WooCommerce is undoubtedly one of today’s most popular platforms available on the internet for setting up online stores. To make the most out of your WooCommerce store and stand out from a huge crowd of rivals, you must take WooCommerce inventory management into account.
Inventory management is one of the crucial points when running a business. However, many newly-launched businesses underestimate just how important proper WooCommerce inventory management is.
As a serious online business owner, you should make inventory management a priority and keep it organized and ensure that you always have products in stock for prospective consumers. Effective inventory management can help your manufacturing department, and keep you from investing in underperforming products. It will also ensure that your records are correct and avoid any miscommunication or erroneous expenditures down the road.
If you are looking to do this right but don’t know how, below we offer our 5 best tips to get you started.
Use Forecasting
Forecasting your inventory needs is a challenging task because too much of it can lead you to waste money on storage costs whereas too little inventory can put you at risk of losing sales. Luckily, WooCommerce inventory management can help you take the guesswork out of forecasting your inventory needs. By allowing you to track your sales data, WooCommerce can help you recognize patterns and trends that can inform you when the time has come for you to restock the shelves.
Consequently, you will be able to avoid the inventory cycle’s peaks and valleys, which will save you precious time, money and headaches down the road.
Leverage Dropshipping and 3PLs
Dropshipping businesses are often faced with a unique challenge when it comes to inventory management. Unlike traditional brick-and-mortar businesses, a dropshipping business usually does not have physical inventory on hand but the products are instead ordered from suppliers following customer purchases.
This can make it difficult for them to track what is available in stock and what needs to be ordered. By practicing good WooCommerce inventory management, you’ll be able to track your inventory levels and reorder supplies as necessary. Keeping careful track of your inventory will spare you the headache of selling out of popular items and ensure that your customer has access to the products they want and need at all times.
Use Plugins
If you want to up your inventory management game and take it to a higher level, you should consider using a plugin such as the WooCommerce Stock Manager that allows you to track stock levels, manage your inventory from a central location, and reorder items. This useful tool can streamline the entire inventory management process and keep your WooCommerce store running smoothly and efficiently.
Some of the best and most useful plugins include the WooCommerce Out of Stock! Manager which provides businesses with custom notifications when the inventory is running low and includes email warnings when a certain product crosses a low-stock threshold.
WooPOS is another plugin that enhances customer relationships with its built-in customer relationship manager (CRM), as well as with a robust POS system and cloud database to effectively monitor the inventory. Smart Manager for WooCommerce is another powerful plugin that gives businesses complete control of their inventory.
Sync Inventory Across All Sales Channels
There are multiple things business owners must keep track of when running an online store. Staying on top of everything can be very overwhelming, regardless of whether it is inventory or bookkeeping.
Fortunately, WooCommerce inventory management brings a little hope as it can help sync inventory across all your sales channels. This means that you can automatically update stock levels when the items are sold online or in-store. This way, business owners can avoid oversells and ensure that their operation is running well.
Another benefit is that inventory management can help you track sales and profits. And if you manage to identify and understand your sales patterns, you can make informed decisions on what products to stock and how to price them accordingly.
Use Automatic Reordering
Businesses can automatically reorder inventory when it gets low with WooCommerce inventory management. This saves plenty of time as you don’t need to manually check inventory levels and place stock replenishment orders. WooCommerce inventory management allows you to set up alerts to notify you when inventory is running low and when to replenish. This is a valuable tool for anyone looking to streamline their business operations and save time and money.
Final Words
Managing your WooCommerce inventory may seem like a complicated and frustrating ordeal, but it doesn’t have to be this way. By simply following the best practices and tips above, you can learn how to efficiently streamline the process and keep all your products in stock and selling.
