When running a retail store, the stockroom of your business is just as important as the store layout. You may spend tons of hours and resources designing the perfect storefront and layout, but the results will never be optimal without good stockroom organisation.
A well-managed, organised stockroom helps to improve your store’s efficiency in serving the customers. It also reduces the risks of stockouts, overstocking, and theft – saving you from monetary loss.
If you’re on board with that, follow these practices to organise your retail stockroom for success.
If your stockroom has high ceilings, bring in tall shelving racks to use the available space. Consider investing in well-built stools and ladders to make navigating the shelves easier. Otherwise, rearrange the layout to align with your workflow.
For example, you can move everything that’s not inventory to the back to make restocking more efficient and place popular items near the front for easier access. The idea is to free as much floor space as possible for your staff’s mobility.
Once you figure out the best stockroom layout for your workflow, it’s time to plan out how to use it. Document all the processes in the stockroom and break down the steps to complete each. Those processes include but aren’t limited to inventory audits, store restocking, quality assurance, packaging organisation, and delivery management.
The guidelines ensure your team’s workflow is always optimal. You also cut down the time needed to onboard new employees.
Put the guidelines you just made into good use! Having one person responsible for at least one stockroom duty ensures the guidelines are followed thoroughly for optimal efficiency. It’s also a great idea to set key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success rate of each process and hold your team members accountable.
Your team members will carry out the stockroom processes daily, so you’d want them to have a sense of ownership over the stockroom. Set a day aside to plan all the improvements for the stockroom’s layout and processes with your team. Take their suggestions into account and ensure everyone is on board with the new stockroom organisation system.
Keeping the storage space clean and tidy at all times contributes to improving your workflow’s efficiency and your team members’ morale. It also helps to prevent accidents and pest infestation, dissuading future employees and potential customers from trusting your brand.
Create a daily cleaning checklist to follow daily and deep clean your stockroom every few months. Perform an audit at least once a month to ensure the guidelines are followed properly
The larger your inventory, the harder it will be to keep track of all the items. Make your life easier by investing in good retail inventory software.
Advstock has just the thing you need to take your retail stockroom system to another level. Firstly, our self-service small business stocktaking app is easy to use and cost-effective, allowing you to do it as frequently as needed. Not only that but Advstock’s stock and inventory app can also capture data in real-time, giving you better insights into your inventory.
The best part is that we release our small business stocktaking app in different versions. If you’re running a grocery store, try using our stocktaking apps for convenience stores. Restaurant owners can leverage our stocktaking apps for food and beverage to avoi
spoilage. We also offer stocktaking apps for pharmacies and stocktaking apps for bars and clubs to support businesses in the pharmaceutical and entertainment industry.
Get in touch with us to know more about Advstock’s stocktake and inventory management solution!