To effectively run a business, the business owner must be able to keep one eye on the big picture while keeping the other focused on the smaller details. This is exactly as hard as it sounds. In fact there is so much to keep your eyes on it can be hard to know which details need the most attention.
It is important to categorize your metrics in order to understand which provide the deepest insights into the efficacy of your operations as a whole. While there is more industry specific data then can be gone over in this simple post, here are 6 important types of information that can keep a company afloat, even in this tempestuous market.
Inventory — Fully understanding your inventory data is a lot more than knowing what is in your warehouse. Proper review of inventory consistency can reveal insights as well as potential problems that can be avoided. This can keep the occurrences of backorders and over stock that can harm productivity.
Customer Satisfaction —Customer satisfaction is on everyone’s minds but few know how to really track this number or where to find crucial information. The best insights can be found in inventory stock levels and sales histories as well as in straight -forward surveys.
Seasonal Shifts — Properly identifying seasonal changes and what they can mean to sales trends is the best way to make the most of high and low seasons. Sophisticated inventory software solutions can provide crucial data to help identify seasonal changes in your industry.
Cycle Times — This is the length of time it takes from an order being placed to the moment it is shipped, this time frame must be reduced as much as possible. Fine tuned inventory management practices can effectively streamline this process.
Inventory Turnover Rate — This is the amount of time your stock will sit on shelves before it has been sent to paying customers. The longer the turnover the more money you are wasting on inventory maintenance. Understanding this important metric will help you improve forecasting and ordering.
Warehouse Efficiency — As the fulcrum where supply meets demand, the efficiency of the warehouse can affect important processes like supply chain management, employee productivity and even the quality of the products you are sending out. With so much weighing on this important aspect of the retail business, it is essential that this detail is closely observed.
With so many of the details that create a successful organization linked directly to proper inventory management, a software solution to this important aspect of retail is something no small business should be without. The data and insights that a sophisticated inventory management solution can provide will be the deciding factors between sweet success and brutal failure in the modern markets.
