Strong Direct-to-Consumer Business Starts with Inventory Management Solutions

March 7th 2019 16:00:00 PM

Inventory management solutions may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you’re considering how to improve your direct-to-consumer (DTC) business, but successful e-commerce companies know that managing a hefty investment like inventory means good business management. With the growth of the DTC model over the past few years and companies like Glossier, Away, and The Honest Company skipping the intermediary step of bricks and mortar retail, it pays watching the growing field of DTC and its relationship to inventory management solutions.

The Importance of Reliable Inventory Management Solutions

With the right inventory management solutions in place, you can measure important KPIs for your DTC business. Inventory KPIs to measure include: 

1. Average days to sell
2. Average inventory
3. Inventory write-off
4. Inventory turnover
5. Holding costs

Can you measure these KPIs now? Most businesses can’t. That’s because they’re tracking inventory using spreadsheets or older software that doesn’t synchronize with their accounting or enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Manual stock counts and data entry make it cumbersome to run these calculations. One mistake in a spreadsheet formula means time wasted finding the error and correcting it, or worse, the error flowing through all your calculations to provide a skewed picture of how well your company meets KPIs. 

DTC companies know that aligning customer needs with available inventory adds up to a profitable bottom line. The way to accomplish this is, of course, knowing your customers; that’s a given. But after really getting to know your customers wants and needs, you’ve got to track, maintain, and monitor inventory levels. 

Inventory management solutions such as Scanco’s barcoding and inventory software go a long way towards supporting a profitable DTC company. By making inventory monitoring easy and accessible for the average company, as well as making it cost-effective through the use of smartphone scanners, Scanco supports a reliable data-based inventory management model. The results? Data that can help you make smarter, better decisions for your DTC business. 

Contact us online or call (330) 645-9959 to set up your personal consultation with a Scanco Solutions Expert to discuss how our inventory management solutions can help you work smarter.