After this presentation, you should understand the three components of a successful inventory management system, how each fits together, and how to implement that system in your store today. - See more at: http://fitsmallbusiness.com/inventory-managment-for-small-business/

1. INVENTORY
MANAGEMENT
THE SMALL BUSINESS
OWNER’S GUIDE

2. Small business inventory
management is an
important part of retail
success.
It will help you know what is coming
into your store, what is leaving it, and
how much money you are actually
making or losing on those items.

3. The Three Components of A
Successful Small Business
Inventory Management
The Stock Room
You need a place to do inventory and you need
to make sure it is set up and used correctly.
Receiving and Counting System
Standardizing the process for product deliveries
and regular stock checks.
The POS System
You need technology that makes inventory
management easier.

4. Setting Up Your
Stockroom and Labeling Your
Product

5. If you don’t have a stock room
you are going to have to buy in
smaller quantities.
This will cost you more than
buying in bulk, and your
storefront will likely become
messy, crowded, and
unprofessional.

6. In order to have a successful
stockroom you must:
✓ Plan out your space
✓ Determine the right shelving for your products
✓ Develop a consistent system for labeling and organizing your
products.

7. Planning Your Space

8. If you don’t draw up a plan
for your stockroom, you
will run into problems.
Your shelving might not fit or similar products could
end up in all different places, making re-stocking a
much longer and harder process.

9. Planning your
space
Grab a piece of paper and sketch
out your room dimensions.
It seems obvious, but you have to make
sure your potential shelving, inventory, etc
fits into your space.

10. Planning your
space
Grab a list of your inventory.
With a list handy, there is much less of a
chance that you will forget to include some of
your inventory.

11. Planning your
space
Determine where your
products will go.
Group similar items together
and make sure that popular
items are up front and easily
accessible.

12. How To Choose
The Right Shelving For Your
Stockroom

13. How to choose
It should fit your space.
This is where your previous sketch
comes into play. Measure your
space and be sure your shelving fits.

14. How to choose
It should be adjustable.
Regardless of what product you sell, you will
probably need to change your shelving at
some point to accommodate new or
different inventory.

15. How to choose
It should make it easy for you to
find and keep track of your
inventory.
Your shelving should allow you to put
your product front and center in an
organized and clear way.

16. Where to buy stockroom shelves?
There are many places you can buy shelving. If you want to buy in person,
then Home Depot, Lowes, or your local hardware store are good options. If
you would like to buy online Amazon has various shelving options. You may
also be able to find used shelving on your local Craigslist page.

17. How To develop A
Consistent System
For Labeling and Organizing Your Product

18. Labeling and organizing
Unique Product Descriptions
Giving each product a unique description will
make it much more likely that your shelves are
stocked properly and your inventory numbers
updated correctly.
The best way to do this is to start with the noun
that best describes your object and then add
qualifying adjectives.

19. Labeling and
organizing
Distinct Item Numbers
For items that do not have barcodes already, if
possible, you want to print and attach barcode
labels to those products as well. It makes it less
likely that something will be recorded wrong
and also automatically updates your inventory
on your P.O.S system

20. Labeling and organizing
Keep your units of measure
consistent
One thing that often causes inventory
problems, is when the units of
measure you inventory with are
inconsistent.

21. Establishing a System for
Receiving and Counting
Inventory

22. Receiving
Inventory
When you receive inventory from
a supplier,
there is a good possibility that there could
be a difference between the invoice and the
actual number of packages/items received.
It is also possible that the item price has
changed since you initially ordered the
product.
You can check a list of steps on this in the
main article.

23. Counting inventory can seem
like an overwhelming task.
Because of this, some small-business owners just put it off and never
actually do it.
You can check a list of steps on this in the main article.

24. Using Your P.O.S. System
to Manage Inventory
and Estimate Future Inventory Needs

25. “Your P.O.S system is
your inventory
management
system . . . a lot of
people get that wrong”
When P.O.S. inventory management is used in conjunction
with periodic manual counts, you get a very accurate
inventory count and can identify when things are stolen
much more effectively.

26. What is a Point of Sale (POS) System?
It is what you use to ring up purchases in your store. A basic P.O.S system
includes a cash register or computer with cash drawer, a receipt printer
(some newer systems email receipts), a barcode scanner, and credit card
swiper. Many newer P.O.S systems also have great inventory management
capabilities.

27. Using Your POS System To
Manage Inventory
Most P.O.S. systems can now:
1. Accept initial inventory
counts.
2. Print labels/barcodes
(for products that don’t already have them)
3. Scan Barcodes
4. Automatically update inventory counts when sales are made
5. Send a report when specific inventory is getting low

28. Managing Inventory
1. Input inventory into your P.O.S. system as
soon as it gets moved off of the truck
2. Print labels for any items without
barcodes and then scan them
into your inventory as well
3. Do regular counts and
update your POS inventory
if there are any discrepancies.

29. Estimating Future
Inventory Needs
Do you struggle with ordering too
much or too little product?
If so, many P.O.S systems today have
the ability to use previous sales
history to estimate how much
inventory should be included in your
next order.

30. Our Recommended P.O.S. System for Inventory
Management is Shopkeep
Shopkeep is one of the highest rated P.O.S. systems and has great
inventory management features for only $50 a month. It allows you to
easily add inventory, print labels, generate detailed sales reports and
inventory ordering recommendations, and allows you to manage 10,000
SKUs via bulk import and barcode scanner.

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this presentation.
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