Inventory planning is complex for any e-commerce retailer, wholesaler, or brand. It can be because you’re operating multiple sales channels and brick-and-mortar stores in different locations. Or you have a vast customer database or are looking to scale up your business operations.
A good inventory plan and management strategy are vital for any growing business. With an effective inventory plan, you can reduce costs and have optimized products, satisfied customers, and increased sales.
What is an Inventory Planner?
An inventory planner is responsible for developing strategic and practical inventory plans for an organisation to maximise profitability.
For example, if you’re an inventory planner for a manufacturing company, you must study and analyse the production schedule. This way, you can determine the number of materials required to complete an order for a specific product.
As an inventory planner, you’re in charge of updating inventory files and information in the database to prevent any possible discrepancies. You also need to devise sophisticated ways to forecast changes in the supply chain to ensure the organisation has sufficient materials and supplies during the busy production schedule.
Moreover, you need to maintain a good relationship with suppliers.
Why is an Inventory Planner Important?
An inventory planner is crucial to any business because it determines how much inventory a business needs. You save a lot of money on wasted inventory when you know just how much you need in stock. You also avoid risking stockouts and hurting your brand or your credibility with your customers.
With an inventory planner, you can also ensure that inventory arrives on time and will not just sit in your warehouse for months.
Inventory planners also work with sales and marketing teams to ensure that orders or inventory align with projects or initiatives.
As such, inventory planning is one of the essential functions in an organisation and one of the most significant investments you can make.
How Cin7 Inventory and Order Management Can Help Your Business
Manual inventory management works. But it also comes with many challenges that directly impact business efficiency and growth.
Tracking inventory, processing orders from each sales channel, and then updating all information on each take a lot of time and effort. Often, you can’t view this information if they’re not yet reconciled in the database, causing business owners to miss ordering stocks on time, leading to stockouts that affect sales.
But thanks to technology, business owners can now manage their operations efficiently with the help of inventory management software solutions.
As a full inventory and order management software, Cin7 helps business owners manage their inventory better and get their products to more customers through more sales channels faster. Cin7 automates manual processes and boosts business operations’ speed, accuracy, and efficiency.
Connected Inventory Management
Connect your products, orders, stock locations, warehouses, sales channels, and even your reports and workflows with one automated solution. Everything you need to run your business operations efficiently, increase your sales, and grow your business is right here in Cin7.
Cin7 is built for growing businesses. You can do away with manual data entry and complicated spreadsheets. Take your business to the next level with Cin7’s e-commerce, marketplace, accounting, shipping, 3PL warehouse, and EDI integrations.
Cin7 offers powerful inventory solutions for every type of product seller. Whether retail or wholesale, sell your products easily online with Cin7’s integrations, pricing, and inventory.
Source your products efficiently, and ensure your B2B or D2C customers see the products and their prices when they want, wherever they shop.
Cin7 makes it easier for B2B customers to buy from you. Show off your products and benefit from end-to-end control while fulfilling orders more effectively.
Small businesses can also benefit from Cin7 because it allows them to sell more products on online stores or marketplaces with less effort. It simplifies order fulfillment and saves money while growing your customer’s trust and loyalty.