Stock Management During Campaign Periods

One of the most effective methods of increasing sales figures in e-commerce is periodic campaigns. The most well-known of which is Black Friday, also known as Legendary Friday, invites buyers to shop on certain days of the year with the opportunities offered. Depending on the attractive opportunities promised by the campaigns, buyers tend to make purchases that they have been postponing for a long time. This tendency can also result in much higher sales amounts compared to periods when there is no campaign. In order for the effort you will spend to respond to the workload that will occur to be meaningful, you need to pay extra attention to stock management before such periods. Otherwise, you are likely to have difficulty meeting the increasing demand. This will both prevent you from reaching potential sales figures and cause you to lose prestige in the eyes of customers.

What is Stock Management?

Stock can generally be defined as all of the raw materials, semi-finished products and products that a business currently has. The primary working principle of many companies doing e-commerce is to sell products to the end customer. Therefore, it can be said that a large portion of your stock will consist of products that are ready for sale while operating in this field. The primary purpose of stock keeping, which is a method used in both traditional commercial transactions and many e-commerce models, is to meet customers’ product demands smoothly and as quickly as possible. Periodically, there may be a standard level of customer interest in some products or product groups. In such cases, having a sufficient amount of stock automatically means that you can sell more products. Periods when customer interest increases are dominated by periods when various campaigns are organized. Therefore, it would be to your advantage to pay even more attention to stock management processes, which are always important, during these periods.

Stock management is the entirety of planning processes carried out to ensure that activities continue smoothly and continuously, taking into account the sales and financial conditions of the business. Although the sole and basic purpose of this concept seems to be not to have problems in product sales, keeping stock costs at the lowest possible level is also a part of this process. In other words, stock management is not a one-dimensional process; it aims to establish a two-way balance between the economic benefits provided and the costs. At this point, the question “Why is inventory management important?” comes to mind.

This process helps maximize the income from sales while keeping inventory holding costs to a minimum. In order to calculate the profit you make from sales, you need to subtract expense items from income. When you consider that inventory costs are also a high-cost expense item, the importance of inventory management can be understood more clearly.

Let’s try to explain more clearly with an example: Stocking a very high amount of products in order to supply products to your customers increases your costs significantly. Therefore, this is not a correct inventory management application. When we look at the issue from the other side, supplying a small amount of products in order to reduce inventory costs may result in not being able to meet customer demands. In light of all this, we can also make a summary conclusion that inventory management is a balancing act. E-commerce is an area that requires you to pay extra attention to the concept of inventory management. Your customers who you do not meet face to face may not be able to see the product they want to buy in your stocks or, worse, may have paid for a product that is not actually available. This situation seriously damages both your income and your brand image. To avoid such negativities, you can take a look at our content on what beginners should pay attention to in e-commerce inventory management.

The importance of inventory management brings up the issue of how these processes should be done. The answers to the question of how inventory management is done vary depending on factors such as the structure of the company in question and its transaction volume. If you have a very small business and your sales volumes are at the beginning levels, you can even do this tracking in a simple notebook. Excel templates are also one of the methods that can be used for this process. However, if you approach e-commerce from a professional perspective and want to carry out all processes in the best way, it will be in your best interest to prefer special software designed for this process. The features of IdeaSoft’s e-commerce packages make the inventory management process quite practical and simple.

How to Plan Stock Before the Campaign Period?

It is not difficult to predict that your sales figures will increase during campaign periods such as Black Friday, the end of the year or back to school. The important thing here is how you will prepare and plan for these periods. Organizing your stocks according to the demand that will increase without increasing costs more than necessary will pave the way for you to go through these periods in the most profitable way for your business. So, what methods should you follow and what variables should you control in order to make this planning in the most accurate way; let’s look at them now.

Analyze Sales Quantities from Previous Periods

If your business has been active for more than a year, this probably means that you have had a campaign period before. Sales quantities from previous years provide you with quite functional data regarding the figures you can reach in the new period. E-commerce is a business model that can be easily recorded and stored by its nature. Therefore, it is extremely easy to access this data. Analyses that you will make considering your performance in previous campaign periods with current conditions will help you make a prediction for the stock quantities you need to have on hand. If you have not organized such a campaign before, it will be useful to examine the past statistics of businesses that appeal to similar audiences and sell similar products.

Determine the Minimum Level of Your Stocks

Determining the minimum stock levels on a product basis is one of the most important steps of this process. The minimum stock levels of a product that is in high demand and another product that is sold less should be different. A high minimum stock level for a product that is in high demand will help you meet increasing customer demands more quickly. Determining a lower level for a product that is not sold much will allow you to save on stocking costs.

The minimum stock level can generally be defined as a point below which indicates that new orders should be placed. Clearly determining these points will visibly increase your reaction ability for stock continuity and therefore sales continuity.

Proceed with Your Stock Controls Regularly

Regular stock controls become even more important during campaign periods. Stock control is mostly carried out with automated systems established with the help of technology today. The synchronization of the stock tracking system with your website where you sell and virtual marketplace applications if you use them makes your job much easier. Because this way, you will not have to employ extra employees for stock tracking. At the same time, you will not encounter situations that negatively affect customer satisfaction, such as selling products that are not available in your warehouse. Having a counter that actively indicates the stock status of products in your sales channels can also encourage customers to make purchases. Because when people see that a product they have in mind is limited, they may become more enthusiastic about purchasing. For a more detailed reading on this subject, you can check out our content titled What You Need to Know About Stock Tracking in E-commerce.

Determine Your Seasonal and Gift Products and Stock

Most of the campaign periods are related to the dates they are organized. For example, New Year campaigns can be thought of as the current version of the tradition of buying gifts. Campaigns organized close to the beginning of the academic year cover products that will attract more attention from students and teachers. You should also conduct a detailed study before the campaign periods to determine which products will be included in the campaign in accordance with the content. However, it may not be enough to just determine the products or product groups that will be included in the campaign. Also focusing on the stock management processes of these products will prevent possible problems before they arise.

Adjust the Product Supply Time

The supply time of each product you sell may not be the same. It is predictable that there will be a difference between the supply time of products that are produced or stocked in places close to your warehouse and those that come from long distances. In addition, your suppliers may be much busier than normal during campaign periods. Therefore, it is important to plan on these issues and get exact delivery dates from your suppliers. In this way, you can carry out the stock management process much better and always have the optimum amount of products in your warehouse.

Take Precautions Against Negative Situations

Trade is always pregnant with situations that can develop beyond your control. Problems in production or disruptions in the supply chain can harm your workflow regardless of whether you manage these processes or not. Especially if these negativities coincide with periods when you expect high sales, such as campaign periods, they can prevent you from reaching the goals you have set for yourself. In order not to be affected by such negative situations, you need to take some precautions. The first of these is to determine alternative suppliers. In this way, it will be possible for you to quickly put this alternative plan into effect in the face of emerging problems.

What to Consider When Managing Stock During a Campaign?

We have stated that the stock management process is even more important for campaign periods. We can mention some elements that you should definitely consider in order to evaluate this important process in the best way and have a successful campaign period. If you show the necessary care with these elements, you can exit the campaign periods with both high income and loyal customers.

If you are thinking of selling over the internet, it is important to have information about how these processes are carried out in general. You can access many tips on the subject by taking a look at our content titled Stock Control Method You Can Use in E-commerce.

Stock Costs

Stock costs are an expense item determined by many variables. Factors such as the price paid for the product, taxes, warranty periods, wages of warehouse employees and the rent of the space used for this purpose determine stock costs. In order to see the profit you make from product sales, you need to subtract your expenses from your income. In other words, the more you can reduce stock costs, the more your earnings increase. To reduce stock costs, you can resort to methods such as purchasing the ideal amount of products, determining order intervals correctly, and paying attention to warehouse organization.

Time to Take Stock

In free market economies, prices are determined according to the supply and demand balance. Since demand for certain products will increase in specific date ranges such as campaign periods, an increase in prices is also likely. If you take this into consideration when purchasing the products you plan to offer to your customers within the scope of campaigns, you can significantly reduce your costs. For this, you need to determine your sales strategy in the long term. Determining the products you plan to sell during the campaign period within the framework of this strategy and supplying them in advance can be pointed out as one of the elements of the stock management process that should not be ignored.

Stock Analysis

Stock analysis can be defined as the set of operations aimed at determining the amount of products you need to keep for different situations. Considering details such as data from previous similar periods, current consumer trends, and the current economic conjuncture is a must for a healthier stock analysis. The first thing to do during the analysis is to determine what the campaign is about and which products will be in highest demand during that period. Then, you can complete the stock analysis process by making a projection on the sales amount of that product.

Stock Limit

Stock limit, which is always one of the most important concepts of the supply chain, gains a very important assistant identity in order to protect from getting into a difficult situation during campaign periods. The primary function of this limit, which indicates that a new order should be placed when it falls below the product, is to prevent you from having problems in delivering orders to your customers during periods of increased demand. Correctly determining the stock limit and keeping it under constant control prevents the purchase of products that you do not have in stock, while also ensuring that your supply schedule becomes healthy. Stock limit is a concept used more to determine the lower limit. However, it can also be useful in terms of indicating the maximum amount of products you need to store. In this way, you can prevent too much product accumulation and control stocking costs.

FIFO (First in First out)

The stock valuation method known as FIFO is built on the idea that the first product to enter the warehouse should also be the first to exit. It is an extremely effective method for determining how products entering and exiting the stock will be controlled. The unit stock cost of a product that remains in the warehouse for a long time increases. This can make it difficult to calculate your profit and loss. By applying the FIFO rule, you can establish a more systematic process and ensure that the products in your stock always remain new and fresh. Using this method, especially for products with a limited shelf life, will prevent stock from becoming unusable in your warehouse.

Integrations and Interfaces

Warehouse and stock management are two elements that must be constantly considered together. Stock control is much more difficult for businesses that do not have a regular operation in their warehouses. Especially during busy sales periods such as campaign periods, this situation can cause the general operation to get out of control. Various integrations and interfaces are used today to prevent such negativities. These technologies help the stock amount and the number of products offered to the customer in sales channels to remain the same. During periods outside of working hours, your customers continue to shop actively and your stock amount may fall below the limits you set as a result of purchases. In such cases, these technologies prevent possible problems by closing the relevant product for sale and give you a warning to place an order. Especially if you sell through multiple channels, you can manage your inventory much more easily with these technologies.

Crisis Scenarios

The inventory and product supply system you establish should have features that will allow you to be prepared for any type of crisis scenario that may arise. Such situations are more likely to occur during campaign periods when intensive transactions take place. With a stock management model that includes alternative suppliers and logistics methods, you can continue to sell even under the most adverse conditions.

What are the Advantages of Stock Planning Before the Campaign Period?

Stock management and planning can be described as a key to getting through campaign periods in the best way. In order to summarize what we have mentioned so far, we can list the advantages of stock planning during these periods as follows:

You prevent your stocks from running out during the busiest sales periods. In this way, your sales figures increase as much as possible.

You can keep stock costs at a minimum level.

You are minimally affected by price increases that may occur during these periods.

Your supply chain becomes prepared for possible negative situations.

Your brand prestige and customer satisfaction level increase.

It becomes easier for you to calculate profit and loss. Accordingly, you can carry out your company’s financial processes in a healthier way.