The following article is based on Anne Salemo's presentation at the 2017 Dealership Minds Summit. To watch the presentation, click here.
During a roundtable discussion at the Dealership Minds Summit moderated by Anne Salemo, president of Charter Software, dealer discussed how they are tracking their used equipment inventory. Implementing a real-time inventory tracking system at a dealership is an important business decision with several variables to consider. In order to evaluate whether a real-time tracking system will benefit your bottom line, dealers need to evaluate their losses and look at their internal inventory controls. If your internal inventory controls are off and not being managed properly, implementing a real-time tracking system will have little hope for success, one dealer commented.
If you’ve evaluated your losses, your internal controls are solid, and you have determined that a real-time inventory tracking and management system is the right action to take, now it is time to consider a system for your dealership. There are a variety of different systems with different plans and subscription models that, depending on the size of your inventory, may incur a significant increase in your cost of doing business. It is important to view the investment in a real-time system to track inventory as a cost reduction measure, and if needed, that additional cost to your business can be passed along to the customer.
There are other benefits to consider with real-time inventory tracking systems beyond being able to track the location of your equipment at any time. A real-time inventory tracking system can help you recover time lost on inventory management and will free up your inventory manager’s time to focus on tasks that have a more immediate impact on your bottom line.