I myself am guilty of postponing stock taking over and over again. However, improper management can be costing you time and money. I have seen it in both my own business and at my work place.
Particularly with small businesses poor inventory system can result in the business to fail. This not only affects production but can directly affect customer satisfaction and company ratings. Proper management system can increase sales while decreasing costs, yielding a bigger profit margin.
Our business is small and our storage area is it seems even smaller. But space even though it affects the amount you are able to store at any given time is no reason for ineffective stock management. By making inventory more of a priority it can result in a reduction of the inventory costs. While it may look like Christmas when I see big packages come to my door with all the goodies enclosed it's not always possible to order certain items in bulk.
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Lets take a look at some of the consequences of an ineffective inventory management.
OVER BUYING: Other than the fact that this can take up precious space, this can also result in stock reaching its expiry date. Each day that an item sits in your stock room it is actually costing you money.
UNDER BUYING: Being out of stock negatively affects production and customer service. This in turn affects both your reviews and profit.While substitutes may be used it can in the end affect the quality of the end product at a cost to you.
CUSTOMER DISSATISFACTION: This in fact should speak for itself. Poor stock management can directly affect your customers. When you are constantly out of stock of a particular item/product ingredient it affects your customer service negatively. Case in point. The restaurant at which I work gets two different types of Parmesan cheese. One looks like it was hand grated (the preferred choice) the other shredded to a powder form. There is a definite difference in not only the taste but the performance of the two cheeses. A customer who was well acquainted with our Alfredo actually tasted the difference when we used the shredded cheese. So much so that they had mentioned it to the server. A meal that the customer usually finds enjoyable was somewhat less palatable. This of course was a direct result of the stocks' availability from the restaurant's supplier.
POOR PURCHASING DECISIONS: This results in excess or inadequate stock levels.
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With good inventory management practices there would be an increase in productivity customer satisfaction and in turn having a reduction in loss of goods. Monitoring of inventory trends is easier resulting in the ability to make the best decision that provide the greatest return.
There are several inventory management software systems available. My best advice is to find one that best fits you and your business. While it is possible to manually track you inventory, Inventory management software makes this process easier saving you wasted man hours and money.
The fine folks at https://craftybase.com/ offer a 2 weeks free trial. I do love this system. It made things so much easier for me and more than likely I would return to the service that they provide. My reasons for cancelling had nothing to do with their service but more with the exchange rate and having to make the painful decision on whether or not the business could pay for such a service at this time.
As not everyone can initially afford an inventory system, over the next few months we would be looking for some of the free systems available. We are excited to see what there is to offer found and give our thoughts as to their performance. We are going to be mindful that free systems come with several limitations and would be taking that fact into consideration.
If you are capable (I'm not), you can create your own inventory system that is tailor made for you and your business.
So until then.
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