Inventory management tips for your small business You have decided to take the plunge and start your own business. There are a myriad of things you have think about in your new endeavor. There are employees to think of and all that goes with that, your customer service and not the least of all is your inventory management.Your mindset about inventory should be somewhere in the neighborhood of "inventory on the shelves is a wasting asset". Inventory does not become more valuable when it is sitting on your shelves. If you don't have a constant flow of shipping on items, they are taking up valuable space and you have to spend time, electricity, lighting, heat and interest while it sits there. Here are some ideas about handling your inventory instead of allowing IT to manage YOU: 1. Suppliers WANT to do business with you. After all, you are selling their product and that earns revenue for them as well. You may want to negotiate extended payment terms on the inventory you order, or even check out drop shipping arrangements. Many manufacturers will drop ship for you if you meet their minimums. That is less inventory you have to hold on your shelves. You can also build purchase orders to suppliers based upon orders that are in house if they can ship quickly. That means you are constantly ordering only the product you need. That is a good way to meet minimum orders with little leftovers on your shelves. 2. Keep inventory moving off your shelves. If you have had a product sitting for a while, you could try running a promotion offering customers a discount for the product you have in stock. You can limit the quantity they can order based upon what you have on your shelves. That way, you don't have to order more quantity from the manufacturer at your regular price to sell it at a discount price! 3. Organize everything you stock on your shelves. It is really frustrating when you have an inventory program that says you have 3 of something in stock, and a customer orders it and you can only seem to find one because someone put the other 2 away in the wrong place. Keep inventory organized in bins, on shelves with shelf labels, or organized by item number by manufacturer. Do a physical inventory as often as possible to keep everything in order. Remember, inventory does you no good if it is sitting on your shelves for a long time. Nor does it do any good if you have inventory that you can't find because everything is disorganized. Inventory is a big part of your business expense, so make sure you make the best of it! | 
