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Inventory management matters for every retailer — but in a fabric store, it’s a little more complex.
Rather than individual units, fabric is usually sold in custom cuts from large bolts. A customer determines how much they need for a project, you measure and cut it, and the price is calculated by the yard.
If you can’t record fractional yardage in your inventory system, you’re forced to round, and soon your counts are off — which causes problems down the road. Accurate on-hand quantities help keep your store running smoothly.
In this blog, we’ll explain why fabric inventory management matters and share five tips for maintaining accurate numbers and well-stocked shelves.
The Benefits of Effective Inventory Management
Taking steps to improve your inventory management strategies can be transformative for your business. Here are a few of the key benefits.
Prevent Stockouts and Overstock
Having reliable on-hand fabric quantities at your fingertips helps you purchase the right amount of inventory. Ordering too little leads to stockouts and lost sales, while buying too much results in overstock, tying up capital in slow-moving inventory.
Imagine ordering the same amount of seasonal fabric before the holidays each year — but this time, it starts selling faster than expected. Without accessible inventory data, you might not notice the increase until it’s suddenly sold out.
With a cloud-based point of sale (POS) system built specifically for fabric stores, you can easily prevent stockouts and overstock. POS software like Like Sew shows your sales history and tracks exact quantities using fractional yardage, so your totals stay precise.
Improve Your Product Mix
Knowing your current product quantities is helpful, but to see the full picture, you need to look back at historical sales data. When you understand which fabrics sell well and which ones sit, you can fine-tune your product mix.
Perhaps your store sells a wide variety of materials. You look at your records and realize that cotton fabrics have been selling consistently, while silk — a more luxurious option — is taking longer to turn over.
Based on this information, you might decide to cut back your stock of silk fabrics and increase your quantity of cotton-based materials, which can lead to sales growth and a more balanced inventory for your store.
Related Read: Inventory Analysis: Which Fabrics Actually Sell vs. Collect Dust
Boost Customer Loyalty
When you reliably carry the items customers want, they feel confident returning to your store and develop brand loyalty. If you have frequent stockouts and inconsistent product offerings, your customers may decide to look elsewhere.
Maybe a certain style of brightly colored fabric becomes popular for quilting and starts flying off the shelves. If you don’t order more of it to account for this increased customer demand, you’ll have to turn some quilters away.
This can hurt your brand image and lead to lost sales, while a consistent supply of the products your customers are looking for helps build a community of loyal, repeat customers.
5 Practical Tips for Fabric Inventory Management
Digital tools make it easier for retailers to manage their inventory. Try these strategies as you put your POS features to use in your fabric store.
1. Use a System That Supports Fractional Yardage
Your customers need fabric in all different measurements. They may be making a quilt, blanket, pillow, or piece of clothing and need several irregularly sized cuts. A POS system that tracks fractional yardage lets you sell fabric in precise measurements.
Let’s say a customer wants to purchase 1 ⅜ yards of batik fabric. If your general POS forces you to round this down to one yard, your inventory count becomes slightly inaccurate, and you have to manually adjust the price.
This slows down the checkout process, and while the discrepancy is only a little off, small inaccuracies can add up over time. Eventually, you run out of this style while your system still shows over 10 yards in stock. You have to place a new order quickly, but now batik fabric will be out of stock for several days, causing missed sales.
An industry-specific POS solution solves this problem. With Like Sew, you can ring up fabric with fractional yardage and your inventory automatically updates the on-hand total. This makes it easier to plan future orders and avoid running out of supply.
2. Set Alerts and Reorder Points
Many POS systems can be set up to alert you if your stock gets too low. These alerts help you schedule orders so they arrive before your existing supply sells out. For bestsellers at higher risk of stockouts, you can even set an automatic reorder point.
Simply choose the minimum count at which a new shipment should be purchased and the maximum number you want on hand, so the system can order the difference. While automatic reorder points aren’t necessary for every item, they help protect your supply of top sellers.
If you have a popular black Kona cotton fabric that often sells out, you might set the minimum at eight yards and the maximum at 30 yards. This ensures a new shipment comes in before the old stock is depleted, helping you maintain consistent revenue.
Like Sew makes it easy to set alerts and automatic reorder points, so you can keep your shelves consistently stocked.
3. Plan for Seasonal Shifts
Perhaps you’ve adjusted your purchasing strategy based on sales data. You’ve reduced overstock and now have plenty of your top sellers. Just when you think you’ve gotten a handle on the process, a seasonal rush hits, and three styles sell out.
Don’t underestimate seasonal inventory shifts. The best way to prepare for them is to review metrics from the previous year and identify when an item’s sales rose and fell.
These are a few general guidelines for how fabric shop revenue fluctuates over the year:
- January: Sales often dip as people spend less after the holidays.
- Spring: Manufacturers release new fabric collections, which generate interest and boost sales.
- June–July: Some fabric shops see a dip in revenue as customers focus on vacations and outdoor activities.
- August–September: Fall and Halloween-themed styles drive higher sales during these late summer months.
- October–December: Holiday quilting projects and gifts make this a peak season for fabric stores.
The longer you run your business, the better you’ll get at spotting your busiest and slowest times. Local factors can vary, but looking at your sales data can help you catch even small trends and tweak your orders accordingly.
4. Perform Regular Inventory Audits
While a POS system can track your stock levels, it’s still important to manually audit your inventory occasionally to confirm your numbers are accurate.
To audit non-fabric items like rulers, cutters, and spools of thread, count how many you have, and check it against each number in the system. For fabric on bolts, measure the remaining amount and cross-reference it with the digital count.
Pro tip: Audit one section of the store at a time. It’s a lighter lift and creates less interference with daily operations. Rotate the sections you audit so the whole sales floor gets checked.
Related Read: How To Audit Inventory for Shrinkage, Spoilage, or Errors: 4 Tips for Quilt Stores
5. Train Staff on Inventory Management Tools
Even with organized inventory habits, you won’t see much improvement unless your employees follow the same practices. Team members need to cut the correct measurements, ring them up at the right price, add new shipments to digital totals, and perform audits.
Some of your employees likely have more extensive duties than others. Team members in management roles are more likely to place orders for new shipments than recent hires.
To accommodate these duties, Like Sew allows you to customize permissions. Each employee gets a unique PIN, and when they log in, they have access only to the resources they need to do their job.
Related Read: How To Train Staff: A Quick Guide for Quilt Store Owners
Make Fabric Inventory Management Easier With Like Sew
Great fabric inventory management improves turnover, cash flow, and customer loyalty. Paying attention to data trends over time and your on-hand quantities allows you to adjust your ordering patterns to better match customer demand.
The best way to manage your inventory is with a cloud-based POS system — especially one designed for your industry.
Like Sew has the features you need to keep your fabric inventory under control. With fractional yardage, sales reports, and automatic reorder points, you can keep your stock balanced and accurate. Our system also integrates with vendor catalogs, helping you quickly find the best products for your customers.
To see the difference Like Sew can make for your fabric store, schedule a demo today!
