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Retailers usually order products from the manufacturer or distributor and keep it in stock until an order is received. This has some obvious advantages as the items can be shipped immediately and customers don’t have to wait for their items to be sent out. But, keeping product on hand also creates some problems for businesses, especially small businesses. One of the biggest problems is that when you pay for inventory it can sit in storage, tying up assets. Another problem is that if a product does not sell you are left with disposing of it at a much lower price or hanging onto it and writing off the cost of the item as a loss.
Hiring an efficient fulfillment company that can take care of your goods solves many of the problems associated with stocking products for small businesses. While drop shipping is not the best choice for all businesses, customers typically appreciate the ease of delivery to their door or place of business. An added benefit is that customers can order exactly what they want instead of depending on what you may have in stock at the time.For efficient and accurate supply management a different and more dependable kind of fulfillment system is required. Outsourcing fulfillment inventory services along with warehousing offer is the answer. They can carry out drop ship order fulfillment so that you can direct your efforts on B2C or B2B sales hence increasing your business.
A sophisticated, yet cost effective inventory management system keeps track of your purchase orders and the costs associated with every shipment and return. By carefully tracking purchases the fulfillment service is able to provide you with valuable information to determine which products sell, how quickly and if there are seasonal or special occasion runs that you should increase your available inventory for so that you can make more sales during that time.
Moreover, once you have an inventory management system in place, take it a step further by capturing customer data. You can use this information to follow customer order patterns so that you can approach them with special offers targeted to their purchasing habits. Undoubtedly, a warehouse and inventory management solution is essential for proper execution and lower costs. It can make the difference between making money and losing it.
