How to manage inventory across multiple markets with SendNet

Knowing how best to manage inventory is one of the most important and fundamental challenges of running a D2C brand. That's why it's essential to understand some of the key aspects of the subject, on which crucial elements of growing a business in new markets — or as part of a wider multichannel strategy — depend. Let's look at them together.

What managing inventory actually means

Inventory is the complete, detailed record of all items belonging to a business, held within a specific warehouse or fulfillment center owned by the business itself or entrusted to an external partner such as a 3PL (third-party logistics) provider. It's a fundamental resource for tracking stock levels, the presence of specific items and the ability to fulfill the related orders as quickly as possible. For these reasons, managing inventory carries a series of responsibilities, including:

• Ensuring items in a batch are stored correctly — for example respecting expiry dates in the case of perishable products;
• Avoiding any error related to categorising items, whether human or system-generated;
• Keeping an accurate, consistent count of all inventory that accounts for eventualities such as theft, loss or replacement;
• Eliminating any discrepancies that may arise in the inventory, identifying their causes promptly and the ways to resolve them.
  

Tipi di inventario

There are several types of inventory, which businesses can use according to their needs:

• Inventario annuale: usually takes place at the start of the year (the first days of January) during the holiday closure. It's ideal for small businesses;
• Inventario rotante: viene attivato ciclicamente ogni due o tre mesi, senza bisogno di chiusure straordinarie;
• Inventario permanente: di in effect, it's never interrupted, because it's carried out through dedicated software able to automatically catalogue every new SKU or, conversely, the depletion of one or more specific stocks.

How to take inventory

Once you've chosen the type of inventory count that suits you, you'll need to choose the method: for example, using a barcode scanner, RFID tag readers (short for Radio Frequency IDentification) or using spreadsheets such as Excel. There's also the option of the good old paper ledger, though that's prone to human error and hard to apply for businesses managing a large number of SKUs. 

In short, here are the main methods for carrying out an inventory count:

• Registro cartaceo;
• Inventory in Excel;
• Software (Warehouse Management System, detto anche WMS);
• Lettore di codici a barre;
• Lettore di tag RFID.
  

A key scenario to consider when thinking about taking inventory is the ultimate goal it's tied to — for example the possibility of expanding into new markets or, if that has already happened, the best way to manage a set of SKUs held across different fulfillment centers.

Manage your inventory by distributing it across multiple markets

There are many reasons why distributing your inventory across multiple markets can be a good idea. First, having your SKUs "close at hand" in fulfillment centers located in one or more destination countries helps reduce costs and delivery times (by using local carriers for domestic shipments, for example), as well as increasing your reliability and reputation in the eyes of the end customer and reducing external risk factors that can disrupt regular supply, such as natural disasters. 

This approach also lets you offer what is effectively a local experience even when your brand is based abroad — something fundamental for any business, and particularly in D2C. To that end, SendNet is already present in Germany, France and Italy, and soon in Spain and the United Kingdom, with a network of fulfillment centers enabling effective inventory management across multiple points in Europe.

Reducing the likelihood of stockouts

Using SendNet's Pan-EU programme means having the SendNet team's expertise behind you to calculate the optimal distribution for storing your inventory across multiple markets. The team calculates that optimal distribution using historical data and information provided by the business about marketing campaigns that could affect demand. That way you can scale up your marketing without worrying about stock levels. In other words, SendNet takes care of organising the physical movement of inventory, effectively handling the entire process from start to finish.

If an order can't be fulfilled from that country's fulfillment center, SendNet offers the best solution. The team will assign the orders to the fulfillment center that represents the best alternative in terms of time and cost, and will use direct injection to ship the orders as quickly as possible. 

Likewise, if you receive an order from a market where you hold no stock, your orders are automatically routed to the best fulfillment center based on price and speed, generating further savings on your margins: if you use the Pan-EU option in Germany and France and you're handling an order from Belgium, for example, you'll be able to save additional costs on that country too.

Consegna in soli due giorni in tutta Europa

All these factors — including reduced costs associated with transporting goods and managing sites that would otherwise be too far away — significantly shorten delivery times to the end customer. In other words, SendNet enables D2C brands that have chosen it as their 3PL partner to deliver in as little as 2 working days across EU markets. 

Stock control from a single source

Thanks to the SendNet app, you'll always have a transparent, easy-to-read overview of all your data and requests. You'll no longer have to switch between tools: simply check the orders and stock overview, request shipments and automatically move orders to alternative fulfillment centers. Manage all your operations and all your markets from a single place.

Manage your inventory with SendNet

Managing inventory can be a complex task, especially when expanding into multiple markets within the European Union. That's why SendNet gives you the ability to manage your items and SKUs by distributing them to one or more of its fulfillment centers across the continent. Explore our logistics offering and take advantage of our software to keep every aspect of your inventory under control without ever risking a stockout. Request a free quote now.

‍