Businesses that don’t employ an effective inventory management system risk losing potential customers to competitors. Thankfully, NetSuite’s inventory management system provides a unified solution that promotes sales while improving functionality.
There isn’t a more frustrating feeling for a customer than buying an item online only to find it’s out of stock. The root of this problem boils down to a lack of inventory oversight. Inventory management is much more than just ordering, storing, and using a company’s inventory. Poor inventory management directly affects your customers. Without real-time visibility into inventory, businesses cannot effectively plan and execute customer orders, leading to unsatisfied clients or lost sales.
Inventory Affects Your Customer’s Buying Habits
Inventory management is so impactful, in fact, that retailers can lose nearly half of all intended purchases when customers encounter stock-outs. And, according to Harvard Business Review, those abandoned carts translate to about a 4% loss of overall sales. With 21% to 43% of consumers opting to purchase the out-of-stock item at a competitor’s store.
One report surveyed 1,100 small businesses and found that 43% do not track their inventory or use a manual process. Companies suffer from inaccurate, time-consuming reporting, inefficient processes, faulty planning, and stock-outs by relying on manual inventory practices. These ancient practices are taxing on your business and keep your products out of reach of customers. The overall impact is harmful to maintaining a productive enterprise.
Achieving Streamlined Inventory Management with Software
NetSuite is an all-in-one cloud ERP that unifies processes while giving businesses a clear picture of supply chains, inventory, and order management. NetSuite users gain so much, in fact, that the average retailer could better manage inventory and carry 20% less inventory while also avoiding stock-outs. But the benefits don’t end there; NetSuite’s unified inventory managements systems promote sales and profitability in the following ways:
1. Gain a Clear Picture of Your Inventory
NetSuite gives you full visibility into stock levels across all sites so you can optimize pick, pack, ship methods. Plus, with pre-defined rules, you can automatically set orders to ship based on whole order inventory availability and location, eliminating the need for multiple shipments and extra charges.
2. Eliminate Stock-Outs
NetSuite’s inventory management software can also help increase sales and minimize stock-outs. With this improved visibility, NetSuite users can proactively monitor stock levels and sell-through, transferring inventory between locations to ensure inventory availability and reduce unnecessary inventory. Thus, businesses can keep inventory levels right where they need to be, optimizing processes and reducing cost.
3. Accurately Trace Products
Factors like numerous raw materials and suppliers can make it extremely difficult to trace products through their entire lifecycle. Thankfully, NetSuite offers lot and serial tracing tools to link finished goods with suppliers and raw materials. By using these features, businesses can better define fulfillment strategies, utilize forward and backward tracing, and employ FEFO to manage inventory efficiently.
4. Stay On Top of Replenishable Stock
Providing the perfect customer experience sometimes means anticipating the level of demand. Depending on interest, seasonality, supply chain logistics, and many other factors, inventory demand can fluctuate for many reasons. NetSuite gives a full look into sales, lead-time, and time to replenish, allowing businesses to dynamically manage prime stock levels. Additionally, you can set automatic alerts to notify the purchase manager when stock needs adjustments to manage prime stock levels.
5. Maintain Precise Cycle Count
Cycle counting allows businesses to count for accuracy, catch errors in inventory, and proactively stop theft. That’s why maintaining regular cycle counting is crucial to accurate stock levels and establishing checks and balances. NetSuite allows you to schedule regular periodic counts of items by SKU and automatically assigns count tasks to floor staff. By integrating these processes into daily tasks, you can ensure your products are all accounted for and minimize warehouse operations disruption.
Reach New Heights with an Inventory Management System
Businesses that ditch manual processes in favor of NetSuite’s inventory management solution gain a better understanding of inventory and how this relates to their customers. Companies can confidently gain visibility into their entire inventory, minimize stock-outs, accurately predict inventory demand, accurately replenish stock, and employ anti-theft tactics. This ultimately increases profitability and overall customer satisfaction.
Optimize Your Business Today
If you’re interested in getting started with NetSuite and wondering where to start, look no further than the experts at Kodella! Kodella is a software consulting firm with over 35 years of collective experience. Our team has helped over 100 customers unlock the power of NetSuite in industries such as retail, manufacturing, distribution, and more. Our in-house experts work closely with your team, ensuring your business runs at peak performance on the #1 cloud ERP in the world. To get started, contact a representative today!
