Earlier this year, the Dollar General store in the US faced serious allegations of being a “severe violator” of workplace safety rules. The government’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration slapped it with a $15 million fine.
Five months later, it seems more troubles follow the popular American store, which has more than 18,000 franchises in the US and Mexico.
Business Insider has been reporting on allegations facing the company, including messy aisles and extra stock. It got to a point where the company has appointed a team to clean up the mess and is releasing excess inventory at a massive discount.
This could be a massive blow to the company’s operating profit.
Managerial shortcomings
It’s rare to find a giant company like Dollar General with these problems. Locate2u CEO Steve Orenstein is surprised, “Every big business like this would be running an inventory management system. They would understand stock levels and meet the demand of customers’ orders. They’d have lots of data to indicate how the stock levels look like.”
The General Store business is growing but failed to make a notable profit in its last reported quarterly report. “It may be related to this inventory problem that they’re seeing. The systems and process in any business is what makes a successful business. Having the right tools in place when deliveries are going in and out. To know how much stock you need to look at that data to figure that out. It can make or break a business.”
Addressing concerns with stock
Overselling and overstocking inventory are two common challenges faced by business owners in the e-commerce industry. Many are still handling the inventory manually, and staying on top of this job is like juggling too many balls simultaneously.
Gritglobal believes in the beginning phase of a new startup, it’s possible to monitor online stock manually, but as the company expands, so should its systems. “Automating the inventory management process not only helps you save time but also limits errors caused by fatigue.”
It also warns against other possible problems that can cause migraines to any large company, which include dead stock and irregular stock tracking. “Without good inventory management, businesses often end up stocking excess inventory. Deadstock might result from poor forecasting, lack of demand, over-ordering, etc. If not tackled properly, it would lead to huge losses to a business.”
Benefits of investing in automated inventory management
Using spreadsheets might be accessible now, but it can cost the business even more when trying to save costs by doing stock management manually.
Automating your inventory management is a good idea if you want to grow your business. Many franchises also use software that can synchronize data across multiple sales channels. With this software, a company can track inventory at the physical store while linking the data from online sales.
About the author
Mia is a multi-award-winning journalist. She has more than 14 years of experience in mainstream media. She's covered many historic moments that happened in Africa and internationally. She has a strong focus on human interest stories, to bring her readers and viewers closer to the topics at hand. Do you have a story you would like her to expose, report on, or consider? Please send your request to Newsdesk@locate2u.com.
