The inventory hold for your business is one of the essential capital you have. It is what runs your business, and you need to be aware of its expenses and operations at all times. Even though inventory is essential for your business, it can also be one of the most challenging liabilities if you do not take care of the money you spend on it.

Monitoring your inventory is essential as it can incur many excess costs in storing and processing it. This is what is known as inventory costs, and it is necessary to reduce your inventory cost to run your eCommerce business successfully and profitably.

Let’s look at what inventory costs are, their types, and how you can reduce them for your eCommerce business. 

What are Inventory Costs?

Inventory costs referred to the total costs associated with inventory management for any eCommerce business. These include the sourcing cost, storing costs, processing costs, carrying costs, etc. Since inventory is critical and comprehensive, sellers tend to spend a lot of their capital on managing inventory rather than optimizing it. 

Inventory costs can increase exponentially if the inventory is not moved quickly. The carrying costs can eventually add up and cause considerable harm to your business. Let’s look at the different types of inventory costs and how to reduce them. 

Types of Inventory Costs

Ordering costs

Ordering cost referred to the setup costs that are incurred whenever you place an order from your supplier. These refer to the sourcing costs and the money you spent on procuring the goods you want to sell.

Holding costs

Holding cost is also known as carrying cost and is known as the costs you incur for storing the products before they are sold. These include storage space costs, service costs, financing costs, etc.

Shortage Costs

These refer to the stock out costs and are incurred when you run out of inventory and need to source extra for making sales. This could come off due to destructive production, emergency shipments, etc.

Spoilage Costs

Lastly, spoilage costs refer to the money that you spend when the inventory you have stored is spoiled or damaged. This is mainly applicable to perishable inventory like food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, etc.

How Can You Reduce Inventory Costs?

Regular Tracking of Inventory Costs

You are tracking your inventory costs regularly instead of just estimating them. Inventory carrying cost can account for many expenses, including the cost of deterioration, taxes, administration cost, capital, labor cost, etc. Along with this, other hidden costs are usually not taken into account. Regular tracking of inventory costs can help you stay up to date with the total expenditure, and you can optimize your operations and expenses accordingly. 

Regulate the Order Management Process

The order management system and inventory management operations must go hand-in-hand. If the sync between these operations is broken, either your inventory or order processing will suffer. Keep a thorough track of your customers and the ongoing orders so that you can move your inventory accordingly. Also, a sorted order management process will help you forecast demand so you can purchase stock, therefore. 

Handle Excess Inventory

Storing excess inventory can be much more harmful to your business, as you will have to pay more for the storage and handling costs of these products. Your carrying costs will directly be impacted. If you have excess inventory, you can either return it, run sales to sell them off at cheaper prices, or ship them to your different warehouses. This will help you eliminate any excess inventory and save on additional carrying costs. 

Reduce Shipping Costs

Expensive shipping costs also add to your eventual inventory costs. Try to ship with a solution that offers you multiple courier partners so you can ship products faster. With a strong distribution network, you will be able to quickly get rid of your inventory and keep it fast-moving.

Make Data-Driven Decisions

Utilize the data you get from order management and inventory management systems to make insightful decisions. Don’t base your forecasts and decisions on estimates. Analyze the results and information you get from automated system analytics. Apply predictive analytics to see your future predictions and develop innovative solutions to invest in the stock. Come up with techniques to not order too much inventory and also avoid the problems of a stock out situation. 

Conclusion

Monitor your inventory costs regularly to assess where you spend most properly. Gauge weak spots and come up with solutions to tackle any roadblocks that come your way. Spend wisely and optimize your inventory management systems to make sure that you can reduce your inventory costs and optimize operations further on.

When we talk about eCommerce, your inventory is your biggest asset. It defines your business, and how well you can deliver to your customers. And inventory is one of the most critical aspects of any fulfillment supply chain. If not tackled properly, it can soon turn into a liability that can be very difficult to get rid of. Therefore, you need to have systems in place to keep check of your inventory and track its purchase and sale. The key to having a successful inventory management system is balance. But the question is how can you attain it?

Most eCommerce sellers do not track their inventory regularly. This often leads to the accumulation of more than the required inventory or the unfortunate cases of stockouts. Either of these situations can be harmful to your eCommerce business. 

Here are two forms of inventory systems – periodic and perpetual inventory, that can prove to be successful in tracking your eCommerce inventory. Let’s have a look at what they are, the differences between them, and how they can be useful for your business. 

What is the Periodic Inventory System?

When you count, track, record, and value inventory at specific time intervals, it is known as a periodic inventory system. The inventory valuation process helps determine the cost of goods sold or COGS.

It is generally used to maintain a separate account for delivery costs and inventory account. So basically it is the valuation of inventory at specific time intervals which are known as accounting periods.

Here, the cost of goods sold refers to the direct costs that a company incurs while selling goods. This could include raw materials or manufacturing costs.

What is the Perpetual Inventory System?

The perpetual inventory system is the opposite of the periodic inventory system where inventory management is carried out in real-time through the use of an inventory management system that automates the process. Therefore, in a perpetual inventory system, the changes will be recorded with every transaction that takes place on your eCommerce website.

Difference Between Periodic Inventory System and Perpetual Inventory System?

The first major difference between periodic and perpetual inventory management is the time interval at which the inventory tracking and valuation are done. In periodic inventory, it is done after specific accounting intervals and in perpetual inventory, it is done in real-time. 

In the periodic inventory system, inventory data is kept up-to-date using physical counting of inventory and further estimating the COGS using different inventory valuation methods. Whereas in perpetual inventory management, inventory is tracked in real-time and inventory data is centralized.

The Relevance of a Periodic Inventory System

Periodic inventory systems are useful for businesses that are just starting out and do not require a large use of inventory. Small-scale businesses can account for physical inventory and keep track of it with different inventory valuation methods. You can eventually switch to a more advanced system but starting out with a periodic inventory system works well as you do not require to invest a lot into it. 

The periodic inventory system is useful for grocery stores as they have a very large inventory of small products so they can make minor adjustments in their stock over time and also record it physically.

Similarly, in convenience stores and clothing stores, you can run on the same principle and record and evaluate inventory over a specific time interval. 

The Relevance of a Perpetual Inventory System

A perpetual inventory system gives eCommerce businesses a more accurate overview of the stock levels and eliminates the manual processes involved in maintaining an inventory management system. This form of stock management is more accurate and works on real-time data. Therefore, eCommerce businesses can get information much faster about stockouts, low inventory, excess inventory, etc.. It also helps up in freeing time and capital. However, since it works on a centralized inventory management system, it is slightly more expensive than the periodic inventory management system.

The perpetual inventory management system is most suitable for businesses that work on a variety of products and with a very large inventory. Since it gets difficult to maintain product count on a long-term basis, the perpetual inventory management system can be suitable for managing inventory across channels and in real-time. Also, with large stock levels, inventory management systems can eventually lead to a decrease in inventory management costs and you can forecast inventory levels more efficiently. 

Order Fulfillment & Inventory Management

Inventory management can be a tedious task for businesses. With a constant influx of inventory and sales, it can get difficult to evaluate and assess inventory on a regular basis. However, this task can be simplified if you outsource your fulfillment operations to a 3PL provider like Shiprocket Fulfillment. 

Shiprocket Fulfillment works with the best inventory management system to provide you with a completely automated inventory management and warehousing workflow. Once you send your inventory to the Shiprocket Fulfillment warehouses, you can be least bothered about how your inventory is going to be managed. 

But Shiprocket Fulfillment warehouses, you can easily store all your inventory across India and get real-time updates about your stock levels. Eliminate all manual work and rely on 3PL providers for complete inventory management services. This way, you can save ample capital & resources while growing your business. 

Conclusion

Both the periodic and perpetual inventory management systems have their own benefits. However, the perpetual inventory management system is more advanced as it is developed to give you information quicker. Depending upon your business needs, you can select the most suitable inventory management system for your business.