Inventory management in the furniture industry can be challenging; but not when Canary7 is a part of the picture. Our inventory management system will simplify the process of taking care of your furniture stock, and you will be thanking us forever!
Inventory management in the furniture industry can be challenging; but not when Canary7 is a part of the picture. Our inventory management system will simplify the process of taking care of your furniture stock, and you will be thanking us forever!
Many businesses struggle with inventory management and rightly so, considering that inventory is one of the most crucial yet challenging areas of any supply chain. But when it comes to furniture retailers, the process of stock handling and inventory control becomes even more difficult, thanks to the nature of the goods involved.
Furniture is hard, heavy, and expensive; which means that taking care of it is a high-maintenance affair and requires proper time and effort in order to be executed properly. Not only that, but it will also ask for considerable investment, and if you want to make sure that none of your resources are going down the drain, you will have to be mindful about where exactly you are putting your money.
Sounds too much, doesn’t it? Luckily, it can all be very easily simplified with the help of a furniture inventory management system.
This guide is here to help you understand everything about inventory management in the furniture industry and how a furniture inventory management software can help you in this area.
Contents:
Furniture inventory management refers to the process of managing furniture stock. It is a challenging area because furniture retailers are constantly pressured to keep their inventory in line with the trends and customer preferences, which requires it to be 100% accurate and advanced. Not only that, but since furniture inventory concerns large, heavy items, it can be a labour-extensive job and requires complete efficiency from your workers as well.
Despite these challenges, retailers that want to be successful, will focus on furniture inventory management and implement ways that can make it easier for them to navigate this particular aspect. Even big players like IKEA, Ashley Furniture Industries, and Steel case can accredit a major chunk of their success as furniture retailers to a high-tech, streamlined inventory management strategy.
Although there can be many types of furniture inventory management, the two main forms are the ones discussed below:
Tagged furniture inventory involves tagging each furniture item and making it easily trackable. So, your inventory database will include an accurate record of every single piece of furniture that is identifiable thanks to an identifying number, its location, its furniture standard, and other elements that can help you keep track of the inventory.
This is the best method for businesses that want to individually track each piece of furniture and make sure that it corresponds to the orders. It is also optimal for situations where you want to record detailed financial information for all your furniture items and track depreciation.
Needless to say, this type of inventory management is very specific and can give you some great insights to the way your inventory for the furniture operates.
In contrast to the aforementioned furniture inventory management method, furniture standard inventory is a more general, less specific tactic to handle your furniture stock. It involves recording the quality of each furniture standard found in your warehouse. In order to do this, you create a record for each item and then add all that data according to standard. This helps you get a general idea of how much stock you have available at hand.
Needless to say, this will only work in situations where you don’t need to keep track of specifically labelled items. For businesses that are struggling with efficiently managing their inventory, tagged furniture inventory may require a little more money than furniture standard inventory, which is why this option would be better for those businesses.
Also, remember that this method would only work if you have items of the same standard that can be interchanged. For example, a record for two office chairs would be auto-numbered i.e. not specifying which chair is which. So, only if they are identical and don’t have any special characteristics to them can they be effectively managed with furniture standard inventory.
These are two distinct methods, but the good thing is that you can use them together as well! The items that are not interchangeable and require specific tagging for effective management, whereas the items that fit a furniture standard can be accounted for in that regard.
The good news is that if you want to improve your furniture inventory management, you can easily do that. The best part is you don’t even have to do a whole lot; you can keep your strategy simple and straightforward, and we are sure that you will be able to get the best results just that way.
If you are looking for the top three tips that will help you completely transform your furniture inventory management strategy from start to finish, have a look at these and of course, don’t forget to implement them for the best possible results!
The first thing we advise you to do is compartmentalise your stock. Yes; that’s right – take it into its smallest form. Not sure what we mean by that?
Your furniture, in its complete form can be heavy and bulky. However, if you dissemble it and save it as its parts, it will be easier to store and will also take less space. You can assemble the furniture after an order has been placed, and this will make it more convenient for you to control your inventory and make sure that it can be managed and arranged in accordance with your needs.
So, stock your furniture in pieces; stock table legs together, table tops together, chair pieces together; so on and so forth. This will save up space and hence, allow you to save money as well. It may also help you decrease transportation costs (only if you ship in parts).
However, this method will not be for everyone and we totally get that! Some businesses don’t have the resources to do assemblies from scratch every time a customer places an order. In that case, you can leave this tip out and focus on the next two tips instead!
Communication is key, and it is actually baffling how many furniture retailers as well as retailers in general neglect this element of their business. You need to not only be in touch, but also be on the good side of your material suppliers and manufacturers. This is the primary way you can make sure that you never run out of enough materials and that your inventory levels are optimal throughout.
Consistency is very important when it comes to communicating with your vendors. The more consistent you are in your communication, the more attuned they can be to your needs and the better they can provide you with their services. It will also allow you to see any potential problems in the supply from more than a mile away, which will also enable quick action from your side.
By building a good, long-term relationship with key players like your vendors, you can actually positively improve your supply chain in terms of customer service, efficiency, and even cost management.
Technology is the answer to everything in today’s day and age; especially when it comes to enhancing the supply chain. Without the right technology, you will certainly not be able to tackle the challenges that are likely to come your way.
When it comes to inventory management in the furniture industry, the “right” technology means a furniture inventory management software. A furniture inventory management software will help you not only tackle supply chain challenges, but it will also allow you to take your business forward in its journey to success. By bringing way more efficiency, productivity, and accuracy to the forefront of your business, a furniture inventory management system will be the only technology you will need for the effective management of your furniture stock as well as the overall betterment of your business.
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A furniture inventory management software can help in many regards! Some ways it can help are as listed below:
In the furniture industry, trends are always changing. This could be because of seasonal shifts or constant changes in fashion and hence, customer preferences – but it does put an obligation on furniture retailers to keep a close eye on these changes. It is only when they are completely in touch with these trends that they can adjust their inventory management accordingly, and hence this is one of the most crucial things that businesses must do in order to ensure that their inventory is actually contributing towards the betterment of their business.
Luckily, a furniture inventory management software can very easily help you achieve this. It will let you gauge trends and changes in preferences by granting you access to accurate data and insights, and hence it will become easier for you to make decisions that align with these aspects. It will also help you figure out the seasonality of items and understand product life cycles, which you only improve your understanding of exactly how your inventory should operate.
This way, you don’t have to worry about your inventory becoming obsolete or going out of fashion, and that is a huge burden to get relief from!
As a business, you never want to miss out on an order. However, if you don’t have the right inventory levels, this is more than likely to happen. And the right inventory levels are not easy to come by. This is because having too little of your stock will, of course, lead to missed orders. But having unnecessary excess stock will lead to an excess inventory crisis, which causes more harm than good. The only thing that would work in a situation like this would be controlled safety stock, which can only be achieved with the help of a furniture inventory management software.
A furniture inventory management system will help you monitor your inventory level data in real-time. As such, it will be easy for you to understand the stock needs of your business and make decisions relating to your inventory accordingly. By updating you on your sales and inventory activity constantly, a robust furniture inventory management system will make sure that you know exactly how much you are left with. This accurate insight will then allow you to calculate just how much safety stock would be feasible and reasonable, and hence you can achieve operational efficiency this way.
If successful inventory management had another name, it would be accurate forecasting. Accurate forecasting is the only element that can get you far in terms of inventory. It will not only boost your profitability, but it will also help you evolve your purchasing practices and make sure you are making smart choices when it comes to the maintenance of your inventory. However, again, this kind of accuracy can only be achieved with the help of a furniture inventory management system. If you hope to get it through the utilisation of manual systems, you should realise that that is unlikely to happen!
A furniture inventory management system allows you to keep a tight eye on the growth of your sales and customer base. This way, you can match your progress with your competitors and identify areas of strength, as well as areas of weakness that could do with a little bit more effort. This way, it will be easier for you to strategise the way forward and make sure that the efforts you make actually do result in faster business growth and more success for your furniture brand.
In today’s world, success as a retailer entails selling products via multiple channels. All the best brands in the world, including big furniture businesses, sell on multiple channels. As such, it would also be in your best interests to figure out a way to sell on multiple channels as well as at multiple locations. However, with furniture selling, this tends to get a little complicated due to the fact that furniture inventory is hard to manage as it is, let alone in relation to multi-storefronts. But the good news is that even this challenge can be successfully tackled with the help of a furniture inventory management system.
With the help of a furniture inventory management software, you can manage all your inventory data from a single repository. All the prices, products, taxes, and promotions for items at different stores can be centralised with the help of a furniture inventory management system, and can then be managed single handedly. The real-time visibility it provides you with will allow you to improve your selling activity at different stores, which will ultimately make it easier for you to future-proof your success on all channels. So, to put it simply: a furniture inventory management software will reduce idle inventory, maximise your profits, and improve inventory turn times.
Optimised furniture inventory management requires a strong, organised workforce. However, handling furniture all day can be tiring for your workers, and if they don;t have technological support to make their job easier, you are more than likely to see a dip in their efficiency and productivity as a labour-force. This is a huge problem that must be dealt with, as an inefficient workforce can seriously derail your progress as a business and can lead to monetary loss on sales. Not only that, but it will also negatively impact your employee retention, which leads to a plethora of other problems.
The solution, of course, is a furniture inventory management software. It will take a lot of responsibilities off the shoulders of your workers, which will allow them to take their focus away from completing, tedious, tiring tasks and instead, encourage them to pay attention to core processes that will actually need their attention-to-detail. By equipping them with the right tools and technology, you will be providing them with support they actually value, and in this regard, you will see actual positive changes in the way your staff completes multiple tasks.
Inventory management in the furniture industry can be hard and challenging. However, it doesn’t have to be. If you understand the different types of furniture inventory management and implement a few simple yet effective tips and tricks, you can improve your furniture inventory game by far.
One of these tips, and perhaps the most important, is the suggestion to start using a furniture inventory management system. A furniture inventory management software will bring a range of benefits to the table, some of which can really push you towards success and allow you to establish yourself as a strong furniture brand!
Looking for furniture inventory management software options? Check out Canary7: the most effective inventory management system and see how it can improve your furniture inventory to be a bigger, better, and much more evolved version of itself.
