Is shrinkage a big problem for supermarkets

Eliminate the shrinkage problem in supermarkets with five effective strategies

 

One of the best practices for inventory management in supermarkets is physically counting your inventory. Now, imagine on one fine day, you start counting your inventory, and you find that the physical records do not match the digital records. The reasons can be any:

• An administrative error occurred when the employee made a mistake in point of sale, ticketing, or accounting of the product sold.
• One of the food products expires without being sold or goes bad, resulting in an operational loss.
• A customer steals a product by hiding it, changing the price tag, or any other way.
• A vendor shorts an invoice or steals a product while unloading the inventory.
• A customer returns the product after using it or returns a product bought from counterfeit money to enjoy the refund money.
• An employee engages in theft by stealing cash, ignoring scanning of all items, showing fake returns, issuing deceitful gift cards, or stealing merchandise.

All these reasons can lead to significant losses for supermarkets. Therefore, supermarket managers and owners must employ effective strategies to save their stores from shrinkage losses.

 

Implement an ERP software

An ERP software that keeps an account of all the inventory in your warehouse and store can solve your shrinkage problem. It tracks the location and status of the stock from the point you receive it from the supplier to delivery to the customer. You can reduce your manual handling of merchandise, and thus, get more accurate records.

Websys Infotech can help you with the best ERP software that manages inventory effortlessly. It is easy to learn and use and is a perfect fit for any size of supermarket store. We also help you with support services whenever you face any technical glitches or have queries.

 

Physically count your stock

Despite implementing inventory management software, you must employ people to count your inventory. You must have two individuals for this job – one for counting and another for verification; also, change the duties between these two employees every month.

 

Employ measures to combat shoplifting

You can hire security officers to keep an eye on potential shoplifting events. Alternatively, you can implement electronic security systems or cameras across your store to check for any theft. Lay down a shoplifting policy and keep it in a place where every person can read it.

Place the objects in your store so there is enough light, at a height that can be easily reached, or install mirrors. The floor design must be strategic to prevent shoplifting.

 

Offer discounts on products about to get expired

Vegetables, fruits, or packed products with a stated expiry date may be a loss when they go bad. Instead of suffering a loss, you can sell them at a discount. You can use them in the internal kitchen before it expires. Or, you can offer them as free samples to customers.

 

Employ capable employees

Employ the right set of employees who understand their job well and do it honestly. They must focus on their work at the point of sale, ticketing or while receiving goods from vendors, where most errors occur.

The same intelligence must be displayed while checking the condition of customers’ returned goods. Thus, POS, floor, and warehouse employees must have the knowledge and expertise in all these areas and be trained well to avoid inventory shrinkage.

Inventory shrinkages are part and parcel of a supermarket. You cannot just accept this and wait to see how much you lose in shrinkage every year. Instead, apply the solutions or tricks mentioned above to minimize shrinkage losses.

Let Websys’ ERP software manage your inventory for effective results.

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admin August 24, 2022 0 Comments

Demand planning with ERP software

Demand forecasting and planning with the help of ERP software

Demand, when accurately forecasted, results in customer satisfaction and no additional inventory costs for retailers. This is an ideal situation, challenging to achieve but not impossible. You can attain the right balance between inventory stock and customer demand with ERP software.

An effective ERP software helps you with demand planning and forecasting. It aids in predicting stock requirements of your products and services to purchase from vendors accordingly. It analyzes customer purchasing habits and historical purchases to understand customer demand.

The key variables or factors to consider while forecasting and planning demand are:

 

Historical sales numbers

Tracking historical month-to-month sales gives you an approximate idea of this year’s monthly sales. You must provide a small percentage increase on the previous year’s numbers for the annual targets. Generally, consider two to five years of historical numbers to make predictions.

You can stock up your inventory based on these historical monthly figures. Communicate the demand for products to your suppliers accordingly for the following months.

 

Seasonality

You must add the difference that seasons bring to sales of some products. For example, woollen clothes and jackets’ sales are higher during winters. The demand for school bags and stationery items is higher just before schools reopen.

It’s not only about the seasons but also any other trend that affects sales of specific products. For example, when there are online sales by eCommerce firms, the sales of brick-and-mortar shops go down. Consider these factors in your demand forecasts.

Based on the seasonality, you can stock your inventory levels just before the season or festival. And once the season ends, either you sell it at a discount or send it back to the warehouse.

 

Business-specific rules

You must consider the business rules or limitations affecting your demand planning. These limitations may relate to:

• Warehouse space
• Arrangement of products on different shelves in different stores
• Promotional offers or tactics
• Inventory levels where the next order is placed to reduce freight charges
• Grouping of products into segments for demand planning

 

Suppliers’ logic

Suppliers and vendors in your industry of operations will have enough knowledge about the change in demand for products. They have insights on the availability of products, customers’ response to newly-introduced items, demand during specific times, etc.

Use your vendors’ expertise in the industry by considering their advice or recommendations on product demand and supply trends.

 

External factors

Other external factors can also affect the demand forecasts. For example, the country’s economic situation may be deteriorating, reducing the overall demand in the market. Alternatively, the production of raw materials is sluggish, or imports are not occurring because of some border issues.

Many external factors not under your control can affect customers’ demand or supply of products. Factor in these external influences while forecasting demand.

 

How can Websys Infotech help you?

These are the key variables that affect the customers’ demands. You must factor in these variables while planning demand and ordering stocks. An apt ERP software can help you with accurate demand forecasting and planning so that your customers are satisfied with their visit to your store.

Websys Infotech’s ERP software is one such solution for your accurate, on-time demand planning needs. Our ERP solution makes accurate forecasts that you can depend on for placing orders to your suppliers. Accurate demand forecasts help with better cash flow management.

With our ERP software, your money is not stuck in additional inventory that is not getting sold. Also, you do not face missing sale opportunities because of no item on your shelf. This ERP software enhances supply chain scheduling with no emergency runs or last-minute purchases, leading to efficient processes.

Make your demand forecasts accurate and on time,
With Websys’ ERP software.

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admin August 24, 2022 0 Comments

Cost components of ERP software

ERP software: A guide on the cost components

Planning to get an ERP system implemented in your organization? Yes, you are on the right path because it will improve your business productivity. But, understand the main components of ERP cost better to plan, manage, and execute the ERP implementation.

 

ERP software pricing variables

The key variables that make up an ERP software’s price are:

Number of users

As the number of users increases, the cost of ERP software increases. So, the first point to decide is the number of users of this ERP system. Also, ask for the rise in price per user when you will add new users in the future. It will increase the total ERP software cost, as the vendor will add costs for every new user.

 

Customizations and modules

ERP software has various modules – human resources, customer relationship, inventory, eCommerce, analytics, finance and accounting, supply chain, marketing, etc. These modules improve your business functionality. What modules you wish to add to your ERP software depends on your business needs.

These customizations and add-ons are not cheap. The best bet is to find an ERP system whose basic version satisfies your business needs, so you need to spend less on customizations. You must find a vendor that offers integration services for additional modules.

 

Types of third-party support

The additional help and support you take from a third-party vendor for ERP software implementation also add to the cost. Some offer just implementation help with no training and post-implementation support services. Other vendors provide a whole consulting experience with the right strategy and all support.

If you do not have technical experts in your team, you will need a consultant with comprehensive support. If you have technical expertise but just need the system, an implementation partner will solve your problem.

 

On-premise or cloud-based

Vendors’ first question when you inquire about ERP software is, “Do you want a cloud solution, on-premise or hybrid?”

You have to pay annual or monthly subscription fees for cloud solutions. In the case of on-premise solutions, the organization is charged a one-time perpetual license fee. In both cases, there are additional charges for training, updates, and support services.

Over some time, the total cost of ownership becomes nearly the same. So, you must choose between high capital expenditure (on-premise) or high operating expenditure (cloud).

 

Training requirements

An important point that many organizations ignore, is training requirements for actual users of the ERP software. You can have online training manuals, classes, and videos. But the effectiveness of on-site training is higher, though expensive.

You can conduct training based on the role of employees and their usage of ERP software. Alternatively, you can do it department-wise to learn specific modules. Whatever the case, the training must address your current and future use of the ERP software for your business requirements.

 

Software upgrades, maintenance, and support

Any software needs updates, upgrades, and maintenance. You must ask for these costs from your vendor before hiring them. Also, add the cost of regular support services required when you face problems using the ERP software.

 

These are cost elements that add up to the total ERP software price. You can create your budget based on this. If you are looking for an competent, affordable ERP software, you can contact Websys.

We are a leading provider of ERP solutions in India that is perfect for your business. Our ERP software is available for your business processes in any industry sector. The system is easy to learn, use, and operate, saving time and money.

Your search for competent ERP software ends at Websys Infotech.

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admin July 14, 2022 0 Comments

How to improve supply chain for supermarkets

Best practices for supply chain management in supermarkets

 

Need for an ERP software for managing supply chains

Managing the supply chain is difficult because you face new uncertainties and challenges daily. Specifically in the case of supermarkets, where demand changes rapidly. You need to be aware of products popular among customers, vendors with the best product quality and price, available shelf space, and other expenses.

With all these factors in mind, you must address your customers’ demands effectively and on time. The best solution to manage these needs is a supply chain management (SCM) software or SCM module in an ERP software. Such a solution tracks demand and inventory stock changes, alerts retailers when inventory reaches a pre-defined limit, and generates more insights.

Websys’ ERP software’s affordability and effectiveness make it the best solution for managing your supply chain. Websys’ ERP has a state-of-the-art interface making it easier for users to learn and use the software. It perfectly fits supermarkets and grocery stores’ supply chain management needs. It streamlines your processes and makes them more productive, generating quality results.

Besides implementing ERP software, the following are some of the other best practices to adopt to improve supply chain processes in your organization:

Align your marketing and supply chain teams

Any marketing strategy you implement will affect your demand and supply. So, make plans for the movement of products in supply chains by aligning these two departments. Facilitate collaboration between them to address changes in demand, thereby delaying disruptions or delays. The Websys’ ERP software enables efficient communication between teams to improve further.

 

Know your suppliers well

You must have enough knowledge about your suppliers, such as delivery processes, technologies used, etc. It is good to know from where they are getting their supplies and the potential challenges they can face. This knowledge helps you prepare for any potential risks that may affect your relationship with suppliers.

 

Have appropriate, trained staff in the supply chain team

To ensure your supply chain processes function properly, have adequate employees in your team. The team must have well-trained employees with knowledge of all aspects of the supply chain. Their expertise and experience will help you have a smooth supply chain workflow, resulting in a better customer experience.

 

Keep working on your demand forecasts

If your demand forecasts are wrong, you may have too much stock or too little, leading to waste or unsatisfied customers. That is why focus on preparing your demand forecasts for every slight change in driving factors. Take into account historical sales, seasonality, promotions, and competitors’ strategies to forecast demand. Websys ERP aids you in forecasting.

 

Consider strategic sourcing to focus on TCO

Talk to more expert suppliers to pick their brains on what works and what does not. They know trends in the market, customers’ reactions to specific strategies, and effective supply chain processes. They can help you with tips on warehousing, transportation, operations, etc. Focus on all of these helps reduce your total cost of ownership (TCO).

 

Regularly review your supply chain procedures

You must monitor your supply chain procedures to check their compliance, efficiency, and accuracy. Such monitoring will allow you to reduce the risks of fraud, disruptions, and theft. You can take proactive actions to remove bottlenecks and make your processes more efficient and productive.

 

Manage your returns

Managing items returned by customers is more complicated than the outgoing ones. It affects the inventory count and adds to another category; you need to recalculate it. Your ERP software can help by updating data across teams.

Adopt these best practices in your supermarkets to reduce your business’ operating costs and improve customer services.

Streamline your supply chain
With Websys’ ERP software

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admin July 14, 2022 0 Comments

Inventory management for apparel store

Best practices for inventory management in an apparel store

Effective inventory management is critical for any apparel store’s success. It ensures you are not wasting money on excess stock or you are not disappointing customers with no supplies. Your store has the optimum number of items to address customers’ needs.

 

Yes, achieving this is challenging, but not impossible. You can adopt the following tricks and practices to track your inventory:

Implement a retail POS system

An integrated point-of-sale system can help keep your inventory in check. This system will allow you to enter details of every item purchased from suppliers. You will have attributes such as name, product category, size, color, barcode, etc., for every product item.

Such POS for inventory management must be accessible from any device and location. Thus, you can look at and analyze the inventory status at any time. You can set up an alert when the stock drops below a pre-defined limit. Based on this alert, you can order the next batch of clothing items.

Whenever a sale happens, or an item is returned, the inventory count is updated automatically. You can also study the inventory details to generate insights for understanding what sells more and other data. Thus, a retail POS system keeps your inventory accurate and your display shelves well-organized and full.

You can get such a perfectly fitting retail POS system from Websys Infotech. Their retail management software solutions find audiences in many startups and large enterprises. Their retail POS software is a complete solution serving business needs in different industry sectors.

 

Manual counting is essential

Implementing a retail POS system is vital, but you cannot shy away from manual work. You must do it to ensure everything is in line and no significant discrepancies are occurring in the store. Conduct such manual counting randomly at frequent intervals.

With the POS system in place, this process becomes more manageable. Get the inventory count from your POS system, manually count one product category, and match it with the POS number. This ensures that your POS is accurate and has no excess or missing stock.

 

Organize your merchandise supply process

When you receive stocks from suppliers, check them manually and update them in the system. Suppliers send a list of all the items with details in the shipment. Before arranging the received items in the warehouse, count them manually.

Do this exercise when the truck is unloaded. Physically count the items and match them with the list from the supplier to see if you have received everything in good condition. If there are any defective pieces or missing items, you can notify the supplier for refunds or replacements.

 

Keep your sales floor organized

A best practice for ensuring effective inventory management is keeping your sales floor well-organized. Such an orderly look makes a good impression on potential customers visiting your store. Also, it guarantees that you never lose or misplace any item.

You can organize shelves by brands, sizes, colors, types, or discount-specific. Organize clothes well in a consistent style – either folded or hung. Ensure that you keep the clothes properly under clear labels in the warehouse as well to reduce confusion. Customers feel happy with the neat and clean look, contributing to a better shopping experience.

Thus, adopt these best practices for your apparel store to track the movement of items. It ensures proper functioning of your apparel store, no waste of money, and no missing sale chances. So, make all efforts to manage and handle inventory and keep a stress-free sales floor.

Save yourself from a chaotic clothing shop floor
By adopting Websys’ retail POS system.

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admin July 14, 2022 0 Comments

Improve customer relationships with CRM-enabled POS software for your apparel store

Improve customer relationships with CRM-enabled POS software for your apparel store

The POS system found its initial use only in processing and managing payments. But retail demands and heightened competition have led to advancements in the POS software. The best part is the several integrations possible with the POS software.

And one of the most beneficial integrations for retail businesses is customer relationship management (CRM). Earlier companies manually entered customers’ information and generated reports. CRM-integrated POS systems have automated these processes, resulting in faster, accurate, and reliable work.

 

Specifically for the apparel industry, enticing and retaining customers is a crucial requirement. Let’s look at the ways CRM-enabled POS software helps the apparel stores in improving customer relationships:

Customer profiling

The POS system allows you to create customer profiles in detail. When customers finish their purchasing and make payments, you can create customer profiles. You can add the customer’s name, address, phone number, email id, and other details during this payment transaction.

You know what clothes and accessories they have bought in the current transaction. In their next transaction, you can add the purchasing data to the existing customer profile. Thus, you will have all the customer’s details, purchasing behaviour, and history after a year.

 

Customer targeting

The customer profiles you create through the POS system help you know your customers better. You know about their purchasing history, frequently bought products, money spent on each purchase, purchasing time, etc. This information can form the base of your targeting strategies. For example, you will know that there is a high sale of female ethnic items during the Diwali season.

You can design marketing and promotional activities based on this data. If we take the above example, you can send promotional messages to women customers before Diwali when the new stock arrives. You can also upsell and cross-sell customers based on the data on money spent in a single purchase or items bought in a single purchase.

 

Customer engagement

The customer data also enables you to engage with them regularly to maintain the relationship. You can send them regular messages about events, new stock arrivals, or discounts. You can send them thank-you notes after their purchase.

Another good option is to ask them for feedback on their shopping experience. But it is important to address their concerns stated in the feedback form. Only then do customers feel that their opinions matter and are taken care of.

 

Customer loyalty

Identification of loyal customers is one of the critical benefits of POS software. And this can help you retarget and retain them for a longer time and for more significant transactions.

Based on the customers’ purchasing history, you can categorize them into groups and plan targeting activities:
• Those who are one-time customers and need not be targeted
• Those who have bought a few times, but not so frequently and hence, can be retargeted
• Those who have given the highest sales to you and will keep coming back

For the second group, you need to create robust targeting strategies. Strategies that entice them. Increase their frequency of purchase. Augments the amount of money spent on the purchase.

For the third group, you need to engage with them frequently to show that you value their loyalty towards you. They may not need many promotional offers or discounts, but you must keep offering them deals or coupons.

You can design loyalty programs for these two customer groups, in which they can earn points for every purchase. These points keep on adding, and they can win rewards or use them as cash in the next purchase.

 

Conclusion

Thus, CRM-enabled POS systems help you create customer profiles, target them with personalized campaigns, engage with them, and design loyalty programs. You can avail of such quality POS software from Websys Infotech. Our apparel industry POS system has features of customer grouping and retargeting, CRM tools, loyalty programs, and many other functionalities.

Let Websys ERP improve your relationship with customers for a longer duration.

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admin June 20, 2022 0 Comments

How retail automation leads to better profit margins

How retail automation leads to better profit margins

Yes, technology is the way to growth. The solution for increasing sales. The way to better your profit margins. Specifically for the brick-and-mortar retail stores, which are currently suffering from the impact of eCommerce rise and Covid-19 lockdowns. More automation is the solution, as that can lead to streamlined business processes.

 

Some of the areas of retail operations where you can benefit from automation include:

Bring some real change to the retail store experience

After the Covid-19 pandemic, people are more cautious about entering a retail store. You can change this mindset by adopting practices to make customers feel safe. You can have product scanners and automated self-checkout terminals to facilitate contactless shopping.

These solutions not only give customers the confidence of safe shopping but also make your processes faster. The queue waiting time reduces, so that you can accomplish more sales during the day.

retail strategy is a sure-shot way to attract more customers. This strategy allows you to combine the digital and physical shopping experience. All your customers are happy with the availability of both options, leading to more sales.

 

Automate the basic operations of inventory management, warehouse management, accounting, and marketing

Managing your product stocks, ordering, accounting for transactions, and marketing strategies are crucial for any physical retail store. Automation can help you with all of these.

Managing your product stocks, ordering, accounting for transactions, and marketing strategies are crucial for any physical retail store. Automation can help you with all of these.
You can have in your store:
• Automated purchasing systems
• Stock alerts for replenishment
• Product reporting to identify higher revenue opportunities
• Automation for order fulfilment depending on the location of the customer and product availability
• Automated billing and payment processing
• Automated invoice generation and purchase order payment system
• Customer profiling and segmentation into customer groups
• Automatic activation of marketing campaigns based on customer grouping

These systems and automation make your processes streamlined and more efficient. You can complete tasks faster with more accuracy and hence, more reliability. Thus, you can create better customer experiences with automation, making your customers happy. Also, you generate higher revenues with fewer expenses, generating higher profit margins.

 

Support your customers in every possible, better way

Giving customers the best experience is the way to increase your profit margins. And experience includes providing them full support when they need it for purchase-related queries. Customers also prefer shopping from retail stores where their opinions are heard, complaints addressed, and priorities understood.

You can use automation to update them about new stocks or their orders in process. You can also handle queries or complaints through a 24/7 online chatbot. Track your customers’ journey from start to finish and provide an excellent experience at every touchpoint.

 

Store planning and layout can bring in more customers

You must strategise your store planning and layout on customer data and purchasing behaviour. You can gather customer data and analyse it using the software. You can put sensors on your floor to understand where customers spend most of their time. You can also keep track of their purchasing behaviour, such as frequently bought items, time spent, etc.

Analysing all this will give you an idea of where to put the products on display to attract the most customers. You can keep related and supplementary products near the aisle of products where customers spend most of their time. When introducing new products, keep them near the frequently bought items’ display.

Another way is to deploy product scanners to get more information about the product. Kiosks, self-checkout, and vending machines are also excellent ways to improve customers’ shopping experience.

 

Conclusion

These are some of the effective ways to automate your retail store operations. Automation will lead to reduced costs, higher efficiency, better customer experience, more sales, and fewer chances of human error. So, use an automated system to streamline your business processes and generate more profits.

The first step can be implementing a cloud ERP software from Websys Infotech to reduce your manual work and improve your operational efficiency. Websys’ ERP is a perfect fit solution to make your retail businesses effective and efficient.

Find a complete solution for your retail processes at Websys.

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admin June 20, 2022 0 Comments

4 best practices of inventory management in supermarkets

4 best practices of inventory management in supermarkets

Inventory management is the most challenging part for supermarkets, grocery retail stores, and convenience stores. If gone wrong, it disturbs the entire operations. Moreover, it dissatisfies the customers, leaving a negative impression on them or customers stop coming to the store.

You do not want to be in an out-of-stock situation. Or, you do not even want to overload the inventory, which does not get sold. So, the best solution is to plan it well, considering the nature of the products you sell.

We provide some best practices to adopt to control your inventory movement and manage it well from Day 1.

 

Balance the store space between short shelf-life and long shelf-life products

Do a demand planning to understand the demand for your short and long shelf-life products. Based on this, fill up the store display space dedicated to long shelf-life products. While you know it might be not enough for the next few weeks, you can keep it in the backroom to replenish it immediately.

For the shorter shelf-life products such as vegetables, fruits, bread, curd, etc., allocate enough shelf space so that you can replenish them as and when they get emptied. Additionally, you can manage your own ‘best-before’ or ‘sell-by-date’ filters or labels to keep a tight check on them.

 

Demand forecasting is your actual performance measure

You can feed customers’ data and their shopping behaviour characteristics in the ERP system. The database stores this data and keeps it safe and secure. You can analyse this data further and generate insights.

You can understand changes in customers’ demands and thus order a fresh supply of merchandise accordingly. You can also design your marketing strategies based on customer behaviour and enhance their shopping experience.

 

Managing all business operations

One sector where you need to be excellent is demand forecasting. But, for grocery stores and supermarkets, granular forecasting is essential. This means you need to develop forecasts for months, weeks, and days to factor in all types of product groups.

You must use advanced data analysis techniques to manage it. Factor in the recurring demand patterns because of weekends, holidays, or seasons. Also, consider the external factors, such as weather or local events, on product demands. You must contemplate the effect of internal business decisions and competitive forces to forecast the market demand as accurately as possible.

Such detailed, granular level forecasting enhances the processes of:
• Replenishment
• Capacity management
• Flow of delivery
• Allocation of inventory
• Space planning
• Assortment planning

 

Purchase an ERP system for managing your inventory well

One of the best solutions for efficient inventory management is implementing an ERP system. Software will keep your inventory in check and forecast demand correctly and on time. These two things, if managed well, will satisfy the customers.

You need a system with the following features:
• Stock analytics, real-time stock tracker, and feature of status change to manage the inventory efficiently
• Customer profiling, customer purchase behaviour analysis, and customer follow-up monitoring to improve customer relationships
• A point-of-sale feature for payment enhancement, transaction completion, and sales tracking
• In-built features to design loyalty programs for customers to allocate points and use them in future purchases
• Employee management, marketing strategizing, business insights and analytics, and many other features make your supermarket operations efficient.

And for all these features and functionalities, you need not look elsewhere. Websys’ ERP system for supermarkets and grocery stores is sufficient for your inventory management needs. You enjoy trouble-free operations with reduced costs, increased sales, and happy customers.

With Websys ERP, you automate your operations greatly, thereby reducing your management costs. Your POS functionality improves, and you can enjoy a better accounting system for monitoring the real-time financial situation of the store. And with loyalty programs, discount options, and customer profiling, you can keep your customers happy.

 

The traditional method of store inventory management still works

You will be adopting technology and an ERP system to manage inventory accuracy, timeliness, and reliability. But the traditional method is never outdated. You must schedule daily checks of your store to avoid any display issues.

Also, such monitoring helps to check the physical condition of items on display. If there are damages in the packaging or the item is not in the allocated space, the staff can correct it.

Adopt the above four best practices to manage your inventory in the best way possible.

Keep your sales high and customers happy with Websys’ ERP software.

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admin June 20, 2022 0 Comments

Benefits of ERP software for garment industry

4 benefits of ERP software for the garment industry that you cannot overlook

Short product lifecycles. A continuous change in demand. A new collection every few months. Unplanned markdowns.

All these are features of the apparel or garment industry. The most important requirement to stay ahead of the competition is forecasting demand and sales. You can manage the inventory well and keep customers happy with the correct forecasting.

Another challenge in the garment industry is coordination between various activities and departments, such as selecting fabric, procuring it, cutting, sewing, quality checking, packaging, etc. So, you need a system or software that can address all these challenges effectively. You also need to make your processes faster, smoother, and efficient, thereby making your customers happy.

 

The solution for all these is a reliable ERP system. It is vital to systematically managing all your operations and increasing productivity. Let’s see the benefits of an ERP system for your garment or apparel business:

Inventory tracking

With so many types of merchandise available in an apparel store, you aim to make fewer mistakes. You can achieve this by implementing the ERP software. You can keep a check on your stock availability, operational capability to move stock, and manage shortages and surpluses.

Because of the barcode scanning system, you can keep a close eye on your inventory based on colour, size, styles, etc. The ERP software allows you to manage inventory and make the right decision at crucial times.

 

Generating insights on customers

You can feed customers’ data and their shopping behaviour characteristics in the ERP system. The database stores this data and keeps it safe and secure. You can analyse this data further and generate insights.

You can understand changes in customers’ demands and thus order a fresh supply of merchandise accordingly. You can also design your marketing strategies based on customer behaviour and enhance their shopping experience.

 

Managing all business operations

The ERP software is the centre of your garment store’s operations. You can monitor and manage the working of every department – sales, production, inventory, finance, warehousing, supply chain, human resources, etc. You can get a complete view of each department on the dashboard and access it whenever required.

The integrated platform also allows collaboration between different activities and departments. Everyone can access the system, make data entries, edit them, update them, and take them to the finishing step. So, teams are not required to follow up with each other for data or updates. The ERP software enhances collaboration and communication between different teams to ensure smooth workflows in business.

 

Time management, accuracy, and cost reduction

The appropriate ERP software manages all your business activities in one place, thereby saving your time. With automation of activities, such as data entry, ordering garments, sending emails to customers, etc., you save time and reduce the chances of errors. You can also clearly define the roles and responsibilities as well as accessibility permissions for the ERP system.

With ERP, you work on the concept of lean manufacturing, which minimizes waste and hence, saves money. All your processes run on time leading to cost reduction and precision at the end of each step.

Moreover, you can have a real-time view of all your processes and monitor them remotely to identify loopholes. By their correction, you achieve accuracy and smoother workflows, leading to more productivity.

 

Conclusion

Consider these four benefits and invest in a reliable ERP system that is right for your business needs. We, at Websys Infotech, can solve your operational pain points with our Websys ERP software. We are a top-notch ERP software provider to clients in different industries.

You can group your customers, track inventory, manage relationships with customers, create loyalty programs, streamline the production process, and manage payments through this software. Our ERP software can make your and your customer’s journey a smooth ride of good experiences.

Make your business processes effective, And climb the path of growth,
With Websys ERP software.

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admin June 1, 2022 0 Comments

How to identify requirements for ERP software?

3 key considerations for the ERP requirements gathering process

What ERP software you select for your business depends on your organisation’s needs. If you do not consider these, you may end up with misaligned ERP software. So, prepare a checklist of your ERP requirements and gather them carefully to make the best use of the ERP software.

 

Your key considerations while gathering ERP requirements must be:

Discover the business needs

The first point of consideration is finding the answer to “Why do you need ERP software?” Answering this question will lead you to the organisational goals. It gives you an idea about the application of ERP software in your organisation.

You might be aiming to:
• Automate all your processes
• Improve the understanding of customers’ expectations
• Monitor the ordering process
• Generate insights from data
• Or any other goals

Once you identify your organisational needs, prepare a list. Get together with the team to know their perspective on these requirements. Also, determine what changes you will be required to manage in processes, people, and responsibilities due to the ERP software.

Ensure that these business requirements are SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely).

 

Identify the gaps that the ERP software will fill

Once you identify the goals of implementing an ERP software, understand how the processes will benefit from the ERP system. You are aware of the ‘to-be’ situation from the definition of goals; now, you must analyse the ‘as-is’ condition. The gaps between the two are what the ERP software will fill.

Conduct process mapping to understand the ‘as-is’ situation better. Study your business processes to identify its pain points or loopholes that lead to inefficiencies. Ask yourself questions such as:
• Is the process efficient enough?
• Can its functionality be improved?
• Can you reduce the process dependency on humans?
• Can an improvement in technology be enough?

Doing this helps you match the pain points with the goals in place. You can also prioritise these for better consideration while finalising the ERP software. Also, it will give you a better idea of the need for customisation in the selected ERP software.

 

Plan for the change management

When the ERP software will be implemented, it will bring a change to the processes. Find out who will be affected by the change. The actual beneficiaries of ERP software. And plan how you will manage these changes to the methods and business operations.

You will be required to plan for the training of these employees. You must check whether they are ready for the big change or hesitant to adopt it. Also, identify the reasons for hesitance that you can address for a smooth adoption process.

Not only employees, but you also need to prepare for the change in processes and workflows. You may probably need to automate the existing process or create a new one. Business process reengineering helps in this case.

 

Concluding thoughts

With these three considerations, you are ready for the ERP software selection and implementation process. Budget, timelines, senior management approval, integration, ERP deployment types, etc., are other considerations in selecting an ERP software.

Besides these factors, it is essential to pay attention to selecting the right vendor for your ERP software.Websys Infotech is one such vendor with expertise in ERP systems. Websys ERP is the perfect fit for any business that aims to grow. It is a complete solution with the capability to manage:

• Customer relationships
• Loyalty programs
• Promotions and offers
• Inventory and ordering process
• Accounting and finances
• Payroll
• And many more

Managing your supermarket gets easier now
With Websys POS system.

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admin June 1, 2022 0 Comments