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Business Math17th EditionMary Hansen 3,644 solutions Business Math17th EditionMary Hansen 3,644 solutions Accounting: What the Numbers Mean9th EditionDaniel F Viele, David H Marshall, Wayne W McManus 338 solutions What is inventory visibility?Inventory visibility refers to the ability to view and track inventory in real time, and gain insights into exactly how many units of each SKU are in stock at each location, and where it’s stored within a warehouse or fulfillment center. Why does ecommerce inventory visibility matter?For an ecommerce business to scale, it’s crucial to have visibility into inventory levels at all times, along with the ability to gain insights into how to better manage inventory to meet customer expectations. Having full inventory visibility enables you to prepare for the unexpected and provides you with the data and analytics you need to make better business decisions, such as how to efficiently allocate inventory across your distribution network to reduce shipping costs and speed up transit times. When online retailers have the tools they need to manage, view, and optimize inventory levels in real time, they are able to act quickly to ensure demand is met. 8 benefits of increasing inventory visibility throughout your supply chainIncreasing inventory visibility can significantly improve your supply chain velocity, increase efficiency, meet customer demand, and more. Here are some of the biggest benefits of increasing inventory visibility throughout your supply chain. 1. Increase overall efficiencyWhen you have oversight of your ecommerce inventory across multiple channels, you can leverage valuable historic and current inventory data to improve internal processes and boost supply chain efficiency. If you lease and manage a warehouse, you can implement inventory apps and other types of tools to help you track inventory and increase visibility, which can eliminate the need to do manual inventory audits. Or, you can partner with a tech-enabled 3PL company that offers the visibility and data you need to run an efficient and lean supply chain at a fraction of the cost. 2. Maintain healthy inventory levelsPart of inventory management is figuring out how much inventory you should have on hand, at each location, at all times. Increased inventory visibility helps you maintain healthy inventory levels across all channels. With so many locations, and not to mention the transportation and movement of inventory, it can be hard to know the exact quantities of each product, and where it’s all currently stored. If you can’t account for each product, you risk not getting orders delivered on time, lost inventory, and even inaccurate financials. 3. Boost demand forecastingWith more visibility, you have an opportunity to collect historical order data to help you make better inventory decisions around forecasting demand across all channels. Being able to see the time and date of orders, SKU(s) ordered, their destinations, and on which sales channel will help you forecast growth and trend projections on a more granular level (plus, you can look back to see how your forecasts matched up to reality). Through forecasting demand will never be 100% accurate, having visibility gives you greater accuracy, which can also help you improve production lead times and increase operational efficiencies. 4. Improve the customer experienceThe more inventory visibility you have, the easier it is to monitor stock levels across channels and maintain enough inventory to meet customer demand. With improved visibility, you have the ability to:
5. Enhance internal communicationInventory visibility improves overall supply chain management by providing your team with the real-time inventory data they need to make better decisions and take action quickly. With more visibility, your team can communicate more effectively when they’re given full transparency into how much inventory is arriving at or leaving a warehouse at any given period of time. 6. Reduce supply chain costsInefficient inventory storage, poor geographic locations, high shipping costs, and unoptimized labor and operations can add up over time and kill your margins. Having a comprehensive view of inventory on hand across your supply chain ensures that you’re not paying too much in logistics costs or warehousing fees, accumulating dead stock that is unsellable, and/or storing too much inventory in locations where there isn’t as high of demand for your products. 7. Promote real-time inventory visibility dataIt can be hard to know the exact quantities of each product and where it’s all currently stored. And as orders are placed, inventory levels can change in a blink of the eye. By manually managing inventory, you risk not getting orders delivered on time. That’s why having the ability to access real-time inventory data is key. Inventory automation plays a huge role here, and many times, businesses lean on a third-party logistics (3PL) company that provides visibility into real-time tracking and inventory performance. 8. Improve order accuracy rateA lack of inventory visibility can also impact your fulfillment process and order accuracy rate. For instance, if an order is placed with multiple items, customers expect it to be received within the same delivery. But with poor inventory management, you risk the chance of one item from the order being sold out, causing a backorder and/or a split shipment (or shipping multiple items from a single order out separately). With more visibility, you can ensure that you have an optimal amount of stock in every location to full orders accurately and on time (or backups in other locations so customers don’t have to wait). How ShipBob uses inventory visibility software within their supply chainSince inventory ebbs and flows constantly, having the ability to view real-time inventory insights is key to efficiently replenish inventory to meet demand. When an ecommerce business considers partnering with a 3PL like ShipBob, they are often concerned about their ability to maintain inventory visibility and control since the storage and fulfillment process takes place outside their business’s four walls.
ShipBob’s premium fulfillment technology and services are designed to provide the visibility you need to view and track SKU quantities, inventory turnover, days sales in inventory, SKU performance, and much more.
Since ShipBob’s entire network is powered by the same tech stack, if you decide to split inventory across multiple fulfillment centers, you are able to manage and track inventory all in one place. Here is a deeper dive into how ShipBob’s technology works and how it provides full inventory visibility to help you optimize your supply chain. Real-time dashboard updatesShipBob offers real-time insights and a full view into inventory performance by providing access to distribution metrics needed to plan for demand (and replenish inventory accordingly).
Below is an overview of the different data and analytics tools you have full access to through ShipBob’s dashboard. Inventory planningFrom the ShipBob dashboard, you can:
Below showcases the ‘Inventory Summary’ page which visually shows historical inventory levels and how much inventory is remaining at each distribution center: You can check real-time inventory levels at each fulfillment center at any time and set automatic reorder levels, so you are notified when stock is running low. This helps take the guesswork out of the inventory reordering process. This type of insight also gives you the data you need to calculate inventory turnover rate, which measures the amount of times inventory is sold then replaced in a designated time period.
SKU performanceBy viewing the ‘SKU Performance’ page from the ShipBob dashboard, you can look at performance of your product(s) over time by channel sold. In the example below, you will see that during the week of 11/29/2019 to 12/05/2019, a merchant sold 4,167 units of a SKU, which accounts for 7.75% of all items sold by that merchant.
Daily inventory historyEasily access daily inventory history at any point in time. Using ShipBob’s ‘Daily Inventory History’ page, you can search by item, filter by specific lot number, and account for inventory in transit.
Inventory on handFrom the ShipBob dashboard, you get a comprehensive view of inventory on hand in real time. Review your current, available inventory levels by ShipBob fulfillment center, and see if you have any inventory in transit to another location.
Inventory map and distributionShipBob makes it easy to take a data-driven approach to inventory distribution. By aggregating historical order data, you get an analysis of which logistics centers you should stock to best leverage ShipBob’s network of fulfillment centers for the most cost-effective and fast deliveries. You can easily visualize where your customers are, and compare your current and ideal distribution to optimize product allocation. With this type of visibility, you get get answers to questions like:
Benefits of a tech-enabled 3PL for your inventory managementInventory visibility has the power to enhance your entire supply chain, which leads to higher profit margins, better inventory forecasting, and ultimately a higher customer satisfaction rate. That’s why many fast-growing ecommerce businesses partner with ShipBob, a tech-enabled 3PL that offers a global fulfillment network, premium technology, inventory management tools, and full visibility into your inventory. When you outsource fulfillment to ShipBob, you get full visibility and transparency into the entire fulfillment process, which allows you to maintain control, track inventory and orders at all times, and get access to advanced data and analytics to make better business decisions.
With ShipBob, you can expand and scale your business with ease, and optimize your logistics operations efficiently. Inventory visibility FAQsHere are answers to the most commonly asked questions related to inventory visibility. How do you increase inventory visibility?Investing in inventory tools such as an inventory management system or other types inventory apps is a great way to increase inventory visibility. These tools are designed to help you keep track of inventory across your supply chain in an automated way, from one single dashboard. This way, you can see real-time inventory numbers at a glance and get insights on how better manage your inventory to meet demand across your distribution network. What is a supply chain inventory visibility system?A supply chain inventory visibility system (SCIV) is often used by enterprise businesses to track inventory across a global distribution network. A SCIV system also has the ability to set reorder notification alerts, view order status, and more. Many 3PLs like ShipBob offer built-in inventory management tools that provide the same level of visibility into inventory levels. How do you monitor inventory levels?Monitoring inventory levels is a tedious process if you still use card systems, Excel sheets, or physical ledgers or paper. But by implementing an inventory tracking systems, you can monitor inventory levels in real time from a single dashboard. Inventory tracking systems enable you to make better decisions on where to allocate inventory, when to reorder, and where to store to meet demand. How does ShipBob implement full inventory visibility?ShipBob offers real-time inventory visibility with a built-in inventory management system and analytics tools. ShipBob’s entire international fulfillment network is powered by proprietary technology, which allows you to view inventory levels from different locations all from one single dashboard. With ShipBob, you can track inventory levels of each SKU in each location in real time for better inventory control across your sales channels. Why is it important in supply chain management for suppliers to have visibility into a company's forecast in sales data?Supply chain visibility allows companies to keep track of inventory and activity as goods or products transit. It allows shippers to improve customer service and control costs by managing inventory in motion, providing proactive status updates, reducing disruptions, and minimizing risk.
Why is it important in supply chain management for suppliers to have visibility into a company's?Supply chain visibility is the ability to track different goods and/or products in transit, giving a clear view of the inventory and activity. It enables shippers to improve customer service and cost controls through management of inventory in motion, proactive status updates, limiting disruptions and risk mitigation.
What is information visibility in supply chain?Information visibility within the supply chain is the process of sharing critical data required to manage the flow of products, services, and information in real time between suppliers and customers.
How do you ensure supply chain visibility?Increasing Supply Chain Visibility. Start with the experience. ... . Select a platform for connectivity. ... . Attract the right talent. ... . Manage and standardize data. ... . Trust the information. ... . Interpret and leverage figures. ... . Drive efficient decision-making. ... . Focus on real-time transparency.. |