Have you ever walked into your stockroom and struggled to find the items you are looking for? Retailers with physical stores rely on their stockrooms, if these are mismanaged it can lead to long customer waiting times and reduced sales. Your stockroom is a critical part of your physical location and it requires the same care and attention as the rest of your business.
The stockroom is your main hub of activity, usually management offices will be located here and where deliveries and shipments will be received, it is the place where your staff discover their inventory and where additional stock is stored. A well-managed stockroom will help you run your business effectively, if it is not, it can be the first place where chaos is unleashed!
We have some tips for you to keep the chaos under control, ensuring your stockroom is effectively managed, especially throughout your peak times:
Make the best use of your vertical space.
Do not just limit yourself to your floor space. A stockroom typically has a fairly high ceiling, so think about building up to create valuable storage space. A mezzanine floor or increasing your shelving is an ideal solution. Freeing up floor space gives staff more room to work in, purchase ladders and safe steps for ease when staff need to navigate stock on higher levels. You will see significant improvements in your storeroom management if you have the ability to go up!
Use the right storage units.
There are various types of storage units available to maximise your storage space within your stockroom. Depending on your stock you may need shelving, racking, bins, drawers, cabinets and more. If you stock mainly smaller items then we would recommend adjustable shelving, this solution allows you to reconfigure shelving levels to optimise available space and also use dividers to allocate smaller items.
If budget allows then a mobile shelving option should be used from day one, mobile shelving allows you to maximise space and keep your stockroom in order. Increasing capacity by up to 50%
Popular items should be placed near the front.
This may sound obvious but we have come across cases where this has not been the case, by placing popular items at the front it will ease the pressure on staff during peak times, allowing them to pick the product and get back to the floor quicker and more efficiently. your staff will learn to know your stockroom like the back of their hand but it is important to keep a theme with popular products. The same goes for prioritising new items, make sure you create a space entirely for new products that you know will sell fast.
Labelling & Signage.
A well labelled stockroom will literally save your business! Make sure you label and categorise products by their key characteristics, label shelving bays as well as each shelving level. Make sure you also use clear signage and message boards to help staff recognise where products are stored and directions to specific product areas.
Make use of inventory management software.
To keep your storeroom running as efficiently as possible the use of Inventory management software is the answer. A good stock control system will help you to accurately predict how much stock you will need to ship in and when – this helps to guaranteed that your stockroom never becomes over or under stocked at any point.
Right now is a great time to look at your stockroom and make the necessary changes to improve how it works for you. A tidy and well organised can be a real game changer for your business.
