10 Tips for Inventory Management
Liss suggests weighing quantity needs at various intervals—three months, six months, one year, two to three years—versus per-unit cost, with the goal to keep inventory low, but profit high. “Our trade books average a 25-percent return rate. So if we run out of books early on, we need to factor in that returns will begin to come in soon; we just don’t know when or how many. We look at sell-through at individual bookstore chains versus their inventory position. We check with our authors and large customers to determine projected needs. We analyze month-by-month performance through all our marketing venues.”
6. Know when to reprint and when not to reprint.
According to Sakowski, a mistake easily made by many new publishers is going back to press too soon. “Since we’re primarily a regional press, we have a feel for how similar books have sold and frequently use those figures to set initial print runs. New publishers have to learn about returns and false demand created by computers when stock is not available.”
It also helps to have good relationships with your printer if you need to move quickly on a reprint, Sakowski advises. Another consideration is cash flow.
7. Avoid pulling inventory from other stores.
In the event that Sterling runs out of books at one location and needs to move them to another, it does, but it tries to avoid shuffling books regularly from place to place. “Freight is pretty expensive, so we try not to move inventory around,” says Leaver, who strives to know which outlets will be running low before it happens.
8. Invest in a good software system.
Sterling relies on a proprietary in-house software system to track inventory, while Berrett-Koehler and John F. Blair use Acumen. The investment and maintenance fees of any software program may seem high at first, but Sakowski says it pays off in taking a lot of the guesswork out of inventory management.
