According to the industry characteristics of cross-border e-commerce, taking foreign trade enterprises as an example, the inventory of the cross-border e-commerce industry can be divided into four categories, namely domestic warehouse inventory, third-party overseas warehouse (FBA warehouse) inventory, in-transit inventory and safety inventory.
① Domestic warehouse inventory.
Refers to the goods for sale purchased by domestic enterprises from upstream suppliers and stored in domestic warehouses;
② Third-party overseas warehouse (FBA warehouse) inventory.
Refers to the finished goods for sale that FBA overseas warehouses and third-party overseas warehouses receive goods sent from domestic warehouses and inspect and put into the warehouse;
③ In-transit inventory.
Refers to the finished goods that are shipped from domestic warehouses to FBA warehouses and third-party overseas warehouses and are still on the way and have not been received;
④ Safety inventory.
Refers to the finished goods for sale that are prepared in advance to FBA warehouses or third-party overseas warehouses in order to prevent the store from being out of stock and affecting sales. Safety inventory is the safety inventory determined based on the average sales volume of the platform within a certain period and comprehensive domestic procurement time, in-transit transportation time, in-transit inventory and other factors. (Sales in the cross-border e-commerce industry are greatly affected by seasonal fluctuations. It is recommended to consider the seasonal impact and make dynamic adjustments)
Warehouse purchase and sales formula
Ending inventory = beginning inventory + current period inventory – current period outbound
Beginning inventory: refers to how many types of goods are in the warehouse at the end of the previous month and the beginning of this month, how many quantities of each type of goods are there, and how much the value of the goods is;
Current period inventory: refers to the total number and value of goods in the warehouse this month, which may be purchase inventory, customer return inventory, other warehouse transfer inventory, borrowed inventory, warehouse inventory report overflow inventory, etc. The warehouse keeper should clearly record the specific reasons, quantity, name and other detailed information of the goods entering the warehouse;
Current period outbound: refers to the total number and value of goods outbound from the warehouse this month, which may be sales outbound, FBA overseas warehouse, after-sales replenishment, loaned goods, warehouse inventory report loss outbound, etc. The warehouse keeper should clearly record the specific reasons, quantity, name and other detailed information of the goods outbound:
Ending inventory: refers to the total number and value of goods remaining in the warehouse at the end of the month.
Although this formula is very simple, in actual work, many companies still have chaotic inventory management and cannot clearly calculate how much inventory there is. In order to calculate the inventory data clearly, companies must first confirm whether the following four points are achieved:
①Is the inventory purchase and sales data registration clear?
②Are the inventory locations and labels one-to-one?
③Does it have a unique product code (associated SKU)?
④Is inventory taken regularly?
Clear registration of inventory purchase and sales data is the most basic condition for good inventory management. If the data is not accurate, then the subsequent analysis and prediction based on the data will be meaningless. To do a good job of basic data management, it is necessary to associate the goods code (unique SKU) with the sales SKU (platform sales SKU) and the Amazon identification code (ASIN) code. If there is no association, the inventory data will become more and more chaotic over time.