strategy & tactics Most of Benchmark Audio’s product is already spoken for by clients who’ve put down deposits and scheduled their installs. The product is kept in the facility’s currently-packed layaway area.
TAKING STOCK
How has the pandemic impacted your business’s stockroom? Retailers take a closer look at how planning strategy and creative thinking can help mitigate difficulties with inventory management. WORDS BY ROSA SOPHIA
Proper inventory management is the basis of any structurally sound business. In the July issue of Mobile Electronics magazine, Jeff Cantrell of Jackson Car Audio in Jackson, Tenn. shared recommendations in his article entitled “The Basics of Inventory Tracking.” This month, we take a closer look at some of the strategy behind inventory management, and how it’s been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As the industry reports shortages in various brands due to disruptions in the supply chain, retailers consider potential solutions and the bigger picture. Jeff West, president of Benchmark Audio, Inc. in Springfield, Ill. said he believes manufacturers will learn more
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than retailers when it comes to supply issues surrounding the pandemic. “We can order as much as we can afford, but if they can’t ship it due to not anticipating a business spike in time, and not noticing trends [soon enough] or ramping up production to ensure the supply line isn’t affected, [then we won’t get that product],” he said. “Distributors got hammered early on with backorder problems. Shops like that were probably affected earlier than some of us who have mostly direct accounts.” In recent months, Benchmark Audio has experienced inventory shortages of one to three brands. About 80 percent of the business’s purchases are made directly through vendors, West said. The
rest comes through a distributor. Creating a Merchandise Plan to Anticipate Sales Each year, West said he sets a merchandise plan. He decides what products from each vendor Benchmark Audio will carry, and how many of each. “Recently, it’s been a challenge,” he said. “If the vendor can’t sell an order on a particular SKU at a certain price point, I am using other vendors to fill voids caused by supply line issues.” West added that this works sometimes, but not all the time. His main rule of thumb when it comes to designing a merchandise plan, he said, is to come up with a “good, better and best product selection” as well as entire families of product. The goal when
