Mike's Inventory Management Blog

When an item is on backorder, it means that the vendor is out of a certain item but expects to have it back in stock and delivered by a certain date. Backorder rate is the percentage of orders that cannot be delivered by the original date.

There’s an automotive tool that you’ve possibly heard a lot about in recent months. You may already have it installed at your dealership. That tool is a dealership management system (DMS).

Receiving automotive part inventory seems like a straightforward task, and can be when done properly. 

But it is also a common time for inventory errors to occur due to miscounts, inputting mistakes or having untrained staff receive shipments. That’s why, like anything you do in your business, having proper inventory processes and training are paramount.

Surplus inventory in your automotive dealership often leads to waste and losses. Sure, sometimes a well-planned marketing campaign or a sudden unexpected spike in service needs can help reduce the stock. But the reality is that once inventory becomes obsolete it usually doesn’t do much more than take up space and capital. 

Beginning inventory is a current asset and is the value of your automotive parts inventory at the start of an accounting period. 

Beginning inventory is an important metric – it’s needed to determine the cost of goods sold (COGS) for your company’s income statement. It’s also used to calculate key performance indicators (KPIs), including average inventory and inventory turnover, that give you important insights into how your business is performing.

Managing your automotive parts inventory is time consuming and costly, but it is also a necessary investment to ensure you can provide your customers with the service they expect. It’s simply a critical process to many areas of your business. 

To ensure you are managing your inventory as effectively as possible, it is important to consider the software you are using and the data it produces.   

What is the importance of automotive parts inventory software?

Inventory management software is the foundation of any automotive parts department – it helps you maintain an accurate inventory, get a picture of your overall position and manage your purchasing processes. But finding the right software can be a difficult task. 

While there are a number of options in the automotive industry, an assessment of your needs can help narrow down your choices. 

Some of the main benefits of an effective auto parts inventory software include:

Inventory errors can majorly affect with your dealership’s bottom line. And a lot of the time that has to do with errors in counting. That not only affects your cost of goods sold, but also your balance sheet, and that means the overall picture of your company’s financial position can be skewed. 

Let’s look at what we mean in more detail …

When you do a good job managing your company’s automotive parts inventory, it can sometimes feel like nobody notices. 

You are always looking for ways to increase your bottom line. Sourcing better prices, looking for alternative vendors. While these are an important part of increasing revenues, there is one other way to increase your profits. 

Lower revenues, fewer customers, more regulations and requirements - COVID is doing a number on many of our businesses but there is a silver lining…

If your business is slow and you are opting for reduced hours, now might be the time to get to some of those projects you don’t usually have time to do – reorganizing inventory, completing parts reconciliations or training staff on best practices.