It is critical to keep inventory levels at the optimal level throughout the supply chain network. You might wonder how to keep high visibility since you place goods across various channels and locations when your eCommerce grows.

To make everything easier for you, we have researched this topic and compiled all the essential information to assist you in maintaining visibility to improve your supply chain.

What exactly is inventory visibility?

Inventory visibility delivers the capacity to track or view the inventory in real-time. It also provides in-depth insights into the number of units of SKUs available to ship at each spot and where it is placed within the fulfillment center or warehouse.

Why is eCommerce inventory visibility important?

In an attempt to enhance eCommerce performance, it is critical to boast continuous visibility into the levels of stock and the capacity to offer insights into how to keep an eye on inventory better to meet and enhance customer satisfaction.

Full inventory visibility lets you plan for unexpected situations and delivers data and analytics so that businesses need to make better business decisions like how to place inventory across distribution networks efficiently to cut shipping costs and boost transit times.

When e-commerce retailers sport the tools to view, optimize, and manage inventory levels in real-time, they can quickly take action to meet demand.

Top Advantages of Inventory Visibility Enhancement Throughout Supply Chain

Boosting inventory visibility could greatly improve supply chain efficiency, velocity, and ability to meet customer satisfaction, among other benefits. Here are some most significant benefits of enhancing inventory visibility across the supply chain.

1. Boost overall efficiency

When you have to manage eCommerce inventory in various channels, it is advisable to utilize both historical and current inventory data to enhance internal processes and boost the efficiency of the supply chain.

Should you lease and monitor a warehouse, you could utilize inventory applications and other tools to monitor inventory and enhance visibility, which potentially eliminates the demand for auditing inventory manually.

Rather, you could work with a 3PL that can offer the data and visibility you need to operate a lean and efficient supply chain at the optimal cost.

2. Maintain adequate inventory levels

Inventory management includes determining how much inventory you should keep on hand at each location at all times. Inventory visibility improves your ability to maintain healthy inventory levels across all channels.

The management of inventory consists of identifying the levels of inventory that you need to keep on each spot.

For many spots including the inventory's movement and transportation, keeping an eye on products' quantities exactly and where they are stored might be challenging. Should you not account for each item, you are likely to risk losing inventory and having inaccurate financials and mission orders.

3. Improve demand forecasting

With better visibility, it is best to collect historical data of orders to help you make suitable inventory decisions for forecasting needs throughout all channels.

Monitoring the date and time of orders, the ordered SKUs, and sales channels can provide you with the ability to forecast trends and growth projections on more granular levels.

While forecasting demand cannot be completely accurate, better visibility can provide better accuracy, helping you enhance production lead times and operational efficiencies.

4. Enhance customer satisfaction

When you have better inventory visibility, it is easier to keep track of inventory levels throughout channels and keep adequate inventory levels to meet client demand. Here are some tips for better visibility:

• Optimize inventory of the network
• Cut logistics expenses to offset delivery costs and promotion incentives like freeship
• Calculate safety inventory to avoid stockouts
• Cut last-mile shipping costs by storing stock near clients

Wrapping Up

Above is some key information about inventory visibility, including the definition and its top benefits. In a nutshell, high inventory visibility will bring some benefits, including customer satisfaction enhancement, improvement of demand forecasting, adequate inventory level, and overall efficiency.