Small business owners have a lot on their plate. Not only do they need to wear multiple hats, but they also need to find ways to streamline their processes to be more efficient. One way that many small business owners can do this is by using Excel for product management. This article will discuss using Excel to track your inventory and invoices for product sales.
If you are unfamiliar with Excel, we recommend taking Advanced Excel courses before starting. This will ensure that you can utilize all the features that Excel offers. Once you have a good understanding of how Excel works, you can begin tracking your product inventory. This is important because it will allow you to see how much product you have in stock and how much you need to order.
Product Inventory
Many product managers use Excel to track inventory levels. By inputting product sales and shipment data, you can see how much stock you have on hand at any given time. This information can be valuable when making decisions about production levels and ordering new products. To get started, create a new spreadsheet, and input the following information:
- Product name
- SKU Number
- Quantity on hand
- Reorder level
- Lead time
Once you have this data entered, you can begin tracking inventory levels. Each time a product is sold or shipped, update the ‘Quantity on hand’ column accordingly. You can then use the ‘reorder level’ and ‘lead time’ columns to track when products need to be restocked.
By keeping a close eye on your inventory levels, you can avoid stock-outs and ensure that your customers always have the products they need.
Track Invoices for Product Sales
Invoices are critical to product management as they record all sales transactions. Excel can help you to track invoices by providing a central repository for all data.
To get started, create a new spreadsheet, and add the following columns:
- Invoice number
- Customer name
- Product name
- Quantity
- Unit price
- Total price.
Once you have entered all data, you can use Excel’s built-in functions to calculate totals and averages. This is a great way to keep track of your revenue and expenses.
By tracking your invoices, you will see which products are selling well and which are not. This information can be beneficial when deciding which products to keep in stock and which ones to discontinue.
The Bottom Line
There are many other ways that you can use Excel for product management. These are just a few of the most important things to remember. By using Excel, you will be able to save time and money while still being able to manage your product inventory and sales effectively.
