Run a profitable clothing store

Chapter 26 Purchase tips and storage methods for clothing stores (5)
Replenishment pays great attention to details, but no one is perfect, and there will inevitably be negligence.This not only requires the clerk to work hard to improve the degree of prudence in doing things, but also requires the clerk to accumulate experience in practice and try to kill negligence in the bud.

Care is very necessary in warehouse management
In the process of clothing store operation, it is necessary to discover losses as early as possible, and take corresponding countermeasures quickly, and strive to kill losses in the cradle.But often due to people's negligence, the loss of clothing has more serious consequences, and it is not discovered until it is irreparable, so it has caused considerable economic losses to clothing stores.It is best for clothing stores to divide the business process into three stages: purchase, display and sales, and formulate corresponding management methods in stages, so as to effectively reduce or even avoid losses.

1. Purchase stage
(1) Check whether there is any discrepancy between the purchase bill and the actual quantity of clothing.Such as ordering by telephone, it is easy to appear that the type and quantity of clothing recorded in the purchase receipt do not match the clothing delivered.Especially when ordering from clothing wholesalers, due to errors in brand, size, and packaging, the price does not match the actual purchase.

(2) Failure to check or not check carefully may result in losses.This kind of situation is mostly seen when the business is busy, the clerk is too busy, and the clothing store is directly moved into the warehouse without the clerk checking the order quantity and specifications in detail.This is mainly because when clothing is put into inventory without inspection, and when it is time to ship or the source of goods in the store needs to be replaced, it is directly taken out of the warehouse and sold, and shortages and contamination may occur.

(3) Small negligence of the clerk when purchasing goods and keeping accounts may also lead to losses.Although the records of the purchase receipts are correct and the acceptance of the clothes is correct, when the purchases are recorded in the account books, losses will also be caused due to mistakes in the records.

(4) Poor management of storage places may also lead to losses.Poor storage places such as warehouses and poor temperature management can also cause clothing loss, especially the loss of clothing caused by light exposure, water erosion, insect damage, deterioration, improper fire protection, broken packaging, and improper stacking methods. .

In order to discover and prevent the loss of clothing when purchasing in time, the store manager should pay attention to check the clothing and bills purchased, especially the quantity, unit price, and ordering unit.In particular, the bookkeeping related to the purchase subpoena should be done well at the same time.In addition, maintaining good storage conditions in the warehouse cannot be ignored.

2. Display stage
(1) Fraud or theft is often encountered in the operation of clothing stores. If the clerk finds out and stops them in time, it will often cause direct economic losses to the clothing store.According to statistics, the stolen rate of clothing stores accounts for about 0.6% of sales, and there is a gradual increase trend.

(2) Shop assistants should pay attention to whether there are traces of children’s mischief in the store, such as clothes being stained with ink by children, packaged clothes being secretly opened or being stolen by others.

(3) The clerk should pay attention to the precautions for the display of each garment, and check whether there is any improper display place.There are many such situations, such as individual clothes being exposed to the sun, which can easily cause some clothes to change color and become old.

In order to detect and prevent the loss of clothing on display as early as possible, you should generally beware of those naughty children.In order to prevent theft, fraud, stealing sheep, etc., you can set up anti-theft devices, closed-circuit televisions or make codes on clothing in the store.

3. Sales stage

(1) Price error is the most common clothing loss situation.For example, if a product costs 100 yuan and sells for 150 yuan, it is mistakenly sold as 80 yuan.

(2) Mistakes in paying or collecting bills can also cause clothing losses.

(3) The customer accidentally soiled or damaged the clothes during the fitting process.

Disposal Ideas for Clothing Inventory
Inventory "defective products" refer to clothing that has deteriorated, damaged packaging and cannot be sold, or defective products caused by power outages, floods, fires, poor manufacturing or poor storage.When dealing with defective products in stock, we must adhere to the following principles:
(1) Regardless of whether it is a free inspection by the store, a consumer's return or a defective product caused by an accident, the supervisor of the business site should reconfirm whether it is really impossible to sell it.

(2) After confirming the defective products, the personnel on the business site shall register them, pack and store the defective products in a centralized manner, and notify the purchasing personnel at the same time to inquire about the feasibility of replacement.

(3) If it is the responsibility of the manufacturer and there are still business contacts, the goods can be exchanged or returned, otherwise the clothing store operator must bear the loss by itself.

(4) Do a good job in the destruction of defective products. The destruction of defective products is best carried out by the acceptance personnel together, and the inspection records must be checked.

In order to make inventory management more reasonable, we should follow the following system:
(1) The warehouse is divided into areas to be inspected, areas for qualified products, and areas for unqualified products, and obvious signs should be placed in each area.

(2) All garments entering the warehouse should be divided and classified in the specified intervals, and the accounts for entering and leaving the warehouse should be consistent with the location card.

(3) The warehouse capacity should be used reasonably, and the stacking should be neat and firm without any inversion.Inventory clothing should be stored in order according to the length of purchase, first in first out, and clothing of different batch numbers must not be mixed.

(4) The warehouse should be kept dry, tidy and ventilated. The floor should be clean and free from water accumulation. , Appropriate measures.

(5) The warehouse should be cleaned and disinfected on a regular basis, and fly, rodent, and cockroach inspections and cleaning should be carried out daily, and records should be kept.

(6) Non-warehouse employees are not allowed to enter the warehouse.When entering and leaving the warehouse, special shoes for the warehouse should be changed to prevent the entry of dust.

(7) Smoking, drinking, and eating are not allowed in the warehouse, and personal sundries unrelated to clothing storage are not allowed, and flammable, explosive and toxic items are not allowed to be stored in the warehouse.

Bad products in the clothing store warehouse indicate that the management of the warehouse is not in place.Good warehouse management not only knows how to analyze at the end of the month, but also at ordinary times.Good warehouse management should do the following:

(1) Inventory clothing should be positioned, that is, different clothing should be stored according to the principle of classification and regional management, and placed on shelves, not outside the designated place.The warehouse must have at least three areas: the first is a large number of storage areas, which are stored in full boxes or pallets; the second is a small amount of storage area, which is to place clothing on display racks; the third is the return area, which is about to be returned. Clothing is placed on dedicated shelves.After the location is determined, make a configuration map and post it at the entrance of the warehouse for easy access.

(2) Garments that take a long time to replenish should be prioritized at the entrance of the warehouse to shorten the replenishment route.

(3) Pay attention to the temperature and humidity in the warehouse area, keep it dry and well ventilated.

(4) Pay attention to strict management, no one is allowed to enter or leave the warehouse casually, and the management personnel must lock the warehouse door after get off work.

(5) Warehouse storage and retrieval should in principle be stored as you arrive and retrieved as needed, but for efficiency and safety considerations, operating hours should be regulated.

(6) Labor saving and efficiency should be taken into account in the storage and retrieval of clothing. It is best to purchase trolleys, carts, etc.

(7) The ordering personnel should contact the warehouse management personnel in time so that the goods can be stored in time.In addition, the ordering personnel should promptly provide an early warning notice of insufficient inventory to prevent stock-outs.

(8) Regularly inspect and disinfect the warehouse, and clean up defective products in time, and fill in the form and report.

How to handle inventory
It is understood that the normal inventory ratio of Wenzhou garment enterprises is 20%, but in many enterprises it is much higher than this ratio.The inventory problem has become a stumbling block and a roadblock to the accelerated development of many clothing companies or clothing stores.

The clothing store is getting bigger and bigger, the warehouse is getting bigger and bigger, and the sales have doubled, but the working capital on the book has not increased much. Why?It turned out that they all went to the warehouse.Some clothing store owners said that the management of clothing stores is a little behind, and they don't even know how much valuable goods are in their warehouses.Especially for some clothing that is particularly sensitive to fashion, it will be updated and eliminated quickly, and it will bring a large amount of inventory if you are not careful.Some leisure products sell for about one or two hundred yuan when they first go on the market, but when the season changes, they often sell for tens of yuan a piece.What is even more frightening is the inventory of women's clothing. Since the styles and fabrics of women's clothing are updated very quickly, no female consumer wants to be left behind.Clothes that cannot be sold this year may be difficult to deal with in the next year.

So, in general, how should we deal with inventory and reduce risks?

1. Open a discount store
For casual wear such as Meters Bonwe, Gaobang, Semir, and Bailide, it is a good way to open special outlets to deal with inventory—it does not affect new products, and the inventory is quickly processed.

2. Hold a trade fair

For example, some woolen sweater companies in Shanghai prefer to organize and participate in some product fairs through dealers in major and medium cities. In fact, the main purpose is to clear their huge inventories.Trade fairs mainly rely on price advantages to attract customers, so they can attract specific consumer groups who buy inventory and sell the inventory directly.

3. Take it to rural areas for processing
Rural areas are relatively less sensitive to fashion trends, and what they value most is price and quality.Therefore, as long as the price of clothing is cheap and the quality is acceptable, it can generally sell well in rural areas.

4. Do a good job of mediation, and styles with uneven sizes and colors should be sold in a centralized manner.

For clothing styles with uneven sizes and colors, they can be processed together.For example, during seasonal discounts, clothing with a small size or a single color can be directly reduced in price on the float.In this way, these clothes can be sold by means of discounts, so that they will not become backlogs.

5. Off-season diversification
"Clothes bought for 35 yuan are now sold for 25 yuan." Before August came, Xiaoyue's clothing store began to change seasons and sell goods.Xiaoyue believes that it is better to be in debt than to sell goods. This is a sales principle for clothing in the off-season.The working capital of clothing stores is mainly the money sold every month. If the goods are suppressed, they will not be able to support them for at most two months.The main purpose of dumping goods is to keep the rent, survive two or three months, and persist until the peak season.

In order to prevent overstocking, Xiaoyue's clothing store no longer buys the current clothing before the season changes.Shrewd, she will secretly change the face of the clothing store at this time and invest in those peak season products.For example, she will put those purses and trinkets that were used as a foil in a conspicuous position.Although small accessories such as earrings, necklaces, bracelets, anklets and those cute cartoon bags do not make much money, the individual profits are still very high.Moreover, personalized accessories are easy to attract customers, and many customers are also interested in clothing after being attracted to the store by accessories.Let customers be interested in clothing while being attracted by non-main products.So sometimes when there are too many customers, Xiaoyue is still too busy alone, and the off-season can be easily passed.

6. Timely transfer goods
When buying goods, insist on a small amount and a variety of styles, and set rules for the shopping guides in the store. As long as the new style is not inquired within 3 days, or is not sold within 5 days, it will quickly return to the wholesaler to exchange other colors or shape.At present, the competition in the clothing wholesale market is very fierce. In order to sell as many products as possible, wholesalers generally allow other colors or styles of the same item to be exchanged.

7. Change the concept of employees and establish the awareness of all employees on reducing inventory

Respond to extensive publicity and education for all employees to form a good atmosphere for implementing zero inventory management.

8. Reasonable normal inventory control

Assume that the normal daily delivery volume of the clothing store is 120 pieces, and the minimum safe stock of the day is 160 pieces. If the experience of the clothing store is to order from the supplier every 6 days, and the road transportation time is 7 days, then it is reasonable and normal The number of inventory control should be: 120×(6+7)+160=1720 pieces, the formula:

Reasonable normal inventory control quantity = average daily sales volume x (number of days between orders + days in transit) + daily minimum safety stock.

According to this reasonable normal inventory control number, both parties can have confidence in their hearts, but this is only a standard reference number, and some variables should be considered in the specific situation.For example, when encountering May Day and National Day, we must consider the promotion situation of holidays. If the situation is good, the sales volume may be 2 to 3 times the normal daily sales volume, so we must make sufficient inventory preparations before the holidays.

Avoid internal and external wear and tear

The gap between the implantation rate of clothing purchases and the gross profit rate obtained after the actual inventory of clothing is called loss, mainly due to the gap between the book inventory and the actual inventory inventory.Clothing wear and tear is an intangible asset loss that is easily overlooked by store owners.If clothing wear and tear can be detected early, measures can be taken quickly, thereby significantly reducing operating errors.Clothing loss is mainly divided into two categories: external reasons and internal reasons, each of which has different specific characteristics.

1. Internal loss.The internal loss is mainly due to poor management of the clothing store itself, which mainly includes four aspects: improper ordering, improper acceptance, price changes and unknown loss.

(1) Improper ordering

In order to avoid the loss caused by improper ordering, the shopkeeper needs to grasp the timing of the order and the quantity of the goods.Too early or too late may lead to unsalable clothing, and the number of orders will directly affect the inventory of clothing stores.

Make sure to check the inventory status of the store and warehouse before purchasing.When ordering, please refer to the previous purchase quantity, unit price and turnover rate.Strictly reiterate the number of low-profit clothing varieties when ordering, and the composition ratio of high-profit clothing will naturally increase.Orders must be in the right amount, otherwise it will not only take time, money and manpower to return the goods, but also increase operating costs virtually.For a single large order, or if the order quantity exceeds a certain standard within a month, the clothing should be listed as a key purchase commodity, and the shopkeeper must grasp its sales situation.

(2) Improper acceptance

When checking and accepting, carefully check the delivery subpoena and clothing to confirm that the order in our store is correct.

Check whether the clothing name matches the specification and size.

Check by box, but for opened boxes, check the number of garments inside.

Open and check the clothes with damage or dirt on the outside. For the damaged clothes, confirm the number of damages in front of the deliveryman.

For some urgently needed clothing, the store owner agrees with the supplier on the delivery time and detailed acceptance details in advance.

Garments sent directly from the manufacturer do not require a subpoena, but a delivery note.The acceptance personnel must carefully check whether there is any error in the product name and quantity listed on the delivery note, and then keep the delivery note first.In the future, when the supplier's purchase subpoena arrives, take the delivery note for comparison, and only after there is no problem can the seal be stamped on the acceptance column.

(3) Price changes

Clothing has strong fashion factors, strong timeliness, and large market fluctuations.Market fluctuations are most directly reflected in the price of clothing.The law of the clothing cycle often brings a trend of price changes from top to bottom, which will bring direct profit losses to clothing stores.

The more common factor for clothing price changes is that clothing stores adjust the price of clothing due to the need to stimulate sales, which is mainly manifested in various promotional activities.

(4) Unknown loss

Some details may also lead to the loss of clothing, such as the wrong price tag posted by the clerk.

2. External loss

External losses are often not the subjective actions of the store, but mainly caused by objective factors, mainly including two aspects: bad suppliers and improper behavior of customers.

(1) Bad suppliers
People often say: "There are dead branches on a big tree." Greed is hidden in the nature of many businessmen. common way.The specific manifestations of wholesalers' tampering mainly include:
Alter the invoice, or do not issue the original invoice, only provide a copy of the invoice.

Replace a disputed account with a changing outfit, a previous item of clothing for a later item of clothing, or a lower priced item of clothing for a higher priced item.

Before taking inventory and acceptance, bring in new clothes, or not take the clothes to the designated shelf area, or quickly order and collect the clothes delivered by yourself, and leave an invoice.

In the purchase registration book, the correct entry and exit time is not filled out.

Suppliers leave unopened boxes without being inspected by anyone.

Effective measures should be taken against these unscrupulous behaviors of suppliers.Limit the number and time of suppliers entering the clothing store, and register for entry and exit when entering.The clerk should carefully check and accept the clothing according to the purchase receipt, and keep the original invoice for record after signing.At the same time, shopkeepers should also prevent shop assistants from colluding with suppliers for profit.

(2) Misconduct by customers
The misbehavior of customers is mainly manifested in the situation that customers insist on returning and exchanging goods, causing clothing to be stained, taking away clothing and leaving only packaging bags, etc.Clothing stores should formulate corresponding preventive and preventive measures for these specific behaviors, so as to effectively reduce the loss of clothing.For specific methods, please refer to the following points:
①Shop clerks should pay attention to customers who bring bags in.

② Improve the supervision and prevention awareness of shop assistants, and strengthen the supervision of blind spots in clothing stores.

③Do our best to prevent the occurrence of customer theft, and deal with the customer's theft reasonably.

The above focuses on the importance of purchasing channels and storage methods for clothing stores, as well as some practical skills, to provide more practical reference for the operation of clothing stores.

(End of this chapter)