Managing inventory helps Amazon India sellers to ensure that their products are in stock and sales are coming. However, inventory management is not only counting your products & documenting their total quantity on Seller Central. There are many other things which help the entire process of checking and managing inventory and allow Amazon India sellers to stay one step ahead of their competitors & drive more sales. We are presenting some of the required steps which would help you to manage your Amazon.in inventory better.
Perform Inventory Control & Quality Assurance (ICQA)
In order to manage massive inventories & ensure good inventory quality, Amazon India sellers should regularly perform a set of activities in their warehouses commonly known as ICQA. It calculates & corrects any defects in inventory & regularly conducts inventory audits of bins to verify whether all the processes are followed diligently at seller nodes.
What is a Bin?
Bins are a type of storage facility in a production area or within a warehouse, and are used to store items that you are going to sell on Amazon India. They provide a storage area in a specific position in the warehouse and these are labelled & captured on the system, so you can organize & locate your inventory quickly & efficiently. Bins come in all shapes & sizes depending on the size of the items stored. In some cases, they may be color-coded to help your pickers & packers find items easily. Bins can hold the same items in different locations which make picking and packing much easier.
There are 2 types of Inventory audit mechanisms to ensure removal of such defects & better user experience:
Simple Bin Count – This method refers to container level counting that is done at the Amazon.in seller nodes. This involves identifying & scheduling a set of containers for counting. You just have to predefine the set of containers you need to count, specify filters & choose the bins for auditing.
Cycle Count – It is an extension to Simple Bin Count & refers to SKU level counting in each bin which is done at the Amazon.in seller nodes. It is an inventory management method where a small subset of inventory, in a specific location, is counted on a specified day. Cycle counts contrast with traditional physical inventory in that a full physical inventory may stop operation at a facility while all items are counted at one time, whereas cycle counts are less disruptive to daily operations and provide an on-going measure of inventory accuracy & procedure execution.
Use Inventory Management Software
Software for management of inventory are also very useful & help keeping track of your stock & the resultant cash flow. Another benefit of using these softwares is that they help streamline your business operations. If you are also facing difficulties in managing your amazon.in business, try the softwares like Cin7, OrderBot & Wasp Inventory Management Software to name a few.
Analyse & Forecast Inventory Orders
Making an analysis of the inventory you require while placing an order, which is called inventory forecasting, is very important. Plan and base your reorder quantities as per your sales trends on Amazon.in. For this, you need to trust your own judgement & selling experience which should be based on seasonal demands, holidays & various trends capable enough to affect your product. Make an analysis of all the above points in your decision-making process.
Six Sided Inventory Check
During your inventory check, ensure a six-sided check of your stock & scan all the sides of the product for any damage. If any product is marked as damaged & doesn’t meet the six-sided check parameters, remove it from your inventory immediately as shipping of such items to the user will result in negative customer feedback resulting in less orders. In addition, if a product is regularly scanned for six-sided check, it helps the company to be more cost-efficient.
Use Barcode for Each Product
Using barcodes for your products have great benefits in inventory management. Apart from being cost-effective & reliable, they help in improving Inventory control. As barcodes make tracking inventory very easy, it results in low inventory levels and a lower overhead. They are also relatively inexpensive, user-friendly, and prove to be indispensable in tracking your inventory.
Ensure Proper Order Lead Time
Order lead time is the time taken by inventory to arrive after ordering. Time should be provided for the new stock to arrive before the current stock is finished. Over- ordering and under- ordering both could result in the risk of inventory on Amazon.in. To avoid all these issues, always track your current inventory levels & sales volume for better managing your lead time.
Prioritize Products using ABC Analysis
ABC analysis is a technique of inventory categorization where inventory is divided into 3 categories:
- High-value products with a low sale frequency
- Moderate value products with a moderate sale frequency
- Low-value products with a high sale frequency
By using an ABC Analysis, you can prioritize your inventory management by differentiating between products that need attention and products that don’t. Manage your stocks better by going through your listings & add each of your products to the categories mentioned above.
Inventory Management is a very important but vastly overlooked point for Amazon India sellers. Take care of your stocks by using the aforementioned tips, choose the right techniques for your business & get ahead of the curve.
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