Did you know that the major problem in 46% of all warehouses is due to human errors? Not just this, an Intel study reflects that manual processing is responsible for about 5% of inventory inaccuracies, which amounts to a loss of nearly $1 trillion for retailers. Inventory control and management is a crucial part of maintaining a profitable retail business.
Well, why waste time in inventory control when you can reduce errors and save time and resources with automated Inventory control? But what is automated inventory control? How does it work? And how does it claim to boost your retail business efficiency? Let’s explore all these questions in detail!
What Is Automated Inventory Control?
Automated inventory control, as the name suggests, is a modern technology that uses automation technology to manage and control your inventory within the supply chain. It minimizes human interference in inventory control and management.
With minimum effort and errors, retailers can manage and control their inventory online, thus streamlining various inventory operations. Now, you must be wondering about how an automated inventory control outperforms manual ones.
Well, let’s understand this with an example. Do you remember Amazon reported a record-breaking annual revenue worth $350 billion while the whole world was battling against the pandemic in 2020? Well, how did Amazon achieve this milestone with a minimum workforce during such a global crisis?
The answer lies in its smart warehouses, which employ automated inventory control and management technology. Not just this, we also have examples of Coca-Cola and Walmart, which are known to be the leaders in inventory control and warehouse automation.
How Does Automated Inventory Control Work in a Retail Business?
The working of automated inventory control in a retail business can be understood as the following six steps:
- Collection of Data: In the first step, the automation software collects detailed and accurate data on inventory levels. This is done using a variety of methods, such as barcode scanners, RFID tags, etc.
- Inventory Tracking: Once the data is collected and stored in an inventory management system, the system tracks the number of products in real-time once they are sold or received.
- Inventory Analysis & Stock Replenishment: In this step, the system analyses the sales of various inventories and lists out the best-performing ones. Moreover, it also sends alerts when the stock quantity of a particular inventory hits the minimum threshold, thus indicating immediate stock replenishment.
- Inventory Optimisation: Now, the system helps in forecasting the future demands of each product by analyzing their historic sales record. Thus, it helps in inventory optimization to minimize the risk of overstocking or stockouts.
- Integration with POS System: Finally, the inventory management system can be integrated with the store’s point-of-sale (POS) system. This allows for automatic updates of inventory levels when a product is sold and provides real-time visibility into the store’s inventory levels.
Thus, automated inventory control is all you need to control, manage and track your retail inventory single-handedly, thus reducing human errors and increasing efficiency.
Benefits of Automated Inventory Control in a Retail Business
We have already explored how automated inventory control varies from the manual ones. But what are the unique benefits that come along with automated inventory control? Let’s explore them!
1. Saves Time and Money
Did you know that US warehouses spend about 35% of their budget on labor costs? Besides the skyrocketing costs of manual labor, which increase by an average of 3% per year, they also come with manual errors, which are unavoidable.
An automated inventory control comes to your rescue, which helps you cut down inventory-related labor costs while saving your time simultaneously.
2. Automation Brings Accuracy
At the beginning of the blog, we already discussed how the major problem in 46% of all warehouses is due to human errors. These human errors cost retailers tons of money and resources.
However, by automating the inventory control, you can rest assured of real-time accurate data tracking with minimal errors. Thus, automation of inventory control in retail businesses brings accuracy, which further helps in improving efficiency and customer service.
3. Improves Efficiency of Inventory Management
You would be surprised to know that automated inventory control brings a 30% increase in efficiency and a 25% increase in productivity for retail businesses. With efficient automated inventory control, you can track your inventory in real-time, thus reducing about 95% of time spent on manual tasks.
Thus, an automated inventory control streamlines and automates all major business operations, which in turn increases efficiency and productivity.
4. Improves Scalability
Let’s assume that you have a manual inventory control wherein you’ve employees to track an inventory of 100. But what will you do when the inventory size expands? As you scale your businesses, you will have to manage, control, and track dramatically increasing inventories.
Instead of relying on human labor, which is time and resource-consuming, you can switch to automated inventory control. In this way, you can personally overlook the smooth operations of your retail business, thus improving scalability at minimum cost and resources.
5. Improved Visibility
The best part about automated inventory control is that it records every single detail related to a particular product in the inventory. It provides you with real-time insights into your inventory all the time. This improves visibility within the retail supply chain. Besides improving visibility, it also helps in the early detection of errors and discrepancies, which can reduce bottlenecks and wastage of resources.
6. Negligible Overhead Costs
Manual inventory control gives rise to overhead costs, such as extra labor and operation costs. However, with automated inventory control, you reduce human involvement and streamline the operations processes. Besides complete traceability, it also helps in reducing overhead costs.
Do you plan to switch to automated inventory control for managing your retail inventory? Our master supply chain management software OneSETU by QodeNEXT is here to assist you! This supply chain solution helps achieve end-to-end traceability, real-time business transparency, and operational efficiency in no time. Not just this, it also has a handful of other features to execute inventory control and traceability effectively. So, go check out OneSETU by QodeNEXT now!
FAQ: Automated Inventory Control
1. What is automated inventory control?
Automated inventory control, as the name suggests, is a modern technology that uses automation technology to manage and control your inventory within the supply chain. It minimizes human interference in inventory control and management.
2. How does automated inventory control differ from manual ones?
Automated inventory control reduces human involvement in inventory control, thus automating key operations. This, in turn, reduces manual errors and increases productivity and efficiency caused due to manual way of inventory control.
3. What are the key benefits of automated inventory control?
Automated inventory control brings automation, technology, and AI into the field, which provides accurate real-time visibility, and traceability, thus, increasing productivity and efficiency. Moreover, they help in saving time, money, and resources.
4. How is automated inventory control cost-efficient?
Automated inventory control helps you cut down inventory-related labor costs and reduces overhead costs. Moreover, it brings accuracy, which minimizes errors and huge losses caused due to it.
5. How does automated inventory control improve the efficiency and productivity of a retail business?
With efficient automated inventory control, you can track your inventory in real-time, thus reducing about 95% of time spent on manual tasks. Thus, an automated inventory control streamlines and automates all major business operations, which in turn increases efficiency and productivity.
Wrapping Up
The adoption of automation in business operations, especially in inventory control, is increasing drastically. Well, do you want to skyrocket your retail business efficiency? Why worry when you’ve OneSETU by QodeNEXT?
Our software has the best set of functionality, which helps retail businesses like yours in automated inventory control, supply chain visibility, and other crucial applications. Don’t forget to check out QodeNEXT. Get in touch with us now to help you make the best choice to manage your fleet and optimize your process!
