Stock management for automotive parts: how to save time and improve profitability

Spare parts inventories are an integral part of a distributor’s business, whether in a retail shop or an auto parts warehouse. They are therefore a crucial element that should be optimised in order to save time on a day-to-day basis and improve the results of your business!

Here are 5 tips to make stock management for automotive parts easier and more profitable:

Use a palmtop

Palmtops have become indispensable devices for all warehouse operations.
Equipping yourself with a palmtop means you can quickly manage a variety of operations:

• Reception
• Shipping
• Ordering
• Inventory
• Listing items

In addition to their versatility, palmtops offer several advantages over manual handling: speeding up operations, increasing productivity and reducing errors.

Opt for an ERP specialised in stock management for automotive parts

To properly manage both counter and warehouse stock, there is nothing better than a specialised ERP. This will allow you to manage your business, connect it to your palmtop, and centralise information in a single tool.
From the customer’s point of view, it is also a way to improve the quality of service and communication related to business information. For example, you can communicate your business conditions or the status of your stock to find out if you can order or if you need to wait for a restock.

Organise stock logically

To save time in day-to-day business, you cannot rely solely on digital tools: you need to define a physical stock logic. To this end, there are several frequently used options:

• Organisation by best-selling references. This method is useful to have the best-selling articles as close to the counter as possible.
• Multi-location. This is a very common solution because it allows a location to always be available for a reference that requires a lot of stock or to guarantee a sufficient level of flexibility.

However, do not overlook the way you organise your stock! For example, pay attention to the layout of departments and aisles: this will make it much easier for you to move around and at the same time optimise your movements.

Optimising search times

Once you have an appropriate ERP system and a palmtop, new opportunities for optimisation open up. You can save time when searching for items such as

• The location of a reference
• The availability of an article
• The existing quantity in stock

In other words, you can easily obtain a reliable and comprehensive stock overview at any time.

This reduction in search time also benefits your customers, as real-time visibility provides the information they need for their orders (number of units remaining, available references, updated price, etc.).

Anticipate needs and possible improvements

To save time and improve profitability, it is extremely useful to anticipate market needs as much as possible. For this purpose, adapt your stocks according to the statistical results obtained from your ERP. Your ERP can provide you with a dashboard containing the right performance indicators for optimal decision-making.
In addition to meeting the needs of your customers, a statistical dashboard is an excellent way to facilitate the management of your inventories, because you can simply identify the levers you need to act on to achieve your goal.

In short, all stock management tasks and objectives will become more accessible when you adopt tools that are compatible with your business: they will serve to implement good practices that will lead to continuous improvement for better results.