Initial stock: how to define this in your e-commerce?

In e-commerce, the initial stock is the accumulation of products in a warehouse, which must be offered for sale in a virtual store that is about to be launched or that is starting an accounting year. In addition, opening inventory can be defined as the monetary value of all products that are stored and can be offered for sale over a period of time.

HOW TO DEFINE THE INITIAL STOCK IN E-COMMERCE?

Before you define your initial inventory, you need to know why it is important to have an inventory. One of the main reasons is that it eliminates delivery bottlenecks. For example, let's say your online store tells your customer that delivery will be made in 1 day. However, your supplier can only deliver in 10 days. Fortunately, you have an inventory, so you can make the delivery immediately, preventing delays.

So, to define the initial inventory for your e-commerce business, you must first create a Business Plan. This document will help you theoretically establish the general outlines of your business, such as its organizational culture, target audience, and product mix , for example; and to plan your inventory.

It's difficult, however, to establish how many units of each product your initial inventory should have, as your e-commerce business hasn't yet had any real market experience. However, based on the studies you conducted while creating your Business Plan and on studies of your target audience's personas, it's possible to make an estimate.

It is recommended, however, to buy a few items of each product from your suppliers. This way, you will have a complete stock, but not too big at the beginning. Then, as your virtual store makes sales and gains market experience, you will discover which products have the greatest output and which your customers want, but which are not yet part of your product mix. This will allow you to fine-tune your inventory over time, buying more of some items and less of others, and buying products that complete your mix.

HOW TO CALCULATE?

As stated at the beginning of this post, opening stock can also refer to the monetary value of all products that are stored and can be offered for sale over a period of time. To calculate this, you must use the formula , which we can simplify like this .

Let's say, then, that your COGS was R$1.500,00, your purchases R$1.400,00, and your ending inventory R$93.000,00. Applying the formula <COGS=BI+P-EF> we will have:

Calculating the opening stock is useful, for example, to find out how much merchandise you must have in stock to generate a certain sales volume and maintain a certain turnover over a period.

• As soon as you can click on “Inventory Management” and learn how important this is in e-commerce!