2 Mistakes to Avoid While Trying to Keep Track of Your Business's Inventory Shipments
If your business requires a steady stock of inventory, you may be feeling overwhelmed while dealing with ordering and shipping from multiple suppliers. While you are trying to keep everything organized, make sure you avoid the following mistakes that could make managing your inventory shipments more difficult.
1. Having Too Many Suppliers
As your business grows, you may start adding new inventory to expand the available options for your customers. However, as you add new products to your inventory, you may find that you have accumulated multiple suppliers.
Because you have so many suppliers, you may start having trouble keeping track of what you need from which supplier. This scenario can lead to missing orders and forgetting to pay each supplier because you simply forgot.
To keep from making the mistake of having too many suppliers, try to narrow down your options to a more manageable number. You can do this by speaking with a representative from each company to see if they are able to obtain different products that you need but are not in their catalog. They may have a relationship with a company through which they can order these products, allowing you to cut out another supplier, especially if you only order one or two items from them.
2. Forgetting to Submit Inventory Purchase Orders
While dealing with all aspects of your business, you may start ordering products from your suppliers simply using their order form. Then, when the shipment arrives, you look at the sheet to see what has arrived. However, depending on supplier order forms without submitting your own purchase orders could end up causing you problems.
If you rely solely on a supplier's forms, you may forget exactly what you ordered. Then, if something is back-ordered or no longer available, or if there is an error in your order, you may have difficulty remembering the original order and proving what items you originally submitted.
However, if you submit your company's purchase order with every single shipment, you have a record of each one. You can then compare your own order record with theirs, making it easier to catch any errors in each shipment.
Even if you keep from making the above mistakes while keeping track of your inventory shipments, you may still feel overwhelmed, especially as your business continues to grow and you require more stock. Instead of trying to keep track of everything by yourself, consider contacting a business supplier management solutions company to see what they can do to help you out.
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