At present, due to the uncertainty of order flow, the warehousing workload of e-commerce enterprises is unbalanced. Then, what are the problems and improvement measures in the inventory management of e-commerce enterprises?
introduce
The vigorous development of e-commerce has added many business opportunities to the market economy. At the same time, it also puts forward higher requirements for the service level of enterprises. The key to the development of an enterprise lies in its inventory management. However, most enterprises cannot meet the requirements of e-commerce for inventory management. Due to serious problems in inventory management, improper internal process control, large differences in the number of products in inventory of e-commerce enterprises, and low storage efficiency, it has caused huge losses and adverse effects to enterprises. Therefore, it is necessary for enterprises to improve inventory management, design a reasonable control process, seek a more reasonable inventory management scheme and improve management efficiency.
1 analysis of inventory management in e-commerce enterprises
Due to the uncertainty of order flow, e-commerce enterprises are faced with a series of problems, such as unbalanced distribution of warehousing operations, inability to keep up with operation capacity, chaotic location, inaccurate inventory data, and difficult distribution. The management foundation of e-commerce enterprises is weak and the starting point is low. Its management only stays at the traditional extensive management level, and there is no sound internal management system, and it does not recognize or attach importance to the inventory control and management of enterprises as an important link in the production and operation process. The problems existing in the inventory management of e-commerce enterprises mainly include the following points:
1. 1 is weak in supplier management and inventory accuracy is not controlled.
The supply of most e-commerce enterprises comes from multiple suppliers, and the uneven management level and work efficiency of suppliers are the source factors leading to abnormal inventory problems. At present, some suppliers of e-commerce enterprises generally have the following problems:
(1) The supplier can't deliver the goods according to the agreed time, which seriously affects the timeliness of warehouse receipt and the pre-made sales plan. Especially during the promotion period of some e-commerce companies, if suppliers can't deliver goods on time, it will directly affect the inventory quantity of e-commerce companies, resulting in shortage, thus affecting consumer satisfaction. Whether warehousing can be standardized depends on the ability of merchants to restrain suppliers and the timely feedback of warehouses on warehousing anomalies.
(2) The commodity package provided by the supplier is not standardized, and the barcode on the package is missing or wrong. Some suppliers will provide goods with damaged or deformed outer packaging, unqualified packaging materials and inconsistent packaging, which will bring great difficulties to the storage and inventory management of goods after storage. Some problems such as mislabeling of trademarks and mislabeling of bar codes will directly lead to unexplained differences in the inventory process. If these conditions are not found when warehousing, it is very easy for the goods to be shipped out of the warehouse.
1.2 unreasonable inventory, excessive inventory, idleness and serious backlog.
Excessive inventory is extremely unfavorable to enterprises. Excessive inventory freezes a lot of funds in inventory, reduces working capital, aggravates inventory loss and increases management expenses. The main reasons for this phenomenon are: unreasonable storage plan, changed production plan, wrong sales budget, inefficient information transmission system, simplified inventory control strategy and other uncertain factors. In the supply chain, the demand forecast, inventory status and production plan among enterprises in each supply chain node are all important data of supply chain management, so it is necessary to transmit data information in real time to respond to users' needs effectively and quickly. Because the logistics information systems of e-commerce enterprises and other participants in the supply chain are not effectively integrated and shared, the information obtained is often lagging behind and incorrect, which leads to unreasonable production inventory and warehouse inventory.
1.3 The inventory management is not standardized and the inventory data is inaccurate.
Due to the low service level of China's logistics industry, low degree of informationization and intelligence, there are many problems in warehouse site management, such as unreasonable storage space management, high error rate of receipt and delivery in peak season, inconsistency between accounts and facts, information distortion and so on. Poor warehouse management, unable to accurately grasp the age of the goods, failed to do so? First in first out? , resulting in a sluggish backlog of some products. The inventory and reconciliation management of the warehouse is not timely, and the abnormal problems such as receiving and dispatching are not found in time, and the best processing opportunity is missed. Special inventory management, the process is not standardized and clear, leading to outstanding abnormal problems, differences can not be locked or resolved for a long time.
2 Measures to improve inventory management from the perspective of process control
2. 1 Establish an inventory model to reduce the inventory cost.
Establish a reasonable inventory data model according to the process of variety classification, forecast value, service rate (or out-of-stock rate), expense items, supplier interval, order cycle and order mode. Using the comprehensive and reasonable application of ABC management method and CVA management method, we should focus on the management of Class A commodities, strictly control the inventory of commodities, replenish commodities reasonably according to the flow direction and value of commodities, minimize the inventory cost and optimize the inventory structure. Apply? First in first out? According to the production date, shelf life and validity period of the goods, the goods in different batches are systematically and physically managed, and the goods with the earliest production date are given priority when the same goods are delivered.
2.2 standardize the supplier warehousing process to ensure accurate inventory from the source.
The establishment of supplier management system has obvious influence and function on enterprise sales and logistics. In order to promote suppliers to better serve enterprises and meet the production and sales of enterprises, it is necessary to carry out KPI assessment on supplier management. KPI assessment of suppliers mainly includes quality index, cost index and supply index. Quality indicators are mainly used to assess the quality of incoming materials supplied by suppliers, including the qualified rate of incoming batches, the defective rate of incoming sampling, the online rejection rate of incoming materials, and the inspection-free rate of incoming materials. Cost indicators mainly include price level, timeliness and objectivity of quotation. Supply indicators mainly include delivery timeliness or delivery cycle, order completion rate, service level and other indicators. Take the results of KPI assessment indicators as an important criterion for selecting and managing suppliers, and realize the optimization of supplier management.
2.3 Establish rapid response information and intelligent system flow.
Inventory classification and ordering methods must be based on a perfect database, and the expected results cannot be achieved without careful analysis of the database. How to establish an appropriate information system is a problem faced by many enterprises. Accurate information can make the inventory flow reasonably and indicate the most suitable inventory. The informationization of the system and the simplicity of accounting treatment have played a key role in improving operational efficiency and accuracy of inventory data. Establish a unified inventory control system, from the factory source inventory? Inventory in transit? In different warehouses? It is of great significance for modern inventory management to implement integrated management and monitoring of sales inventory, improve different types of receiving and dispatching processes such as internal allocation and sales outbound, and distinguish and identify accounting treatment.
2.4 Scientific planning of warehouse area and reasonable arrangement of commodity storage process.
Make a reasonable plan for the warehouse, realize the partition and positioning management of the warehouse, and effectively control the accuracy of inventory management and the timeliness of delivery. The storage area of the warehouse is divided into waiting area, waiting area, qualified area storage area and unqualified product isolation area. The goods are placed in different States, and the goods are managed in different areas, and different management methods are adopted. Every location in the warehouse should be coded, and every item must have a clear storage location. The warehouse layout is based on the principles of identity, first-in first-out and turnover rate, relevance and heavy goods, general goods, unification and standardization, consistency between work platform and goods placement direction, product importance, sales volume and complementary advantages in off-season and peak season. The setting of the size of the cargo space should consider the product model and the number of cycles to make specific decisions.
2.5 Formulate and implement reasonable and effective inventory strategies and processes to reflect inventory differences in a timely manner.
The formulation of inventory process is divided into four steps, namely, making inventory plan, field inventory and recording, inventory result inspection, variance analysis and processing. The quantity and state of physical objects must be counted on the basis of physical objects. Besides weekly inventory and monthly inventory, you can also set different system inventory strategies according to the actual business situation. The inventory process of e-commerce enterprises should promote the use of RF handheld terminals, and make inventory and records through the inventory plan generated by the system. If there are inventory differences in the inspection of inventory results, the inventory differences and their reasons should be recorded in the system in time.
2.6 Strengthen special inventory and process control, standardize the return and exchange process, and manage non-genuine products.
Both traditional enterprises and e-commerce enterprises are faced with the problem of returning goods and managing the non-genuine goods in the warehouse, and there are certain risks and losses in the warehouse inventory management. This part of the quality loss does not account for a small part of the enterprise's net loss. At the same time, frequent returns and excessive non-genuine inventory are very unfavorable to warehouse management. The standardization and simplification of the return and exchange process, the management of non-genuine goods in and out of the warehouse, the storage in the warehouse, the return to the factory and the second delivery all put forward higher requirements for the management of the warehouse and system. Each link must have process branches to manage, such as return management, non-genuine management and so on. Every link should formulate an appropriate standard process system, operate in modules and manage processes to improve logistics efficiency.
2.7 Strengthen employee skills training and improve management systems and processes.
At present, the inventory management of e-commerce enterprises is still dominated by manual management, and the professional quality and management level of employees will directly affect the efficiency and cost of inventory management. To establish and improve various systems and processes of inventory management, standardize management and operation, it is necessary to regularly train employees on inventory management knowledge and methods, and conduct regular assessment, so that employees can realize that scientific management is beneficial to enterprises to reduce inventory costs, reduce the loss rate of goods, reduce inventory differences and improve economic benefits.
3 Conclusion
To sum up, the optimization of enterprise inventory management and reasonable inventory are of great significance to enterprises. By effectively controlling the process of inventory management, e-commerce enterprises can help reduce the comprehensive cost of warehousing, improve the efficiency of warehousing operations, meet the efficient use of sales and assets, maximize benefits, and then enhance the core competitiveness of enterprises. Enterprises need to pay attention to the key processes in inventory management, find and deal with the key processes in time, effectively reduce inventory differences, and contribute to the smooth progress of process control, thus improving the efficiency of logistics inventory management in e-commerce enterprises.
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