Warehousing and Drop Ship
- Third Party Logistics (3PL)
Conclusion
As it is evident from the latest trends discussed above, application of advanced technology and digitization is of immense importance and has assumed a critical role in driving businesses towards their goals. The next obvious question would be, how does all this convert into an implementation approach and what all one needs to cover in the whole strategy?
The following is a checklist of items to look for in any retail inventory management software solution
- Should Track every change in inventory – Receive Goods, Stock Transfer, Sales, Returns, Repairs etc.
- Get accurate count by batch number, expiry date and any attribute like color, size, thickness, date of manufacturing, brand, vendor and batch
- Configure alerts for low inventory, expiry, seasonal demands
- Value inventory @ cost (Weighted average PO, FIFO or standard costing) or at sales price.
- Easy stock take using manual sheets, laptops or PDAs.
- Track quantities on order, on hand, in transit and reserved.
- Have Machine Learning, IoT and AI Capabilities
For carrying out most of the tasks mentioned above you need a comprehensive and robust inventory management IT systems.
Posibolt is a leading provider of Retail ERP, Inventory and Point of Sale (POS) solutions across retail formats and variety of Distribution Centers whose customers are spread in 10 countries across Africa, Europe, Middle East and Asia.