What are the best ways to manage stock for multiple sales channels?

1 Define your sales channels

Before you can manage your stock, you need to define your sales channels and understand their characteristics. A sales channel is any way you sell your products to your customers, such as your own website, an online marketplace, a physical store, or a wholesale partner. Each channel may have different requirements, fees, policies, and customer expectations that affect your inventory management. For example, some channels may have faster or more frequent sales cycles, higher or lower margins, more or less competition, or more or less flexibility in terms of pricing, shipping, and returns. You should analyze your sales channels and prioritize them based on their profitability, potential, and alignment with your business goals.

2 Use a central inventory system

One of the most important ways to manage your stock for multiple sales channels is to use a central inventory system that syncs your stock levels across all your platforms. A central inventory system is a software tool that connects to your sales channels and tracks your inventory in real time. It helps you avoid overselling or understocking by automatically updating your stock availability and notifying you when you need to reorder or replenish your products. It also helps you reduce errors and save time by eliminating manual data entry and spreadsheet management. A central inventory system can also provide you with valuable insights into your inventory performance, such as your best-selling products, your inventory turnover rate, your stock holding costs, and your optimal reorder points.

3 Implement a consistent stock policy

Another way to manage your stock for multiple sales channels is to implement a consistent stock policy that defines how you allocate, distribute, and control your inventory across your platforms. A stock policy is a set of rules and guidelines that you follow to manage your inventory decisions, such as how much stock to keep for each channel, how to prioritize orders from different channels, how to handle backorders and pre-orders, how to deal with stockouts and excess stock, and how to handle returns and exchanges. A consistent stock policy helps you maintain a high level of customer service and satisfaction, as well as optimize your inventory efficiency and profitability. You should review and update your stock policy regularly based on your sales data, customer feedback, and market trends.

4 Optimize your stock levels

A key aspect of managing your stock for multiple sales channels is to optimize your stock levels to meet the demand and supply of your products. Optimizing your stock levels means finding the right balance between having enough stock to fulfill your orders and avoid stockouts, and having too much stock that ties up your cash flow and increases your storage and handling costs. To optimize your stock levels, you need to forecast your demand and supply accurately, taking into account factors such as seasonality, promotions, customer behavior, and external events. You also need to adjust your reorder quantities and frequencies based on your lead times, safety stock, and buffer stock. You can use tools such as inventory formulas, inventory software, or inventory analytics to help you optimize your stock levels.

5 Streamline your stock operations

Managing your stock for multiple sales channels also involves streamlining your stock operations to ensure that your inventory flows smoothly and efficiently from your suppliers to your customers. Streamlining your stock operations means improving your processes and procedures for ordering, receiving, storing, picking, packing, shipping, and tracking your inventory. You can streamline your stock operations by using automation, integration, standardization, and outsourcing. For example, you can automate your reorder triggers, integrate your inventory system with your accounting and shipping software, standardize your product codes and labels, and outsource your fulfillment to a third-party logistics provider.

6 Monitor and improve your stock performance

Finally, managing your stock for multiple sales channels requires monitoring and improving your stock performance to ensure that your inventory management is effective and profitable. Monitoring and improving your stock performance means measuring and analyzing your inventory metrics and indicators, such as your inventory turnover ratio, your gross margin return on inventory investment, your fill rate, your stockout rate, and your inventory accuracy. You can use tools such as inventory reports, inventory dashboards, or inventory audits to help you monitor and improve your stock performance. You should also set and track your inventory goals and objectives, and implement corrective actions and improvements based on your results and feedback.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?