Small and medium-size businesses are very, very, very bad at inventory management and forecasting.
You could likely dominate a profitable space by being superior in this.
I’m always shocked at how poorly smallish businesses do this. Most probably don’t rely on any software to do this, I’m guessing.
I’m always shocked at how poorly smallish businesses do this. Most probably don’t rely on any software to do this, I’m guessing.
You’re shocked? I don’t know what businesses you saw that prompted this observation but smallish and mediums are bad for several reasons. The efficiencies large chains have in ordering stock just aren’t there for small and medium size businesses. A lot of places are under capitalized so they don’t get that using software will save them money in the long run, mainly because they judge the upfront cost to be too high. Even the cost of getting someone to enter inventory into system is judged to be too much. I could go on and on.
The fact that many don’t have websites, or very poor websites with their hours and location bizarrely not listed, also always makes me wonder what their owners are thinking.
I don’t have any desire to be a small business owner as it’s way too much hard work, but sometimes it seems like they don’t even attempt to help themselves.
The fact that many don’t have websites, or very poor websites with their hours and location bizarrely not listed, also always makes me wonder what their owners are thinking.
They’re thinking that their customers aren’t likely to use the internet to find them. It’s an increasingly invalid assumption, but if you run on word of mouth and they’re very old, it’s not likely they’re checking Yelp or Google Plus. I know some mechanics that operate this way.
Conversely, I’ve seen some absolute failures and frauds of business people invest very heavily into their web presence, more than their actual products. If I didn’t already know or didn’t already have a very skeptical mind, I would have thought they were legit.