Are you looking for a way to keep track of your inventory? This can be difficult when you have so many things on the go. We’ve put together 10 easy steps that will ensure that you are successful in this area!

First of all…

Why is keeping track of your inventory important?

Good inventory management is one of the most important parts of running a successful eCommerce shop. It saves you time and money in several ways:

-Purchasing too much means that your margins are shrinking, because products sitting on shelves aren’t bringing any revenue in.

-Not purchasing enough will leave you without stock for certain periods – this can lead to lost sales if customers come looking for something they know you sell but just don’t have available at the moment.

-Keeping track of all your purchases and returns has always been difficult when doing it by hand or with basic software solutions like Excel, especially as business grows larger over time. This isn’t so bad when there are only a few items to keep track.

What should you look for in an inventory management software?

The first thing you should look for is how easy it will be to set up. How many steps does registration take?

Is there a good demo available so that you can see if the software works on your operating system of choice and with your preferred browser?

Second, think about what kind of data reporting features are important to you:

Do you want access to sales information in real time or only at end-of-day summary reports?

What other kinds of relevant metrics would help make decision making easier for you when managing inventory levels (for example, stock turnover figures)?

Do these metrics come as standard or do they need extra configuration from developers before being made available in report content ?

Third, consider how quickly the company provides technical assistance.

How long would it take for them to react if you have a question about the software?

Finally, and most importantly: what is the cost of using this solution on an annual basis?

Does that price fit your budget?

Keep Your invoices and receipts In A Dedicated Accounting Software

This is a crucial step in keeping track of your inventory. Make sure that all invoices and receipts are filed away by the date, company name, product or service purchased and total amount paid for it.

Here are a few examples of accounting software that manages this including QuickBooks and Xero. All you have to do is enter in details about what was purchased on which date, how much it cost etc.

This gives you a great overview at any given time on your available stocks for all products or services and also calculates the costs against profits so you can see where expenses might be high and need adjusting.

You may find this useful if you want an accurate record of when items were ordered from suppliers as well so they will know whether more should be delivered or not based on your current stock levels.

[Alternative] Use A Spreadsheet To Track Your Inventory

Although we don’t recommend it, you can use Microsoft Excel to keep your spreadsheet up-to-date on all transactions. It’s important to make sure that you are keeping an eye on the total cost of your inventory, and any adjustments made to it.

If you’re a bit archaic and don’t want to use an accounting software to centralise your finances, you can still use a trusty excel spreadsheet.

Use Tags To Keep Items In Order Using SKUs

If you have a lot of items in your store, then this is something worth doing. Make sure that all products are tagged with their individual SKU numbers. There are a number of ways to do this, but you can use labels with the SKU numbers on them.

Keep Track Of Your Inventory In The Cloud

If you have been successful in creating your own spreadsheet for tracking inventory, then it is time to take things one step further. You’ll want to make sure that as much data from your store is backed up and stored in the cloud so that if anything happens, all of your information will be safe!

Examples of the most popular eCommerce inventory software you can use:

• Shiphero
• Trade Gecko
• Stocksync

If you are looking for a more comprehensive, but paid option to track your inventory in the cloud, then consider these options! They have many features that will make it easier on yourself if something should occur.

They’re also great for:

Checking stock levels and prices;

Updating orders at any given time;

Updating product details such as descriptions and photos by clicking on the “edit” button next to them in the dashboard of your account.

This is really helpful when you want to change things around without having to upload files again from scratch!

Take Pictures And Video When Unpacking New Products To Avoid Mistakes With UPCs and Barcodes

This may seem like an unnecessary task at first glance, but when you think about how many products come in on a daily basis, you’ll see that there are often mistakes made. Taking pictures and video of unpackaged products can be an easy way to keep track of your inventory and avoid any mix-ups!

Visit Your Warehouse Or Check Your CRM Regularly To Check Inventory Levels

It’s important to know what is being sold the most so that you don’t end up with too much or not enough stock at the store. You may want to take note of this information by writing down sales data each week when visiting your store for routine checks.

Keep Track Of Your Sales And What Is Selling Well

You want to make sure that you are keeping track of your sales and what is selling well. This will help in the future when it comes to adjusting prices for new items on sale, making predictions about demand, etc! Plus it’s important data for tax purposes as well 😉