Sellers Must Know About These Various Types of Inventories!

Raw materials that you may soon turn into your inventories are considered a type of inventory in the eCommerce industry. Such inventories are basically small pieces, parts, and trash of products that are currently in your stock and soon may get converted into a product and become part of your inventory. You must know that there are two specific types of raw materials: direct and indirect.

Direct materials are used in finished goods; this type of inventory is usually present in a seller’s or manufacturer’s stock and available for the customers to purchase. Direct materials can be leather that can be used to make wallets, belts, shoes, etc. Indirect raw materials might be batteries, lightbulbs, etc. Indirect raw material inventories refer to all those items that have been used during the production process of any specific product category.

WIP inventory refers to materials that an eCommerce business needs to mobilize first and then assemble those products to get sold on various eCommerce platforms. This type of inventory also includes the price of raw materials and labor costs if required. For a better understanding, we can say that WIP inventories include such products that are unfinished and still require to go through the final finishing process. It refers to the various number of unfinished items that are currently available in your stock. The best example of WIP inventory is selling coffee online; it includes refining the coffee beans, putting them into jars, and then shipping them to valuable customers.

A wedding dress can also be an example of work-in-progress inventory as eCommerce retailers need to give them a final touch before delivering it to their customers. However, too much WIP inventory can put you in a situation where you must wait a bit longer to initiate a sale and generate revenue. On the other hand, this type of inventory also increases the risk of materials being misplaced, lost, damaged, or expired before getting assembled. However, you can get rid of these challenges by implementing the inventory reconciliation process with the help of automated software.

Finished goods inventory is the essential type of inventory that you have listed on various eCommerce platforms to sell your products efficiently. The name defines it well, finished goods inventory is considered as the total number of products available in your stock to fulfill the demand of your customers. Let’s make it simple; any product ready to be sold on multiple platforms falls under this type of inventory. Finished goods are various products that have been manufactured by a seller or purchased by them from a third-party supplier or manufacturer.

However, handling the finished goods can be challenging, especially when you are a multi-channel seller. However, inventory management software such as eVanik OWS can help you manage the inventory on multiple eCommerce platforms by automatically adjusting them. Such software also provides you with an accurate inventory report as well.

MRO refers to maintenance, repair, and operating supplies; it includes items that may be useful in a production process but are not integrated into the finished products, unlike raw materials inventories. These types of inventories have been used in assembling a product but have not been used to create a product. For example, maintenance and repair supplies such as light bulbs, motors, gears, and fluids are considered MRO goods inventory.

Apart from that, safety equipment such as respirators, face shields, masks, and office supplies products such as furniture, paper, and pens fall under the category of MRO goods inventory. MRO inventories are not for the customers but for the sellers or eCommerce businesses that they actually use to produce genuine products and later sell them on various online marketplaces.

This type of inventory can be anything that eCommerce sellers and businesses use for packaging a product to keep them safe in storage and while in transit. Packaging material inventory is essential for online sellers if they handle the packaging and shipping part. Several products, such as packaging boxes, bubble wrap, tapes, and padding, are known as packaging material inventories.

However, eCommerce sellers don’t understand the importance of packaging material inventories and may not feel it necessary to store them. You must maintain such items on a regular basis because you may need them every time while packaging a product. Thus, it is also necessary to keep them in stock because good packaging impacts customers. Believe it or not but good packaging is also an essential part of the eCommerce business, and one must take care of it.