The Importance and Benefits of Apparel Inventory Management
If you own or manage a clothing store, then you know how important it is to keep track of your inventory. With so many items and so much turnover, it can be difficult to maintain an accurate count of what you have in stock. That’s where apparel inventory management comes in.
Apparel inventory management is the process of tracking inventory levels, sales, and purchases in order to ensure that stock levels are accurate and up-to-date. And it’s critical to have a good inventory management system in place to avoid having inventory problems that can hold your business back.
Let’s read on to learn more about the importance and benefits of apparel inventory management.
Why Managing Apparel Inventory is Important
The importance of managing apparel inventory cannot be understated. In fact, in today’s fast-paced and ever-changing world, having a well-managed inventory system is crucial to ensuring that your business can keep up with the competition.
There are several reasons why you need an apparel inventory management system. First, it helps you avoid overstocking or understocking your shelves. If you have too much inventory, you’ll tie up valuable resources that could be better used elsewhere. On the other hand, if you don’t have enough inventory, you’ll risk losing sales and customers.
Second, inventory management helps you keep track of your inventory levels so that you can make informed decisions about purchasing and stocking items. In other words, inventory management can help you save money by avoiding the need to purchase items that you don’t need.
Third, it allows you to better understand your customer’s needs and demands so that you can stock the items that they are looking for.
Fourth, you can collect analytics on your inventory. This will give you important insights into how well certain products are selling, and whether or not you should keep them in stock.
Last, and this is a big one: fashion is so fast-moving, and consumer tastes are so unpredictable, that managing your inventory well can mean the difference between success and failure. By keeping track of your inventory levels, you can make sure that you always have the right items in stock. This is especially important if you sell seasonal items or if you offer a wide variety of products.
Issues Unique to the Fashion Industry
There are many benefits that come with implementing an inventory management system for your clothing store. There are obvious overall benefits you’d expect from this system such as improved accuracy, efficiency and reduced costs. However, advanced apparel inventory management systems can position you to solve issues unique to the fashion industry like fabric stockouts, misallocation of funds, excess supply that leads to obsolescence and misallocation of capital.
Next, we’ll go over some of the benefits of apparel inventory management in more detail.
Benefits of Apparel Inventory Management
Better Management of Production Material
A common problem that’s inherent in the apparel production process is the wrong color since companies get material that is pre-dyed. Because of this, workers have to manually pick out these defects and decide how to allocate them. Without an inventory management system in place, companies may not be aware of the availability of these defects or regular materials and the deadlines that must be met. When this system is in place, it becomes easier to manage the material and keep track of production metrics.
Effective Sourcing of Material
Companies that make apparel products rely on artisans and other vendors to provide them with the raw materials they need to create their products. An automated inventory management system helps with tracing who the material is being bought from and the quantity being bought. Additionally, they can help you track purchases and help pick artisans who supply quality material at the best prices.
Providing Financial Statements
Manually generating financial statements is a hassle. Plus, it’s expensive. A good inventory management system should provide you with the ability to generate financial statements. This is important for two reasons: first, it allows you to track your spending and see where your money is going; second, it provides documentation that can be used for tax purposes.
Post-Production Requirements
Once production is completed and the items are ready for sale, they must first be sorted by categories, such as size, color, etc. Also, they must be readied in accordance with the vendor’s requirements. This task requires accurate knowledge of the quantities available in stores and the amount that can be sent to vendors when they need them. This requirement is also applicable to vendors that need to trace how much of the items have been sold.
Therefore, an efficient and accurate apparel inventory management system is critical to avoid having issues post-production. All fashion products have a specific life cycle because of the nature of dynamic demand and are vulnerable to major setbacks. Robust inventory management strategies and systems can help you pivot and avoid setbacks.
If you’re not already using an inventory management system, now is the time to start. There are many different software programs available that can help you get started.
Get Started with the Best Apparel Inventory Management Solution Today
Need help getting started? We can help! N41 is a leading fashion and garment Enterprise Resource Planning software solution provider. With innovative features and services, our ERP All-In-One System is everything you need to run your company.
N41’s foundation is constructed upon extensive apparel industry skill and expertise, which allows our company to service fashion industries, manufacturers, and wholesalers worldwide with superior business management solutions. What’s more, we have an unprecedented 99% client retention rate.
N41 supplies our clients with platforms and solutions to give them seamless access to critical time-sensitive information across their organization’s whole workflow through the development of integrated hardware, software, and services. We can help you to streamline your entire operations and improve your bottom line. Request a demo or contact us today at (213) 738‐1010 to learn more about how we can help you take your business to the next level.
Read other articles in the series around Inventory Management:
Inventory Management Guide
- The Apparel Inventory Guide
- Challenges of Inventory Management
- Inventory Management Strategies
- Why you need an Inventory Management System
- Inventory Management Integrations
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