How To Keep Track of Sewing Business Inventory: 7 Best Ways

Have you struggled with managing inventory for your sewing store? From sewing machines to bolts of cotton, it’s safe to say that your sewing business sells many different products.

Proper inventory management is incredibly important, especially for sewing stores — it’s what allows you to run your business efficiently. Many craft stores like sewing, quilting, and fabric shops can become quickly disorganized if store owners don’t properly manage inventory.

So, what’s the right way to manage your sewing business inventory? In this blog, we’ll explore how to keep track of your sewing business inventory with these 7 top strategies.

Categorize Your Sewing Business Inventory

Picture this: You’re walking through a store and no matter how hard you try, you can’t seem to find what you’re looking for. We’ve all been there. Disorganized stores can ruin your customers’ experience and hurt your sewing store’s efficiency.

The solution is simple: Categorize your inventory. Proper categorization not only helps your customers find and buy what they’re looking for more quickly, it also allows you to keep track of your sewing business’ inventory and improve organization.

Luckily, categorizing your inventory can be a simple process — it’s recommended to categorize your sewing business’ inventory by type of product and brand.

For example, you decide to put all of the sewing machines together. In your sewing machine section, you should put all the Singer machines together. This makes it easier for you to keep track of your sewing machines and for your customers to find what they need quickly.

Implement Barcode Labels

Implementing barcodes is one of the best things you can do to make your sewing business more efficient. But why? The answer is simple: automation.

Barcodes give each of your products a unique number. This helps you know exactly what’s in your store at all times. That means that you can know exactly when you need to bring in more inventory.

You can also get incredibly helpful data that you can’t get without using a barcoding system. Once this inventory management strategy is implemented in your sewing shop, you can know what products are trending, what your bestselling products are, and when your hot-selling dates are.

Using barcodes is a great way to keep track of your sewing business inventory because everything is tracked and accounted for in your inventory management software. The only thing you need to do is scan the product or enter the product into your software once you receive it, and scan the product once it’s been purchased.

Once you decide which inventory management software you want to use for your sewing business, you can easily scan in your items and your software will immediately create a unique code for that product.

Make sure you buy a reliable barcode scanner and printer so that you can implement this new strategy without issue. Typically, your inventory management software company will recommend hardware that works best with your system.

Organize Your Stockroom Efficiently

Although organizing your stockroom seems like a simple step, it’s incredibly important. You and your employees should have an organization system in place in the back so you can keep track of which products are on the floor, which products are in the back room, and what you need to buy more of.

If you’ve implemented the barcode system, make sure you separate products that have been scanned in and the ones that haven’t — although this is usually done automatically through your software, if you’ve sold the product previously.

When organizing your stockroom, keep in mind how you’ve organized your store. It should be similar so that your employees can easily find what they’re looking for and restock your shelves as quickly as possible. You also should make sure that your shelves are clearly labeled for you and your employees.

When it comes to keeping track of your sewing business inventory, organizing your store is just as important as organizing your stockroom.

Conduct Regular Stock Audits

Like always, there might be a bump or two along the way — your system might not match what’s in your store. That’s why you need to make sure that you and your staff are doing regular stock audits.

Normally, your system can take care of your audits. However, you should do a manual audit at least once per quarter so that you can straighten out any kinks in the system.=

Inventory audits might not sound fun, but they don’t have to be anything too complicated. Simply confirm that what you see in your sewing shop matches everything in your inventory management system.

Remember: Be proactive, not reactive. As you conduct regular audits to keep track of your sewing business’ inventory, you can stay ahead of issues and make sure your store inventory is aligned with your inventory management software.

Use Sewing-Specific Inventory Management Software

Obviously, in order to properly keep track of sewing business inventory, you need to have an inventory management system. However, what many sewing business owners don’t realize is that inventory management is made much easier by having sewing-specific inventory software.

Make sure you do your research and find an inventory management system that makes things easier for you in the sewing industry.

A positive to looking for a niche software is that they typically have sewing-specific integrations. This means that they’ll have preloaded product catalogs for you so that you can easily add popular sewing items to your inventory with just the click of a button.

Make sure to look for a sewing-specific inventory management software so that you can streamline your processes even more. It will save you hours of manual work which means you can focus on what matters most: your customers.

Train Your Staff

Remember that you don’t have to do all of this alone. Make sure to train your staff so that they understand the ins and outs of inventory management for your sewing business. They should understand the process just as well as you do, so you can leave the store without operations coming to a halt.

When training your staff, come up with processes together. Have people look at your sewing store floor and stockroom so that they can confirm that it makes sense for them and, in turn, for the customer.

Remember: Repetition is key. Make sure to give ongoing training so that everyone, including yourself, can stay up to date with software updates, store layout changes, and process enhancements.

Having a knowledgeable staff is another way to ensure your inventory is managed accurately. Your employees can help you keep track of data entry, handling returns, and loss prevention, so that you aren’t doing everything by yourself.

Invest in a Point of Sale System Catered to Your Business

Your inventory management system is nothing without a point of sale (POS) system. Like your inventory management system, you want to have a sewing-specific POS system so that it caters to all of your business needs.

Choosing the right POS system ensures you get all the relevant data for your sewing business. Make sure that your inventory management and POS systems work together seamlessly. Preferably, you want these two systems to be integrated — this way, you don’t have to work with multiple softwares.

In addition to inventory management, a sewing-specific POS system can:

Send marketing communications to your customers.
Handle word orders in case a customer needs repair work done on their sewing machine.
Schedule sewing classes.
Work with and house your e-commerce website.

The perfect POS system for your sewing business not only helps you keep track of sewing business inventory, but it enhances and automates virtually every aspect of your business.

How To Keep Track of Sewing Business Inventory With Like Sew

Once you’ve implemented these seven ways to keep track of your sewing business’ inventory, you’re sure to see success. As your sewing business grows, you might have to pivot your inventory management strategy. Just remember these seven tips:

Categorize your inventory.
Implement barcode labels.
Organize your stockroom efficiently.
Conduct regular stock audits.
Use sewing-specific inventory management software.
Train your staff.
Invest in a POS system that’s catered to your business

Now, you need the right tools to carry out this new strategy.

Like Sew has the perfect software that’s made for sewing businesses — it’s an all-in-one POS system, which means you only have to work with one software to manage your sewing shop.

With Like Sew, you can easily restock your store with preloaded catalogs that have popular sewing products already in the system. You can also easily conduct regular stock audits with its easy-to-use inventory management system data.

You never have to worry about hard-to-understand data again. Like Sew’s reports generatedata that’s meant specifically for sewing businesses. This means you don’t have to scroll through useless analytics that you’ll never need to use.

Like Sew also has a training program so that you and your employees understand exactly how to use the software. If you hire new employees or need a refresher course, the customer service department is easily accessible — this way, you can always stay up to date on all of Like Sew’s capabilities.

Like Sew is the perfect system to help you keep track of your sewing business’ inventory. Schedule a demo today and see success in no time.