Page 74 - enLIGHTenment Magazine - September 2016

Evaluating

inventory

There are lessons that can be adapted from

the big box stores and multi-store chains

that can help independent lighting

stores function more pro tably and

e ciently. BY MARK OKUN

a

s I see it, brick and mortar retail- or the fad passed too quickly. Then again, you might
ers have one huge advantage over have an emotional a achment to a particular style.

their digital competition: imme- It doesn’t ma er what caused your warehoused
diately available inventory. There treasures to fall from grace, what’s important is

have been decades of on-going
converting these products back into cash. The

discussions about the e ciencies of controlling management of dead inventory is an o en over-
and reducing the stock levels carried by traditional simpli ed process and a task that is easily put aside.

retailers. Much of what is talked about is directly Gordon Gecko, played by the actor Michael
related to the infrastructure and distribution net- Douglas in the movie Wall Street said, “Don’t get

works of the multi-store chains and what can be emotional about stock, it clouds your judgment.”

learned from how they operate.
While he was referring to the stock market, it is also
a true statement for retail business.

Is that smell your Inventory?
If you have been operating a retail store for any pe- tImIng Is everythIng

riod of time, you know that inventory can die a slow The rst step in this process is to identify the items

and boring death. Perhaps the hot-selling series of that need to be moved out. You may have intel-
xtures that appealed to one part of the country ligence built into your POS system that tells you

never got traction in your region. Or maybe that how your inventory of goods is owing. It’s also
“unbelievable opportunity” purchase lost its charm
possible that you do the calculating by hand with

72 enLIGHTenment Magazine | SepteMber 2016
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