Customers are more health-conscious than ever before, and health food stores are facing a lot of opportunity, as well as a lot of competition. Health stores have been experiencing a surge in popularity, which is beneficial to these retailers, as long as they have the tools in place to handle the increased foot traffic, as well as the challenges that come with more business and competition.
As competition rises and margins get tighter, optimizing inventory is becoming top-of-mind for health food retailers. The technology used to run your operations will be imperative in helping retailers accomplish this goal, and the proper inventory management software is necessary to ensure that your business finds success.
Here’s why health food stores need robust inventory management software:
Quality Control
According to data provided by Nielsen, 64% of Americans state that they are trying to eat healthier, with 60% believing that quality trumps price. The good news is that 55% are willing to back up that statement by paying more for healthier choices. Customers are more health-conscious than they were before, and as such, they think about what they consume much more than you realize.
Because of this, you need to make sure your inventory has the highest levels of quality control. You don’t want any spoilage or damaged goods in your health food store, so it is paramount that you go to extra lengths to ensure your customers get the freshest ingredients.
Inventory management software can help your health food store avoid expired products and prevent loss by tracking when inventory was received, how much was used, and when restocks need to be purchased. You can gain valuable insight into how quickly each different product moves, taking variables into account like seasonal fluctuations. This can help you optimize your inventory for maximum profitability, while also preventing loss and better forecast your inventory needs.
Better Bottom Line
Accuracy within your inventory is imperative so that you can keep your bottom line safe and prevent against loss. Keeping track of inventory in real-time can help you achieve more accuracy. You can stay informed when it comes to lost, expired, or damaged products so that you can understand what the cause was and circumvent that in the future.
With such natural, organic inventory, your bottom line is more sensitive to spoilage than some may realize. Spoilage inevitably means profit loss and to combat that, you must not only track inventory, but move it quickly before it can spoil. That means creating a delicate balance between how much you order, and with what frequency.
Reducing spoilage also has the added benefit of reducing your need for storage space and investment because you can achieve more accurate inventory ordering. Plus, when some of your inventory is moving slower than you’d like, inventory management software can alert you and help you run promotions to move those less-popular items before they expire.
Improved Customer Service
When your employees know where each item in your inventory is, they’ll be able to help more customers at a faster pace and greatly improve the customer experience. Whenever customers have questions about location, price, weight and more, having access to accurate, real-time inventory at your fingertips can make it much easier to answer customer inquiries and point them in the right directions.
Inventory management software keeps your health food store information up-to-date and ensures you have the freshest products. You can leverage historical data to learn more about the kinds of products customers want, and make sure those items are always kept in stock.
Greater Control
With the right technology, you can keep track of your inventory orders and make sure that everything is delivered on time and intact. You’ll have greater control over your inventory orders with suggested product ordering. You can easily manage all of your vendors in one place and track fulfillment.
Retailers get the benefit of both historical data and real-time insight, so you can better understand things like profitability, rate of spoilage, quality issues, and more. You can easily keep up with consumer trends and improve order accuracy with automated purchasing. Armed with this data, you can make better and more profitable purchasing decisions that allow you to achieve more accurate operations and sustainable business growth.
Improving Operations with Inventory Management:
Inventory management software helps health food stores understand what customers want and deliver the fresh products they crave. By implementing this software, you can better serve your customers and improve your overall operations.
Auto-Star offers a range of cutting-edge inventory management solutions for health food stores that help retailers build better relationships with customers, grow their profits, and have a more organized, productive operation overall. For more information on the solutions available and how we can help with your health food store’s operations, contact us today.
