As a repair business, inventory management is a constant hassle that keeps you on your toes. The last thing you want is to stock up on too many devices or spare parts that don’t sell fast. But at the same time, you need to have the right parts to use in repairs.
So how should you ideally manage your inventory?
You need to make sure that your repair store has what the customers want to buy.
A common mistake many repair stores make is to keep buying back devices from customers without considering the value. This results in them stocking up on devices that no one wants to purchase. For instance, customers usually only sell devices that are either a few years old or are faulty. If you keep buying these devices, you’re going to have them in your inventory forever.
The trick of the trade here is to stay updated with market trends. This will allow you to understand which devices customers actually want to buy, and stock up your inventory accordingly.
Ideally, you should have a variety of products, say every iPhone model, one of every Samsung phone, and so on, in your inventory. This way, you will keep selling products, and most importantly, not have a lot of products that don’t sell.Â
Don’t Let Your Customers Go Empty-handed
Another situation you don’t want at your repair business is to say no to a customer walking in and asking for a specific product. Without repair shop management software, you have to rely on manual inventory counts to know when to reorder inventory items. Whether they’re a first-time customer or a regular visitor, not having that particular product leaves a bad impression and they have to walk away from your store. Instead of losing customers like that, you need to play it safe and have one of each product in stock at all times.
It’s a similar story with spare parts. Let’s say a customer comes to your store for screen repair. If you don’t have the screen for their particular smartphone on that given day, they’re going to get it done from somewhere else. With this kind of urgency and competition, the only way to stay on top is to rely on technology.
RepairDesk’s automated inventory management system streamlines your parts reordering process and simplifies inventory tracking, ordering, and replenishment. You can create a serialized inventory, create GRNs and purchase orders, and even transfer inventory items from one store to another.
