Operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness can be the difference between thriving and merely surviving in retail. For businesses relying heavily on robust manual warehouse management, even minor human errors can cause major cost overruns and lost sales opportunities.
With smaller warehousing spaces becoming the trend and customer demands rising to 1-day and 1-hour deliveries, getting automated systems in place becomes necessary. Increff’s Warehouse Management System (WMS) presents itself as a solution designed to streamline and transform operations into one smooth function. Let’s see what the bottlenecks are in managing inventory in warehouses and how Increff’s WMS can help battle these obstacles for a greater ROI on retail operations.
WHAT’S HOLDING US BACK?
Retail operations are still heavily reliant on manual work, labor-intensive tasks and the subsequent barrage of errors. Here are some key differentiators that can make or mostly break the system:
1. Cost of Manual Processes
Manual inventory processes carry a large margin for human error. From the alarmingly high number of inaccurate stock records to lists of misplaced items, the consequences can be expensive. For example, a retailer that uses manual processes to update inventory might record an SKU incorrectly, which may lead to missing stocks or overstocking, impacting overall costs.
2. Loss of Precious Time
Traditional inventory management can be quite labor-intensive, with reconciliation tasks, manual updates, and physical counts piling up and taking time away from strategic business thinking and increasing backlog.
3. Lack of Real-Time Data
There’s a clear gap with traditional inventory methods, where delayed updates and less accurate, real-time view leaves decision-makers scrambling for data visibility. For example, they always run the risk of not knowing what’s currently in stock and what’s already sold out, offering stocked-out products to the customers. A study by Zebra Technologies notes that 33% of global leaders have recognized real-time visibility as one of the top quality-management issues in manufacturing and management.
4. Problems in Processing Orders
Manual order processing runs the risk of hampering the customer experience, and in retail, that can make or break your brand’s reputation. Slow, error-prone, and less accurate order processing can lead to problems like mismatch between physical and system stocks. With rising customer expectations, a delayed, incorrect, or unfulfilled order is a giant pitfall that can impact brand image and customer loyalty.
5. Limited Scalability
For most retailers, growth looks like this: growing stock volumes, expansion to multiple store locations, a large website, multiple online retail stores, and more. All of this can be a logistical nightmare to manage without the right systems in place. 34% of businesses see issues arise from incorrect inventory and delayed shipments. Traditional methods may not be the answer to an ever-growing business scale.
6. The Hidden Costs
Overstocking or understocking carries giant hidden costs like tied-up storage space, which result in disappointed customers or a perpetually unsold inventory. Businesses can gain a 10% reduction in inventory costs just by controlling the above two factors.
HOW CAN WE COMBAT THESE CHALLENGES?
Most of the above issues can be solved by aligning your processes to a digitized system of operations and warehouse management. Increff’s Warehouse Management System can be the perfect solution. Let’s see how you can make the best use of it:
1. Automation & Efficiency Drivers
Increff automates warehouse management with 100% inventory accuracy, removing the scope of any manual errors and inaccurate margins. Besides, since every SKU is scan-authenticated, there is no room for human mistakes. With an automated, serialized inventory, you have better control over inaccuracy issues and cost-churning processes, freeing up time for the big-picture stuff.
2. Real-time Data Monitoring
You can get real-time data updates with tailored insights into order fulfillment, shipped and canceled orders, cost of inventory, top-selling SKUs, least-selling SKUs, and more. This helps you with comprehensive audit logs that track every warehouse activity, leaving no room for errors.
3. Smooth Order Fulfillment
Increff provides a single space to fulfill both B2B and B2C needs, wherein you can bank on 100% scan-based operations to make sure no orders are registered twice and you can track an order’s journey through the supply chain meticulously. You can automatically manage the return of each item, and let the system build the correct prioritization of orders adhering to SLA guidelines.
4. Management at Scale
The platform offers the fastest inventory and order sync. You can manage enterprise-grade omnichannel order fulfillment with real-time visibility into each channel, whether it’s multiple stores, websites, or third-party integrations like Walmart or Shopify.
5. Cost Reductions
With business intelligence that tracks inventory aging and algorithm-driven optimization, Increff’s WMS makes sure all inventory operations are cost-effective and there’s little to no space for losses due to issues like understocking and overstocking. You can also bank on cross-docking to reduce handling and storage costs.
HOW LIBAS REDUCED ORDER PROCESSING TIME BY 25% WITH INCREFF
Libas, a popular Indian-wear brand, reached out to us with a classic supply-demand problem. Rising order volumes were stretching their turnaround time to 7-9 days, increasing the number of canceled and returned orders.
After the implementation of Increff’s WMS, the results were unparalleled:
- Order sync in under 15 seconds
- Order processing time reduced by 25-30%
- Turnaround time dropped by 30-40%
- Returns and cancellations reduced by 25-30%
To read more about how it worked, go to the detailed case study here.
IN CONCLUSION
Today’s competitive landscape doesn’t leave room for error, your warehouse management processes shouldn’t either. Growing retail operations need a tech-first solution to reduce the margin of human errors and make space for seamless inventory management.
Increff’s WMS is designed to eradicate traditional inventory management challenges in the simplest of ways, with expert automation, real-time data visibility, and scalable digitization. Whether you’re a growing retailer or an established enterprise, investing in Increff’s WMS will pay off in the long run. Try it out for yourself! Book a demo with us today.
Author: Surender Singh Khatri
