Lowering supply chain costs without decreasing customer satisfaction is never easy, but e-commerce businesses that manage to do it can stay ahead of their competitors. Good inventory supply management practices can help your business achieve this. There are also a couple of other things you can do.
Give Due Attention to Inventory Forecasting and Planning
Accurate forecasts improve your inventory control, make your order management more effective, and ultimately can help you understand and predict demand for individual items, so that you can order them in the right quantities and at the right time. Inventory forecasting won’t feel like an added responsibility if you integrate it into your inventory management and control. One way to do this seamlessly is by using an online inventory app that comes with a built-in sales forecasting tool.
Work on Lowering Inbound Transportation Costs
Many businesses focus on lowering costs related to shipments while neglecting inbound transportation costs – the cost of moving products from vendors to your warehouse or distribution facility. Inbound shipping costs can have a significant impact on your total supply chain costs, which is why you want to look for ways to reduce them. One way to do this is to transport products to less crowded transportation hubs or ports.
Work With Regional Carriers for Inbound Transportation
Sometimes, vendors have their own deals with particular carriers. But this doesn’t mean that those deals are necessarily good for you. It may be possible for you to choose your own regional carriers for inbound transportation with some vendors, and in some cases this can help you lower your supply chain costs. This isn’t always an option, but you won’t know until you ask.
Use a Multichannel Inventory Management App
The quality of your inventory management can have a serious impact on your supply chain costs. More than maintaining optimal inventory levels, an online inventory app can help you manage vendors more effectively, helping you eliminate human errors related to order management. It also empowers you to keep multichannel inventory data organized into a unified digital database that is easier to access, backup, and sort than spreadsheets are.
Outsource a Part of Your Supply Chain Operations
This can go beyond transportation to include warehousing and order management. As an e-commerce business, chances are you don’t have a big enough team of experts to handle all aspects of the supply chain management process. Instead of hiring additional staff or placing additional responsibilities on your current employees, you can outsource some of your supply chain operations to save money and perhaps even streamline processes. When outsourcing, try to constantly reduce costs by periodically evaluating your needs.
Whether you choose to outsource your supply chain operations or decrease inbound transportation expenses, you can lower your supply chain costs today by adopting an online inventory app such as DataQlick. You can find out more about DataQlick’s Purchase Order and Vendor Management features here.
