Shipfusion Blog

5 Common Inventory Management Challenges & Solutions

Choosing the right partner can make or break your company’s logistics, customer service, and repeat purchases. Using a fulfillment center like Shipfusion frees you from navigating the fulfillment landscape with zero stress. Below are some insights on how Shipfusion can take your business to the next level.

An essential part of fulfillment is getting your products to your customers in a timely fashion. The best way to do this is by staying on top of your inventory management process. This article will look at some of the most common inventory management challenges and how to overcome them. 

Poor Visibility:

When your inventory is hard to identify or locate in your fulfillment warehouse, it leads to incomplete, inaccurate or delayed shipments. Receiving and finding the right stock is vital to efficient warehouse operations and positive customer response. 

Solution: Make sure to add images with accurate product descriptions in your inventory database to improve purchasing and receiving processes, enhance accuracy and prevent missing inventory.

Inventory Loss:

The loss of inventory due to spoilage, damage or theft can be a major supply chain problem. It requires identifying, tracking and measuring problem areas.

Solution: Working with a 3PL/fulfillment solution adds an extra layer of security. They will take precautions to keep your inventory safe and secure while providing transparent reporting and technology to help you control stock levels to prevent inventory shrinkage.

Outdated Excel Spreadsheet Tracking:

Managing a vast inventory with manual paper-based procedures will make it difficult for business growth. As sales volumes soar and inventory expands, lack of digitization and inefficient inventory management process only produce dismal results.

Solution: Having an inventory management system will streamline the process, help you with real-time data, and significantly improve your inventory efficiency. 

Unpredictable Tracking:

Using manual inventory tracking procedures across different software and spreadsheets is time-consuming, redundant and prone to errors. Even small businesses can benefit from a centralized inventory tracking system that includes accounting features.

Solution: Consider upgrading to a centralized tracking software that provides automated features for re-ordering and procurement. Inventory management platforms provide centralized, cloud-based databases for accurate, automatic inventory updates and real-time data backup across multiple warehosue locations.

Communication Issues:

Communication and collaboration are essential. When departments hold back information regarding delays or errors, it can make the fulfillment process much more difficult.

Solution: Shipfusion Dashboard–Introduce dashboards with simple interfaces that show real-time inventory data. Having everything on one screen helps remove communication barriers across accounting, sales and warehouse operations.

Shipfusion sets your business on autopilot and combines flexible, reliable fulfillment with powerful, real-time technology. Shipfusion has multiple fulfillment centers across the US and Canada– making it easy to manage your eCommerce business. For more information on how to set your business on autopilot, contact one of our fulfillment specialists today.