The business environment has always featured a competitive edge, yet, in the digital era the stakes got significantly higher. The customer as a central figure of the overall business strategy, is the key to prosperity and growth, and thus, financial benefits. Therefore, meeting and satisfying customer’s demands, despite their frequent changeability, is the priority task of every company entering the market.
Although customer appreciation is based on quite a few requirements, there is the most essential one - the availability of chosen goods. If the business fails to fill up the stock on time, the customers lose interest and switch attention to competitors.
How to keep tabs on inventory accuracy,
and what are the best practices to use for inventory tracking? Let’s discover
together.
What Is an Inventory
Accuracy?
Inventory is any kind of goods, items, materials, and merchandise intended to be sold in the market to make financial gains.
Inventory accuracy is the relevancy between inventory records to their real-time availability. Inventory accuracy is key to the uninterrupted functioning of commercial businesses and the stock flow; with properly selected software, like SAP for warehouse management, businesses can regulate the stock levels, control the under or overstock, and fulfill the customers with no delay.
Such
immediate responsiveness ensures a highly satisfactory level of shopping
experience, and thus, builds trustful business-customer relationships.
Influence of Inventory Accuracy on Customer Satisfaction
1.
Timely order fulfillment
The commercial business has always featured the most fierce competitors, trying to win the customer’s attention and loyalty. Nowadays, in the era of E-commerce businesses, customers expect immediate order processing and delivery.
By
keeping track of inventory levels, businesses can meet the demands of the
customers regarding the availability of the stock, and its readiness for a
pick-up.
2.
Understock regulation
What
is the biggest disappointment for the customers? Lack of stock, and the fact
that they are notified about it after having sent the order. Such an
irresponsible approach toward stock management creates dissatisfaction with the
customers (who waste time while selecting the right goods) and creates a layer
of negative image for the store.
3.
Prevention of overstock
While understock has its obvious downsides, overstock leads to considerable financial losses. Unclaimed stock leads to inefficient usage of warehouse space, loss of investments, expired, and thus, non-liquid goods, etc.
The
stock should be refilled according to the customer’s demands, avoiding its
improper fulfillment.
How to Improve Inventory Accuracy?
1.
Robust tech solutions
One of the common reasons for inventory discrepancies is the human factor; people are prone to make mistakes under the influence of external factors, which leads to disruption of the store's functioning.
Luckily, in the era of tech solutions, there are more viable ways of inventory control, like SAP for warehouse management, which apart from regulating all the work cycles within the warehouse, presents comprehensive and timely insights into the stock level, introduces barcode scanning, tracks the inventory movements, keeps a record of its movement within the supply chain, etc. Moreover, when the SAP EWM is integrated with AI-propelled tools, it can monitor the current needs of the customers, letting the businesses decide on the right stock fulfillment.
Another positive feature of SAP EWM is its ability to be integrated with other SAP solutions, like SAP Transportation Management (SAP TM), bringing clarity and control into every sphere of business functioning.
In
case you are searching for companies to provide you with guidance and support
regarding automation and monitoring of inventory, contact LeverX, whose
level of expertise regarding SAP implementation is acknowledged by clients all
over the world.
2.
Regular audits
Regularly
performed audits improve the control over the inventory levels providing a
comparison of real stock and its recorded levels.
After
implementing the SAP EWM, the stock levels will be regulated automatically,
while the audits will simply top up the level of confidence in inventory
accuracy.
3.
Streamlined communication
Inventory
management is dependent on the efficiency of communication between inventory
management teams, sales teams, and suppliers. When the information regarding
the stock is exchanged timely and accurately, there will be no place for
inventory inconsistency or mismatching.
4.
Trained staff
Every
employee is a valuable particle in the whole workflow; their knowledgeability
benefits the efficiency of the overall functionality of the company and the
store. It is important to organize regular meet-ups and workshops regarding
inventory accuracy and all the related processes.
The Bottom Line
Inventory accuracy introduces order and efficiency into the business functioning. Inventory management benefits both sides of the deal – the businesses and the customers. While businesses benefit from a high level of inventory organization and management, the customers always get the goods they are looking for in the shortest time possible.
When
there is a need to improve inventory management and accuracy, don’t hesitate to
contact the LeverX developers teams, who will offer the most viable SAP
solutions for structuring and reorganizing your business.