New to sourcing wholesale cases or pallets? While buying in bulk can be cost-effective, knowing how to efficiently sort inventory is also a huge money-saving asset.
If organizing hundreds of items sounds intimidating, never fear! Check out these 5 essential steps to create a smart and speedy inventory sorting process.
1. Prepare Your Space
Before receiving inventory, be sure that you’ve properly cleared a space to process, sort, and store the products. Open, covered spaces (like garages) are ideal as they provide the most flexibility while still protecting your items.
You should also be aware of your order’s delivery method and the space it may require. For example, BULQ pallets include lift-gate service, which means they can be delivered to residences as well as warehouses. However, you still need a relatively large space for the pallet to be placed and unpacked.
On the other hand, BULQ cases are shipped ground right to your front door, with no special delivery required. If you’re just getting started or are short on space, we recommend giving a few cases a try first before scaling up.
2. Make the Most of Your Manifest
The manifest, a list of all items included in a particular case or pallet, is great resources for both researching and sorting your lot. Once your order arrives, reference your manifest as you unpack to ensure all items and quantities are accounted for.
As an added bonus, BULQ offers an unprecedented manifest accuracy guarantee. If the condition, quantity or presence of your items are different than what’s listed on the manifest, contact our Customer Care Team within 7 days of receiving your order and we’ll gladly assist you with a claim.
3. Divide and Conquer
Create an organizational system that will enable you to 1) track inventory you have and 2) locate items once you’re ready to ship them. Some common methods include sorting by product type, appearance, and where you intend to sell them. There’s no single best way to organize your inventory, so play around until you find a method that works for you.
4. Fix Cosmetic Issues
After sorting the inventory, spend a few minutes touching up less-than-perfect items to improve their appearance.
Focus on ways to improve the appearance of your products prior to listing. Simple steps like re-taping open boxes and removing clearance stickers can lead to better product photos and increased customer satisfaction. Doing so will save you time (and potentially make you more money) down the road.
5. Get Going on Your Listings
Now that you’ve checked all the organizational boxes, it’s time to put that inventory where customers can see it! As you’re putting items away, start creating draft listings that include basic information about each product. Once you’re done sorting, use the manifest to fill in additional product details.
There are even tools and resources designed to do some of the listing work for you. For example, certain bar code scanners can pull up existing listings for that item so you have something to refer to when making your own.
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Ready to start sourcing? Check out BULQ’s newly added pallets to dive right in, or explore our cases for a more manageable amount of inventory.
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