Why Every Retailer Needs an Inventory Control System

Retailers of every size are increasingly facing tougher competition and more demanding customers. It is no longer enough to simply offer a wide range of merchandise, low prices and a good location. What is needed to compete in today’s and tomorrow’s market is: knowledge of one’s customers, their tastes and preferences; the ability to gather and process this information quickly; and to be sufficiently nimble to make decisions based on the analysis of this information. The right Point of Sale & Inventory Control application gives the retailer the proximity to a customer’s buying habits needed. The following are examples of how our clients have leveraged a POS & Inventory Control system to raise their sales and boost their profits.

Customer Learning

A few months after installing an Inventory Control system, one of Mexico City’s best-known women’s clothing chains decided to change the size run it offered its customers. Previously, the chain sold women’s clothing in sizes 5 to 11 but, based on the sales statistics, shifted its size run so that it covered sized 7 to 13. Using an inventory control system we installed, this retailer noticed that it hardly sold any size 5 dresses but every time a certain style included a size 13, it sold out. According to the chain’s owner, the statistics on sales by size “Is worth gold.”

Quick Response

After running a sales report for a chain of specialty boutiques of clothes and accessories for charros or cowboys in Guadalajara, Mexico, we noticed that sales of a luxury boot were practically zero at one store despite being a hot item in the other stores. After looking for that boot in the store’s display case, the store manager found that the boot was exhibited towards the rear of the store and had fallen off the shelf. The manager moved the boot to the front of the store where it was easily visible and sales soon picked up.

Optimal Inventory

A chain of shoe stores in Santiago, Chile always distributed shoes from its central warehouse to its stores according to predetermined size runs. With our help, the warehouse manager began to notice that 20 - 30 pairs of size 26 of a certain style had accumulated in each of the stores. Using sales and stock reports, the manger came to realize that even though size 26 is not a common size and sales were scant, every time one of the more common sizes sold out, the stores were ordering a new shipment of shoes for every size, accumulating shoes it would never sell. The chain soon began to implement a more precise stocking and distribution system based on actual sales by size and color. As another manager at the chain told us, “At the end of the year I don’t want to see all of the company’s profits invested in inventory that isn’t going anywhere.”

Control

After installing one of our systems, a chain of pharmacies in Tijuana, Mexico began using Purchase Orders with its suppliers for the first time. Once it began to compare its Purchase Orders against its actual Receipts, our client realized that a large vendor frequently shipped medicines in a stronger (and more expensive) dosage than he had ordered—a dosage he was already plentifully stocked in. Since then, the pharmacies have exercised greater control over their vendors to ensure that they always receive exactly the items and quantities that they ordered and are not stuck with excess inventory.