10 Indicators Your Warehouse Management System Needs An Upgrade

An inefficient system makes you lose 20-30% revenue every year according to IDC. When your business systems are adding complicated processes and unnecessary operation to your business operation, it’s a high time you should look elsewhere. Business systems supposed to raise the efficiency of your business processes by cutting manual labor, automating redundant tasks, increasing order velocity and optimizing inventory movement.

Modern warehouse management systems automate 80% of business operations thanks to machine learning, advanced control systems, intelligent programming, cutting-edge networking, and real time sharing of information. Shockingly, a one-third of warehouses don’t have a warehouse management system, according to a survey by WERC.

About three-quarters of WMS buyers want barcoding, which isn’t exactly the most advanced technology. For warehouses employing more than hundred employees, WMS budget can hit $300, 000. Over half of WMS buyers are struggling to find a solution to manage multiple warehouses. Chances are, the WMS implementation at your warehouse isn’t delivering any benefit. Rather the obsolete system is taking a toll on your revenue.

Your warehouse management system needs an upgrade if these 10 indicators are true.

1. Warehouse personnel hate the current implementation

A warehouse management system supposed to increase efficiency of your warehouse, not the other way around. Nobody wants to work on a system that does the otherwise. If the supervisor is receiving too many complaints about the poor state of WMS, you must delegate an external inspection of the system to understand personnel’s pain points.

If the system is at fault, I don’t think of a reason you shouldn’t upgrade your ancient WMS.

2. Customers are buying out-of-stock products and leaving poor reviews

Ancient warehouse management systems are not very different from spreadsheets when it comes to keeping track of inventories in your warehouse. Due to lack of automation, an operator has to manually mark a product out-of-stock, which takes time if you are selling too many products on multiple marketplaces.

Popular products sell per minute rather per hour or day, increasing their chances of overselling. Even if you apologize to the customers and offer discount or coupons at the time issuing refund, a frustrated customer will still leave a poor to average rating for the product.

3. Supervisors have to enter too many manual entries

If you find warehouse supervisors entering too much data into the WMS, it’s a clear indication your WMS is in dire straits. Your supervisor’s job is to watch over your employees, work on escalation calls and report you the progress. The system is hindering him doing his job will obligate the entire purpose of warehouse supervisors. He should make everybody’s job easier, not when he is stuck with such a demanding WMS.

4. Nobody has an idea about remaining inventory

If nobody has an idea about the remaining inventory at your warehouse, this should raise an alarm. They can always look at the system and tell. However, when the WMS isn’t up for the task, you have to unload everything in the warehouse and make a fresh count. Counting will require half of your workforce. In a few instances, you have to close down the warehouse for a couple days, which is a business loss.

A precise count of inventory numbers is mandatory if you’re selling online. Marketplaces like Walmart and Amazon require you to mention exact count at the time of product listing. Any inconsistencies may make them suspend your account owing to bad customer experience.

5. Inventory costs are mounting every month

This may sound weird but it’s normal for large online sellers selling thousands of products to miss updating their ‘out-of-stock’ listing to ‘available’ even when fresh stock arrives. Such products will lie on the shelves of your warehouse occupying unnecessary space and increasing your inventory costs.

Underselling is a common occurrence in ecommerce or any sort of retail business. Seldom, it is an outcome of stupidity. However, managing thousands of products listed on multiple marketplaces isn’t exactly simple. Only stupidity you’re committing is to not upgrade your warehouse management system.

6. No provision to measure KPIs

At the end of the day, you’re running business or, in simple words, you’re making a living out of it. You’re efforts are not going in the right direction if you’re not making progress. However, calculating progress isn’t straightforward when we are talking about a large ecommerce business. Modern WMSs display key performance indicators to measure your progress. Does your WMS?

7. A lot of time going into management than planning

The long-term goal of any business is to grow. However, if your existing WMS leaves too much to desire, then your managerial staff has too much on their plate. When they are too busy to interact with you and share their pain points, there isn’t much planning you can do without their feedback.

Without planning and proper feedback, you’re committing the same mistakes over and again. Your business will go downwards. If you have ever heard of chaotic warehouses, you’re making great strides in that direction.

8. Your competitors are gaining ground

Your competitors who were struggling to make grounds for themselves in the ecommerce space because you left no void left are starting to take the space left by your inefficient WMS. You’re now seeing more of them and it’s adding a lot of stress. They were already cutting on your sales but now they are taking on your profit.

You’re running meetings after meeting with your management and supervisors to address the problem but couldn’t draw a single line. Now, you’re looking at your competitors as potential buyers—your business in a state of complete disarray.

9. You have started to lose money

If one fine day while going throw account statements and balance sheets you realize the inevitable that you’re poorer than you were at the start of the year, your business is in downward spiral. You ignored every sign that indicated you need a system upgrade. If don’t upgrade your WMS now, I don’t know, when?

10. You want to get out of the warehouse business

Warehouse business is a profitable business that almost guarantees you a consistent source of income. In addition, you provide employment to a large group of people. A modern WMS means you can run the business with minimal effort. On the flipside, the business becomes a headache when you’re on an outdated warehouse management system.

Arrest the Inevitable with Warehouse Management System from eSellerHub

Such outdated system will make you lose faith in the business, money, and avenue of potential growth. If you’re already looking for buyers, don’t. People who buy falling businesses are often looking for a bargain. A better idea would be to upgrade the system. It’s never too late. With the right Warehouse Management System from eSellerHub in place, customized to your requirement, high on automation, you can make a comeback in weeks rather than months.