5 Reasons Why You Need to be Using SKU Barcodes
Using SKU barcodes to help manage your ecommerce business might seem like an unnecessary step. After all, keeping track of your inventory hasn’t been too difficult so far, and there haven’t been any problems yet, right?
SKU barcodes are more important than you might think.
Barcodes use item numbers or stock keeping units (SKUs) for your Amazon store. Barcodes help you reach your full sales potential, regardless of the size of your inventory, by keeping track of and managing your inventory in your warehouse. Many professional companies use SKU barcodes to manage their goods and sell them across multiple marketplaces, but why is it so beneficial? Here are five reasons why you should use barcodes with your business:
FREE DOWNLOAD: Before you go any further, download our SKU Code Generator for Microsoft Excel and to start creating SKUs for your products today.
1. It’s Easy
Barcodes helps in many different ways, such as categorizing products easily, measuring inventory levels, purchasing accurate items, and helping make communication between you, the vendors and your customers smooth and efficient. Barcodes are easy to implement and keep track of; instead of having to input unique individual numbers for each product, you can easily scan in or out a piece of inventory and have it register automatically in your inventory management system. The data on that item can then be recalled at any time with a simple scan, and be accessible from all devices.
2. It’s Accurate
Barcode implementation helps ensure that an item is never double counted, lost, or mislabeled. By attaching a barcode to each product in your inventory, you can also easily keep track of how much of a particular type of product you have. This can be beneficial when measuring inventory levels and deciding on numbers like safety stock. Additionally, if you want to sell your product across multiple sales channels such as Amazon, eBay, Walmart, or Shopify, these channels require an SKU or UPC to list your product. If you already have SKUs assigned to your products, it will be easier for you to match different listings of the same product amongst all your online channels. If you use an inventory management software, it will act as a sort of hub for all your sales channels by connecting to other sales channels and feeding them the correct inventory quantity for the right product.
3. It’s Cost-Effective
Implementing barcodes in your warehouse is very cost-effective! Each barcode label only costs a few cents, and all will be compatible with an inventory management system, ensuring that they work every time. Additionally, barcode implementation cuts down on work and training time, which will improve overhead costs and save you money by increasing productivity. Finally, implementing SKU barcodes ensures that you do not tie up money in accidentally ordering excess inventory, which can save you money in the long run.
4. It’s Accessible
Barcode technology is simple and accessible to implement and can be used in a variety of ways. Additionally, the technology is everywhere and internationally recognized, which helps when selling overseas. Every experienced merchant knows that the best way to search and find a product is the SKU code or the UPC code. Barcodes also help other retailers search for your product and find your store. WMS systems like Logiwa help manage barcode data and provide access to it in real-time.
5. It’s Secure
Barcodes not only streamline the sales process but also leave less room for errors. Without a barcode, it is impossible to tell whether a returned item truly came from your store. For example, if you sell dish soap and someone returns it to your store, you have no way of telling whether the dish soap being returned is truly from your store, or if it is from somewhere else. Barcodes make sure your inventory is secure and free from fraud situations like this. It also keeps track of all your inventory and allows your system to pool data from a quick scan, which can help when having to report exact numbers for taxes or other purposes. Barcodes provide the security of knowing that your inventory is accurate and error-free, and that you have data for it always.
