6 Ways To Properly Manage Fba Inventory

Keep ahead of your competition by utilizing the right inventory management techniques. Let's review some strategies and tips to implement so you can gain greater ability to manage your stocks.

1. Maintain a good connection with your supplier

It is important to develop and maintain connections with the suppliers you work with They are accountable for bringing your product concepts to reality!

If you've built a strong rapport with the supplier you work with, they'll usually prioritize your orders above other customers of theirs. In the event that they don't, you could end up waiting a long period of time for your items to be delivered which could result in a stockout for you. Know how they function and what you can do as a brand can help them in their work.

Communication and respect are essential to your suppliers. When you conduct yourself with respect and treat them well, they'll treat you well.

If you're working more closely to your suppliers, you'll gain an understanding of the time frames within the supply chain. Understanding the time it takes to produce the product, deliver it, and then arrive at Amazon is essential.

2. Make sure you have at least 60 days supply

Make sure you maintain a minimum of 60 days' stock available always to cover your anticipated sales. This will prevent stocking up and running out of stocks. You can estimate your sales by reviewing Amazon's inventory reports, as well in observing your sales-through rate.

Your rate of sell-through for FBA is determined by the degree to which you're managing your inventory levels and sales. It's calculated by subdividing the total number of units shipped out to customers during the past 90 days, by the number of FBA inventory units over the same period.

You can view your rate of sale for each item you offer in FBA Inventory Tool. FBA Inventory Tool as well as your overall sales-through rates in the Inventory Performance.

A rate of sales that exceeds 7 is considered to be excellent. That means you're selling seven percent more inventory than what you're keeping in the average. If your rate of sell-through is lower than 1, it means you have more stock than you sold during the last 90 days.

A low percentage of sales-through rates implies that you're overstocked and you need to find ways to decrease your stock in FBA.

3. Reduce the excess inventory

If you've underestimated the amount of sales you can expect from your product, don't fret! It occurs to all of us Yi even the biggest brands.

There are several ways to deal with the excess stock that is not available on Amazon FBA.

Promoting promotions: 

This could be done by using coupon codes, buy-one-get-one-free offers, or running steep discounts. Reduce your price is generally an excellent way to boost the sales of slow-moving inventory. Even if you're making the slight chance of losing sales price, it may be less than the amount you'd owe in storage costs if the units remained in storage.

Increase your bids for keywords: 

If you're advertising for your products (which you ought to have been doing) an effective method of getting to the attention of more people to sell products is to increase the price of terms you're targeting. This method, when combined with lowering your prices, is a guaranteed way to dispose of obsolete inventory.

Create a removal request: 

If you've got a location to store inventory outside of Amazon Create an order for removal within Seller Central and have the inventory shipped to you prior being hit with huge storage charges. Amazon might also offer promotions that allow them to take the inventory off for free.

In liquidation, you can sell the inventory. The liquidation process is usually the option last resort, but when all other attempts are unsuccessful, you may attempt to sell all your inventory in bulk for the lowest price. This can allow you to recoup some of the capital which can then be reinvested into a more profitable product.

Make a donation of the items: 

You can donate your inventory to charitable organizations or non-profits like Goodwill. You are able to deduct the inventory you donate in your tax return to offset the expenses.

4. Prepare for the unforseen

There are times when things don't go as smoothly at all times. There are issues with the supplier, Amazon shipping delays, customs delays and FBA delays at the warehouse as well as other problems. The COVID pandemic is a great illustration of this: disruptions to supply chains and manufacturing caused 53 percent of U.S. consumers experiencing difficulty finding their goods online from March 2020.

If you are able, purchase additional units in case anything happens to the supply chain.

This could include storing additional units within your own warehouse, or by using a third-party fulfillment center or storage facility. If there is an interruption, you could maintain inventory in FBA without any worries or fulfill orders with FBM.

This is only advised only if you are able to accurately forecast how much demand you will receive for the product, and are able to store and order additional units. Do not purchase additional units when you're short of storage or capital.

5. You can reduce the demand for your product if you are your inventory is low

Like we said earlier it is possible to influence the demand for your product by increasing the cost and halting your marketing campaigns if you're short of inventory. This is an excellent method to keep your inventory levels as it can help improve your IPI score.

It's better to lower your sales even if it only can affect your rankings rather than run out of stocks. Once you've got a good amount of stock available in FBA then you can start the normal pricing and marketing campaigns.

6. Make use of software for managing inventory

A reliable inventory management system can put you ahead of competitors that do not have one.

Inventory Manager is a sophisticated demand forecasting software designed to accurately estimate your inventory requirements to support the Amazon FBA business. The tool can forecast future sales based upon demand. This can help you decide the quantity of inventory you need to purchase to avoid stockouts and overstocking.