Business inventory is an economic figure and its management is the most integral part of any business. Business inventories track down the dollar amount of inventories held by retailers, manufacturers or wholesalers.

Small Business inventory gives the precise data on current stock levels, inbound stock and connects the sales and cost of goods sold by an organization.

How do small businesses manage inventory?

Management of inventories and orders is an important part of every business and needs serious attention. If not, it results in lost orders or delayed orders, thus making a customer dissatisfied and thus leaving a business.

Below are mentioned the way for small business inventory management:

1. Get to know the differences between product types

This can be divided into four main groups:

• Item-Simple product delivered to the warehouse. No packaging or assembling is involved and is ready to be delivered to the customer.
• Assembly-An item which is to be assembled by using smaller item parts in the warehouse. We can take an example of an automobile which is assembled in a warehouse before selling it out to the client.
• Family-Group of identical items. Take an example of the clothing industry where one single shirt comes in three different sizes i.e. large, small and extra-small, kept in a warehouse for sale.
• Case-pack-Bundle of an item packed together to make one. A good example is that a company delivers a pack of 20 pairs of shoes to a wholesaler to be further sold individually.

2. Mention SKU numbers, barcodes, and product features

SKU of a product is important, and it helps in tracking it down in less time and without any panic. SKU also differentiates the product of one seller from the competitor selling the same thing.

A Small business should do its product specification. It should include the following:

• Product name
• SKU and UPC numbers
• Descriptions (color, size, dimensions)

3. Track your target customers

A business shall know which customer is buying the product and how many are repeat customers. Tracking of peak selling and low sales months.

4. Make a system for the processing and fulfilling the orders

It is very important as a number of orders generate the profits for a business. Following points should be considered to chase the orders on time:

• Make a sales order in the accounts books.
• Check inventory for the availability of a certain product.
• If inventory is available, ship it to the customer and calculate the shipment cost.
• Charge the payments.
• Change the sale order into an invoice and apply for the payment and close the transaction.

5. Monthly audits

This is to keep records and check.

How is MS Excel useful in preparing small business inventories?

In today’s technological world MS Excel is widely used by the businesses to keep track of their inventories. Inventory management is one of the most used functions of MS Excel. Using this tool saves the money and time of any business. MS Excel is more popular in small-sized companies where inventory consists of few items.

Excel is a convenient option for small businesses to keep a record of:

• Sales & Purchases
• Orders and deliveries to customers
• Data keeping

Excel is built up with various formulas to keep a record and maintain daily business activities.

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