In the events industry, opportunities for rental companies to profit abound. One of the simplest ways for a rental business to increase their earnings is by operating efficiently and reducing costs associated with their inventory, including purchasing additional storage space or investing in event rental software packages, among others.
Inventory Management
In terms of profitability, rental inventory is typically one of the biggest investments made by a rental company. With the sheer amount of money a company can spend on assets, it’s important to optimize and augment this investment by tracking the number of items available—a function better known as inventory management. Renting out items that aren’t available is not only defeating the purpose but worse yet, costs a lot of time!
On the other hand, when you manage rentals manually – otherwise known as doing it the old fashioned way – it can get rather cumbersome to play catch up for many reasons. There is a lot of time spent tracking down and contacting clients to maintain accurate inventory levels. For example, time is wasted on simple mistakes that are made during inventory management such as adding too much instead of less or swapping products around.
An intuitive inventory management system like Rentopian can help you better manage your rental inventories by reducing the amount of extra money spent. With such a system in place, it becomes easier to have an overview of what has been rented, how much is currently in stock and what needs to be ordered or subrented in order to avoid costly shortages.
Tracking Inventory
The first and most obvious reason to track inventory is because you own something and it’s an asset. There are additional reasons why you should keep track of your assets
- As an entrepreneur, it’s your responsibility to keep tabs on the ins and outs of your inventory. If you lose track of what’s going in and out of your inventory because you aren’t properly recording all transactions, you could end up losing some cash on either side. Because the value of inventory changes over time, the older items can become less valuable.
- Having clear and orderly records of inventory is prudent. It helps you properly address cash flow concerns, as well as maintain accurate financial records to avoid audits.
- From a legal perspective, inventory management is also important. Keeping good records of this helps to reduce the risk of litigation. It is difficult to prove whether an item was purchased without keeping good records and therefore it helps if you’re able to track your consumption rate and replenish as necessary so you can stay on top of any losses which might occur otherwise.
It takes much more than furniture to make a successful event rental business. For example, you have to worry about the overhead of renting space for all of your inventory, delivery vehicles and other equipment, as well as numerous employees to keep everything running smoothly. Perhaps most importantly, you need quality inventory that you can trust in order to fulfill customer expectations from the moment they arrive at your warehouse throughout their interaction with your company. Additionally, you need to make sure that you’re creating a plan from the start to make sure your event rental business stays on track. It’s important that you make it a priority to stay organized so as to prevent yourself from being overly distracted and having problem after problem piling up on top of each other causing lost money or worse yet customers dissatisfaction.
Benefits of Inventory Management Software
Inventory management is a more effective way of reducing the cost of rentals, as it helps alleviate some of the everyday woes associated with having inventory. There are many online softwares such as event rental inventory management software that can keep track of every product in your warehouse or showroom. An easier and all-around more convenient way to handle inventory tracking when it comes to event rentals is by using an innovative program like Rentopian, which not only keeps track and organizes all your products but also updates them automatically when any updates or changes are made.
When it comes down to reducing the time spent tracking inventory, we’ve found that a combination of barcode scanning and user-friendly inventory management software automates a lot of workflows. Barcodes work well because they allow you to easily find, scan and rent out the product. Upon return, scanning the barcode sticker will mark the item as “Returned” and log it as such in your inventory calendar. Invoicing software allows you to keep track of returned inventory by providing statistics on which products have been frequently rented throughout the year, and which ones should be retired from your lineup if they haven’t been rented out at all, or very minimally.
Final Thoughts
To ensure event rentals are successful, business owners should focus on reducing inventory costs to increase the bottom line. This can be done by making sure items are easily accessible and searchable, and that they are coded properly. Additionally, it is important to consider new storage space if all storage locations have been maxed, and invest in an event rental software for inventory management.
Renting out tables, chairs and all sorts of equipment for special events can be costly. But with the help of a software solution such as Rentopian, companies can save time, money, and effort when it comes to managing their inventory. Having inventory management solutions like this takes away a lot of pressure that occurs in an event rental business. With all these factors taken into consideration, there is no wonder why so many companies are quickly making the switch from traditional rental methods to inventory management software!
Inventory management software streamlines the way that you manage your event rental supplies and services. It also allows you greater access to information regarding sales and profit margins that in turn allows you to make better business decisions – ultimately saving you both time and money. For a free online demo of Rentopian, the all-in-one event rental software, contact us today to get started.