Businesses that have implemented such tracking mechanisms have reported added revenue in the form of less expenses – saving as much as 35% in inventory costs.
Every merchant needs to know this, because so many are still using outdated counting methods that aren’t accurate. Like this guy…
It’s time you upgraded your inventory tracking software, eliminated all those counting errors, and made your business more revenue. Here’s how.
The Traditional Method…and Why It Doesn’t Always Work
How do most businesses track inventory? Manually. They literally have an employee count everything in stock, then record it on paper or online.
That was a great system years ago when businesses rarely had to worry about inventory shortages. But nowadays goods sell out fast if they’re in high demand. If you don’t plan ahead, you’re going to run out of product and hemorrhage your profits in the process.
There’s another factor in all this to consider. You have to remember that human beings make mistakes. You know it, I know it. They might miscount your inventory, or they might forget to report inventory, or thy might even report the wrong numbers to you. Clerical errors like these could lead you to purchase too little or too much product, throwing your profits out of whack.
How SHOULD You Be Counting Inventory?
So is there a more efficient way to count inventory? Sure there is! You can use your POS system to automatically keep tabs on what you have in stock.
So how does it work? First, you enter in a “baseline” inventory – a starting amount of inventory, so to speak. Then, your POS system automatically readjusts the inventory amount whenever an item is sold. Some POS systems will alert you when you’re running low on an item or ingredient so you’ll know when to re-stock. Once you purchase more inventory, you’d just upload the new numbers via spreadsheet and the POS will add those numbers to its existing count.
All of this is automated, so there’s less of a chance your inventory numbers will be wrong. This is especially helpful for restaurants. Inventory – things like buns and patties – is much harder to track when it depletes quickly, and on a daily basis. Yet the right POS system can actually single out every ingredient that’s in a sold item (like a hamburger) and deduct each from your inventory count.
Why is this so important? Let’s say you know exactly how much inventory you need to buy. You can then purchase inventory on a per-week basis, rather than per month, so you never over-order anything and waste money.
Who Should Look into a POS That Tracks Inventory?
The final question to tie all this up is whether you should invest in an inventory-tracking POS system. To us, that depends on the nature of your inventory. Does it expire at some point? Do you rapidly use it up? Do you store so much inventory that counting all of it is cumbersome and prone to error? If you answered yes to one or all of those questions, then a POS system that tracks inventory might be what you need.
Why? Your employees would be responsible for less of the work while the accuracy of your inventory counts would only increase. If you have lower inventory, lower usage rates, and no real expiration dates, you might get away with having an employee tally your inventory instead. Still, inventory tracking is just one of many features included in POS systems today, so there might be other features that appeal to you as a merchant.
Good news! Quantum offers POS systems that count inventory for you, along with top-notch payment processing programs that can save you even more money. Click here to learn more!
