Inventory Control & Management

Hoping to get some feedback from others that have or that are going through the same pains I am. We have a growing ecommerce business, which is great, but our inventory is growing and I am ashamed to say it but we have no control over our inventory.  More and more mistakes are being made with our shipping department and I feel like we have to babysit to make sure the right product goes out.  This has also slowed our growth down considerably as I can not imagine adding much more until we get this under control.  We need scanners to check inventory in and to ship...something.  Well I feel like I aired my dirty laundry or let the skeleton out of the closet, so to speak.  I need help.  Oh and we are looking to open a retail location by next quarter. 

Thanks Sean.  I tried to PM you but it said you have exceeded your PM limit.  I guess your box is full.  If you go to www.compressionstore.com you can just call the number found on the website and ask for Wes Anderson.   Thanks again!

Hi Wesley, before I got involved with ProductCart I helped out a small business that sold school clothing. They came to me looking for a software solution to their order processing issues, but when I investigated it was fundamentally an organisational & process issue. Their warehouse was in chaos and had lots of old redundant stock cluttering it up. For them the key thing to start was a floor to ceiling tidy to start & then sorting out labelling on aisles & shelves, color coding boxes/labels/shelf tickets, making sure all stock was accounted for, labelled & barcoded.  Making it simple to relocate shelf labelling was also important for them.
We did also introduce barcode scanners, both portable ones, for the pickers, and fixed ones along with new software and a defined "arrivals area" from which no stock was allowed into the warehouse or store until labelled if necessary and scanned in. Their business was very very seasonal, so they used a lot of casual labour which was part of the reason it had got so chaotic. I also advised them to create a simple training guide for new starters.

More than likely you have many of these in place, or something better.