How to Inventory a Quilt Shop
Inventory management is an important part of any business, especially a quilt shop. Since, a quilt shop sell a smorgasbord of items, and inventorying is one way to see how well the business is doing annually. Knowing your ending inventory is also necessary for tax purposes as well.
Things you will need:
- Inventory management software
- Internet access
- Do an inventory of all the items in your store at least annually. Manually calculate the inventory yourself or choose inventory management software to do the calculation. The inventory management software will take less time than manually counting all the items. So, this is an option worth considering. Look for cheap inventory management software to download online, or buy one for your business. If you choose to inventory manually, make sure you have sufficient staff on duty to help you and allot sufficient time to get the job done. Do the inventory after business hours so you do not affect your customers who want to shop.
- Separate all the items in your quilt shop into categories. Use one category for fabric materials, one for tools such as hoops, cutting mats and frames. Create another category for all your notions such as needles, pins, thimbles and thread. Combine each category total to arrive at your total quilt shop inventory value. Make sure you include all the other incidentals associated with your business such as insurance, taxes and storage.
- Assess which items are fast sellers and make a notation. Use this list to help you add additional inventory. This way you always have in stock best selling items. Place any slow moving and outdated items on sale.
- Determine your shop inventory turnover rate. Take the annual cost of goods sold amount and divide this amount using the annual inventory investment average. This is a good parameter to use in the future to avoid overstocking your shop.