In this rapidly evolving world where the speed of customer service matters, having multiple warehouses is no less than a blessing. Receiving, shipping, packing, sending, and delivering, all these activities must be streamlined and in absolute synchronization to ensure your customers receive products on time. As simple as it may seem, managing and regulating constant stock levels is not an easy task, especially when your inventory is in more than one warehouse. The key to successfully operating multiple warehouses is to understand the obstacles they present and work around the challenges for seamless fulfillment strategies.
Here are the top five tactics to manage your inventory effectively when you have multiple warehouses.
- Update in Real-Time
- Improve Your Warehouse Layout
- Count Stock Independently
- Take Geography into Account
- Assigning Return Material Authorization (RMA)
1. Update in Real-Time
The most decisive inventory management tactic is to ensure that information from all your warehouses and ordering systems are in sync and update in real-time. Real-time tracking enables your business to avoid stock-outs and excess inventory faster than a periodic inventory management scenario. By updating all orders and sales in real-time, it allows you to budget supply and demand for all products more efficiently. By using Redefine’s inventory management system, you can automate manual processes, get real-time data, and obtain more clarity across your operations. The right technology of choice provides you the following inventory management features:
- Create purchase orders
- Manage dropship orders
- Implement 3PL and Amazon FBA integrations
- Transfer products from one warehouse to another
- Integrate with carriers and shipping software
- Access real-time order status with all marketplaces
2. Improve Your Warehouse Layout
The get-go method can save a lot of hassle in the business. That is because your warehouse layout decides how swiftly and accurately products can be selected and shipped out to customers. One of the tedious tasks in the supply chain is the selecting and shipping process. Make sure that you are aware of product placement, product status, and which goods are waiting for fulfillment while selecting destinations precisely. Also, develop an easy-to-read map or digital versions of warehouse layout and send copies to relevant employees. This enables you to streamline decision making as you can assign shipments from the closest proximity.
3. Count Stock Independently
Another important tactic is to count stocks at each warehouse separately. The eCommerce retailers mostly assume that they need to only track the total number of goods without counting the product levels at each warehouse. Each warehouse inventory depends on the demands of buyers nearest to the warehouse and convenience of sources from that location. Also, keep an eye on SKUs in each location to ensure stock levels are balanced. Independent stock counting improves the accuracy of inventory counting, as you’re less likely to make any mistake while counting a one warehouse at a time. Also, it can easily detect the error if, by any chance, the inventory is not accounted for correctly.
4. Take Geography into Account
Picking the best location for your warehouse is essential to fulfilling orders quickly. When establishing a new warehouse or moving an existing one, don’t overlook the importance of geography. You can observe the areas or towns with high concentrations of your buyers and factor it into your judgment about the next warehouse position. Decisions on where to set your warehouse will influence other perspectives of the business, such as operations and logistics.
For instance, if you set up a warehouse in a city with most buyers, you’ll likely to pay more rent and labor cost. On the other hand, if you set up a warehouse in a rural area, your transportation cost will be higher, but rent will decrease. The tactic is to strike a balance between proximity to customers and other overhead expenses.
5. Assigning Return Material Authorization (RMA)
RMA makes fast and effective returns by letting you observe the status of your returned products. Assigning Return Material Authorization (RMA) at your warehouses enables you to trace and handle your returns effectively. With multiple warehouses, the possibility is that a product shipped from one warehouse may be returned to another warehouse. Therefore, use RMA to track the status, the cause of return, and move them to repair facility if required. This kind of activities helps businesses to stand out against their competition. Besides, Businesses can use the data to decrease service time and decrease the cost of returning products. The Redefine warehouse management system will generate purchase orders, replacement orders, and vendor returns to avoid manual data entry.
Managing multiple warehouses surely has its own challenges but employing the right inventory management system can streamline operations. So, you can get the most results while keeping costs low. Also, with the right tactics in place, businesses can optimize their inventory and warehouse management strategy and set themselves apart from their competitors.
- Update in Real-Time
- Improve Your Warehouse Layout
- Count Stock Independently
- Take Geography into Account
- Assigning Return Material Authorization (RMA)
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