The last thing you want to do is disappoint a customer by posting an item for sale, when you don’t have the inventory to fulfill it. You need a clear and straightforward way to monitor your inventory levels across all sales channels.
First things first. Having a centralized system to manage complex inventory will ensure you are publishing accurate available to sell levels to your sales channels.
“93% of retailers rated system-wide inventory visibility as the most significant capability in executing their omni-channel fulfillment strategy, yet only 45% can enable it.”
-Retail Times
With up-to-the minute status reports, you should be able to easily select and review orders by status, and that means all orders. These include:
• Orders that have not been picked, packed, shipped or backordered
• Orders awaiting credit card approval
• Orders with a particular stock item
Avoiding overselling an item is key, and you are on the right track to making sure that never happens again.
One area this will come in handy for is kitting (aka bundling products). Whether you sell an item on its own or in multiples, your inventory levels will remain visible. One aspect to fully assist with this in is on-demand assembly. So, if you sell products that are assembled, packaged or personalized on demand, this module is a must-have.
Visibility is step one, but what else encompasses managing complex inventory? Discover what your order management system can provide to increase sales in the free eBook below.
