Even though your stockroom isn’t the most eye-catching component of your store, it serves a very important function.
Your store’s stockroom is like the nerve center of the business. It will serve as the site of your administrative offices, the point at which your employees will first become acquainted with the novel stock, and the repository for any surplus items.
If you keep track of your inventory properly, it can help you run a more efficient business. But what if it’s handled poorly? The disarray in your store’s stockroom may seep out onto the ground.
The good news is that you can adopt numerous stockroom organizing techniques to get your stockroom ready for success and maintain its functioning at optimal efficiency.
How? Read on.
- Maximize your vertical space
- Put the best-selling items near the front
- Keep heavy items on or near the floor and light items off
- Use software to manage your stock
- Spend money on good storage units
- Come up with a plan (and label it)
- Set the temperature in the stockroom
- Provide excellent lighting
- Don’t let people into the stockroom
- Put all the tools you’ll need on the back and label them
- Set up an open area for shipping and receiving
- FAQs
- Conclusion
1. Maximize your vertical space
Don’t just think about the space on your floor. Most stockrooms have ceilings that are pretty high, so build up. The more things you can put on higher shelves or racks, the more space you will have on the floor for workers to move around, which is always a good thing. Buy a few safe stools and ladders to make it easy to reach the shelves up high.
2. Put the best-selling items near the front
Place your most popular items near the front of your stockroom so your floor staff can quickly grab them and get back to work. Even though your employees will likely learn the stockroom like the back of their hands, going back there still wastes time and could lead to lost sales.
3. Keep heavy items on or near the floor and light items off.
As a safety tip, store your heaviest items as close as you can to the floor. This will keep things from falling over, and it will also make it less likely that someone will get hurt as your staff moves things around.
On the other hand, lighter items should be kept off the floor to prevent clutter and trips. Retail Mavens’ Cathy Donovan Wagner said that you should keep clothes off the floor in particular. Once, she “found a dead mouse in a pile marked “return to vendor.”
4. Use software to manage your stock
Inventory management software is the perfect tool to help you keep your stockroom running at its best. For example, a good stock control solution will help you accurately predict how much merchandise you will need and when you’ll need it shipped in. This will help make sure your stockroom never gets too full and your floor never gets too empty.
Using software to manage your inventory will also make it easy to do regular stock counts. Kyle Baptist, the owner of Marconi’s Beach Outfitters, says that regular stock counts with a good inventory system “save time at the end of the season because you don’t have to do an entire count.”
5. Spend money on good storage units
When setting up a stockroom, there are many different types of storage units that can be used. Shelves, racks, drawers, containers, cabinets, and so on. The exact type(s) that will work for you will depend on what you’re selling, but it’s best to start out by buying mobile storage units.
With storage that can move around, you can make the most of the space in your stockroom between the walls.
6. Come up with a plan (and label it)
Setting up a system for where things go is essential in making a stockroom work. You can divide your products by department, color, size, or style, but choose one way and stick with it.
For example, a store selling women’s clothes could divide the stockroom by petite and misses sizes. Then, knits and denim, which need to be folded, dresses, blouses, and pants can be put into different groups (which need to be hung).
Stick to your system and label everything, especially if you have a big stock room.
7. Set the temperature in the stockroom
Controlling the temperature and humidity in your stockroom is important because it helps keep all of your products in great shape. But it’s also very important because your workers will be there for a long time.
During the summer, a broken air conditioner can make employees miserable, which can keep them from being their best selves on the sales floor.
8. Provide excellent lighting
It’s easy to forget about how your stockroom is lit. After all, people aren’t going to go back. But it’s important for more than one reason to have a well-lit stockroom.
Your staff needs to be able to work in good light. Good lighting will make them feel safer and will also help them stay awake. Remember that inventory work can be hard, and you don’t need melatonin to help you fall asleep in the stockroom if the lights are dim.
When the back is well-lit, it is harder to lose things. When there isn’t enough light, it’s easy for things to fall into cracks and crevices and never be seen again.
9. Don’t let people into the stockroom.
You’d think that customers wouldn’t want to go into the stockroom, right? But you’d be surprised at how many shoppers would wander into the area, which is something you should try to avoid as much as possible.
Stockrooms can be dangerous, and if a customer gets hurt back there, you could be sued for all kinds of things. It also leaves you vulnerable to losing your stock or the belongings of your employees. Keep them out if you can. Also, nobody wants to see how sausages are made.
10. Put all the tools you’ll need on the back and label them.
There will be a lot going on in the back. Unboxing, reboxing, folding, printing, retagging, etc.
You need to make sure that all the tools you need, like box cutters, tagging guns, staplers, and hole punchers, are in the back. Wagner also suggests “clearly all office supplies that are used in the back room so that it is clear that they should be returned there if they are found somewhere else in the store.”
11. Set up an open area for shipping and receiving
Your store needs a place to get shipments and unbox them, and the stockroom is the best place for that. Set up a desk near the door at a comfortable height for folding, and set aside a large, clear area where boxes can be put and stock can be taken out easily.
The more crowded your shipping and receiving area is, the harder it will be for your stock employees to do their jobs, so give them as much space as you can. One way to make the most of this space is to use mobile, collapsible baker racks that can be set up when you need more storage space and taken down when you don’t.
FAQs-
1. How do you organize a retail stockroom?
Retailers need to determine how they want their stockroom organized in order to better manage their inventory and allocate the necessary resources. There are a number of different methods that can be used, but some common ones include using trays, shelves, or bins to store items, creating nooks and crannies for storage, or using a system where customers can pick up products at any time.
2. How do stores organize their stock?
Stores often organize their stock in different ways, depending on the store’s specific needs and preferences. This article will discuss how stores typically organize their stock and what benefits this can offer.
3. How to make sure that the stock room is clean and has everything it needs?
There are a few things that you can do in order to ensure that the stock room is in order and fully stocked:
1. Make sure all the stock is placed according to the stocking order.
2. Make sure that all of the shelves are stocked with the correct variety of items.
3. Make sure there is enough space for customers to walk around and purchase products.
4. How do I prepare for stocks?
Acquire and hold stocks until you are ready to sell them. Stay disciplined with your money, and don’t overreact to market fluctuations.
5. How do you manage a storeroom
When it comes to managing a storeroom, one of the most important factors is ensuring that it is clean and organized. This will help you to save space and make your life easier. Additionally, having a well-organized storeroom can help you to improve your business efficiency.
Conclusion
You can ensure that your stockroom runs smoothly and efficiently by establishing an ordered foundation and putting in place a few important policies. This will prevent it from degenerating into a chaotic black hole that you try to avoid thinking about.
A strong retail and inventory management system, such as SWIL, can help you keep track of the items in your stockroom.
SWIL’s solution can help you manage your stock with ease, keeping your portfolio in check. By using SWIL, you can easily track stock prices, and make informed decisions about when to buy and sell stocks.
