If your business is looking for proven ways to practice better inventory control, these ten best practices are the perfect way to get started. From reconsidering your inventory management system to crafting a realistic standard operating procedure, these tips and tricks can help companies of every size meet customer demand without burning cash on unnecessary inventory.
1. Upgrade your inventory management system
If your current inventory management strategy isn’t helping you save time, money, and stress, then it’s probably time to consider implementing a new inventory system.
There are three types of inventory management systems: pen-and-paper inventory lists, spreadsheets, and inventory management software or apps.
Typically, a business looking to improve inventory control needs to upgrade and modernize how it manages inventory, which means tracking inventory on a sheet of paper or a shared document has already proven inadequate. While a spreadsheet might seem like the next natural progression, spreadsheets can be difficult to read, error-prone, and cannot offer key automation features that reduce the everyday stresses of inventory management.
The right inventory app offers simple yet powerful features like in-app barcode and QR code scanning; customized inventory reports; the ability to sort inventory by category, location, or any other detail; low stock alerts; and detail-rich item histories. These features automate tedious inventory processes and save your business time and money while helping your team better understand what it has in stock, where it is, and how much it needs. This, in turn, leads to more intelligent and accurate ordering, which is the cornerstone of any solid inventory control strategy.
This easy, comprehensive guide will help you:
Free Ebook: Getting Started With Inventory Tracking
2. Reconsider your inventory management strategy
If your business physically counts inventory every time it needs to know what’s on hand, consider implementing a perpetual inventory management strategy instead. When a business keeps perpetual inventory, its inventory records are updated in real time. Every time one of your employees or colleagues references the company’s inventory list, all details will be accurate.
Practicing perpetual inventory doesn’t have to be difficult or time-consuming. With the help of an in-app barcode and QR code scanner, users can check items in and out, move items from one folder to another, or update item details in the blink of an eye—and from anywhere, at any time.
3. Use reports to make data-informed decisions
Make this year the year when your team really leans on data-rich reports to make intelligent choices about inventory control. With the help of inventory software, easy-to-run, easy-to-customize reports can provide crucial details about your inventory all in one place, even if it’s spread out across multiple locations.
Whether you want to understand asset condition and depreciation better, want to value how much cash is tied up in inventory sitting in a specific warehouse, or review how much of a certain item your business has stocked in the past, the best inventory management software provides these insights whenever you need them.
Related: About Sortly reporting capabilities
4. Improve your demand forecasting
Another significant benefit of data-rich inventory records is the ability to correctly forecast demand. While there are various ways to predict how much inventory your business will need in the future, all demand forecasting methodologies have one thing in common: they lean on excellent data.
Once your business maintains accurate, perpetual inventory records on software that enables advanced reporting, figuring out exactly what inventory you need and when will be much simpler.
5. Create an SOP your team can stick with
In 2025, commit to carving out a standard operating procedure for inventory management that your team can adhere to all year long. Instead of focusing on creating the perfect system, develop one that truly reflects the resources and time your team has.
While striving for perfect inventory control is a great goal, your team is almost sure to fall short of that. Set realistic expectations for reducing cash burn, inventory obsolescence, and inventory shrinkage, then aim to meet those goals by setting clear policies for organizing, reordering, and managing inventory across every location.
6. Work with suppliers to save time, money, and stress
If your business stocks large quantities of inventory, then chances are your team spends quite a bit of time managing vendors, orders, and deliveries. In 2025, see if there are ways to make these relationships stronger, more streamlined, and less costly.
Start by identifying the vendors with which your business spends the most cash and places the most frequent orders. Determine if these relationships are still helping your company achieve its inventory control–related goals. Talk to your team about whether:
- Communication with the vendor is easy
- Orders are processed swiftly
- Stockouts are few and far between
- Deliveries are made promptly—and orders arrive complete and in excellent condition
- Minimum order quantities do not force your business to overorder inventory
If your employees highlight any frustrations or challenges, sit down and gather details. Talk to your suppliers about these concerns, and work together to remedy them. Often, a vendor can solve some of these problems simply by giving your account—and its outgoing orders—a bit more attention. Other times, you may need to search for other suppliers that better meet your business’s needs.
7. Create a backup plan for supply chain woes
As you evaluate your supplier relationships from previous years, you’ll also want to chat with these vendors about their predictions for demand in 2025. Since your vendors are one step closer to the top of your supply chain, they may have insights about stockouts, shortages, and other manufacturing or transportation concerns that could affect your business’s ability to meet customer demand.
Even if your suppliers have no concerns about fulfilling your orders over the next calendar year, identify a backup plan for product shortages. Whether onboarding backup vendors now in case of problems later or asking trusted vendors to “hold” essential inventory for your business at their warehouses until you have the storage space, there are various ways to prepare for supply chain problems.
Not sure where to begin? Start by categorizing your inventory using ABC classification. Your most profitable, most important inventory should receive the bulk of your focus during all your efforts—including during emergency planning.
8. Tackle inventory-related cash burn head-on
There are various ways poor inventory management threatens your business’s profits. Some of the most obvious culprits are inventory obsolescence and shrinkage. Whether your business needs to forecast demand for expiring inventory better or improve how it physically secures high-value inventory, one thing is clear: when inventory “disappears” or becomes “unusable,” your organization’s profits will take a hit.
From investing in locked inventory cages to introducing asset tags, look into implementing both short-term and long-term strategies to combat waste. The easiest place to begin? Ending overordering. Simply by placing more accurate inventory orders, your business can reduce cash burn on accounts payable, storage space, and inventory management costs.
9. Ensure all employees are prepared to practice inventory control
As you put the finishing touches on your business’s 2025 inventory control strategy, you’ll want to ensure that your employees understand—and know how to implement—the new inventory system. Schedule trainings and retrainings, and ensure every employee can access all standard operating procedures. You may need to tailor certain aspects of SOPs for specific locations.
To make these efforts painless, consider using an inventory app designed for all sorts of employees, not just tech-savvy ones. Sortly, for example, was engineered to be intuitive, flexible, and customizable. Anybody who knows how to use a smartphone can get the hang of Sortly in a few minutes—but webinars, live customer support, and tons of helpful resources are readily available, too.
10. Keep refining your inventory control strategy all year long
While your plan to optimize inventory control in 2025 may seem rock solid on January 1, remember that even the best strategies require adjustments from time to time. Whether weekly, monthly, or quarterly, ensure that your team keeps an eye on your business’s inventory database. Take notice of what’s working and what’s not. Talk to employees across all your locations about how things are going and whether procedures are helping or hindering efforts.
Use this feedback—plus insights from your inventory management software—to update your inventory control strategy accordingly.
About Sortly
Sortly is an inventory management solution that helps you track, manage, and organize your inventory from any device, in any location. We’re an easy-to-use inventory software that’s perfect for large or small companies. Sortly builds inventory tracking seamlessly into your workday so you can save time and money, satisfy your customers, and help your projects succeed.
With Sortly, you can track inventory, supplies, parts, tools, assets, and anything else that matters to your business. It comes equipped with smart features like barcoding & QR coding, low stock alerts, customizable folders, data-rich reporting, and much more. Best of all, you can update inventory right from your smartphone, whether you’re on the job, in the warehouse, or on the go.
Whether you’re just getting started with inventory management or you’re an expert looking for a more efficient solution, we can transform how your company manages inventory—so you can focus on your business. That’s why over 15,000 businesses globally trust us as their inventory management solution.
Start your two-week free trial of Sortly today.
