Logistics
Inventory Control Methods for Your Logistics Operations
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Cathy Carpetta
June 6, 2025
E-commerce logistics can define a brand’s success. The mission? Deliver fast shipping, reliable tracking, stand-out unboxing, and easy returns every time. For most online sellers, though, it’s a tall order.
Strategic logistics turns this challenge into an opportunity using inventory control to align stock with demand, cut costs, and boost customer trust.
This guide will walk you through the essentials: why strategic logistics matters, key inventory management methods, serious pitfalls to avoid, and practical solutions to keep your operations sharp.
1. Why Inventory Control is the Backbone of Strategic E-commerce Logistics
Strategic logistics goes beyond just moving products; it’s a key driver of e-commerce growth and efficiency. Ultimately, it aligns operations with long-term goals: increasing revenue, growing your customer base, and scaling efficiently.
Inventory control is the backbone of this approach. Get it right, and you ship orders on time, keep buyers happy, and expand without chaos. Get it wrong, and you face higher costs, lost sales, and a reputation hit.
Why does this matter? Research shows that 70% of shoppers will switch to a competitor rather than wait for out-of-stock items. That’s a direct hit to revenue and trust—two pillars of growth. Strategic logistics flips the script. It’s about planning ahead, not just reacting.
Consider stock turnover: Globally, the average was 8.5 cycles in 2024, meaning stock sold every 43 days on average. If you're slower than this, you risk excess stock, tying up cash that could be used to stay competitive in new markets or developing new products.
The stakes go beyond daily operations. Warehouse costs can rise by 10% a year globally. That means businesses must optimise space and stock to stay efficient. Strategic logistics is key to tackling this.
It’s also about cutting waste and being more efficient. The average company holds $142,000 in excess inventory—they’re holding more stock than what’s required to meet demand. Faster shipping or smarter inventory management can help you stand out and beat rivals.
Given all of this, e-commerce sellers have a real opportunity to turn logistics from a challenge into a competitive advantage, setting the stage for inventory management that delivers real results.
2. 4 Inventory Challenges That Sabotage E-commerce Logistics Operations
E-commerce logistics are far from easy. Effective inventory control faces several hurdles that can derail your strategy if you're not careful. Let’s break down the key challenges you’ll encounter and how they can affect your business.
2.1 Unpredictable Demand
Demand in e-commerce can change quickly. A product might suddenly go viral, and before you know it, you’re sold out. Then, after the hype fades, you might be left with excess stock. This unpredictability makes it difficult to forecast and manage costs.
This raises an important question: why are rolling costs difficult to predict in such environments?
The answer lies in the constant fluctuation of demand and supply, which makes accurately forecasting future costs challenging.
Supplier delays, such as shipments stuck at ports, can make it even more challenging. When demand fluctuates unexpectedly, your planning can be thrown off balance.
The danger? If products are out of stock, you risk losing sales and customer trust. To overcome this, plan ahead and minimise these issues. Otherwise, you’ll be left reacting to demand spikes or shortages.
2. Technology Gaps in Strategic Logistics and Inventory Management
Technology gaps can cause serious problems with inventory management. If your systems aren’t well connected, like an app not syncing with your platform, you end up with fragmented data that leads to errors.
Small businesses often rely on spreadsheets, which can be prone to mistakes. One typo could lead to accidentally overselling a product, leading to delayed orders and customer complaints.
As businesses grow, sticking to spreadsheets becomes even more complicated. Tracking everything manually becomes harder, and the risk of mistakes increases, affecting the entire supply chain.
58% of brands have inventory accuracy below 80%, which isn’t good enough for smooth operations.
The best way to get past this is to upgrade your technology. Train your team and sync your old data with the new system. Depending on how much needs doing, it may be worth implementing a project management system and having a small team work on the changes to ensure it goes smoothly.
2.3 Returns: A Pitfall and Vital Strategic Consideration
Returns are a reality for any e-commerce business. When done right, an effective return process can help you retain customers. A whopping 92% of buyers say they’ll make a repeat purchase from the same shop if the returns process is simple.
Returns tie up stock, delay restocking, and hurt cash flow. Without a plan, they can quickly end up draining your resources. A solid returns system is efficient from start to finish—automating return requests, tracking incoming stock, and quickly getting products back into circulation.
Some fulfilment platforms streamline this by integrating returns management directly into inventory systems, so you’re not left guessing what’s coming back or when.
Another way to offer the best returns experience is to use a call centre solution, such as the call centre service from Vonage, to ensure efficient customer service during the process.
Ultimately, returns need to be a core part of your strategy. When handled well, they’ll present an opportunity to strengthen your operations, win customer trust, and keep your business running smoothly.
2.4 Supplier and Returns Reliability
Supplier reliability is a make or break for logistics, especially if you use dropshipping. Late shipments, customs delays, and poor communication can throw your supply chain off track.
The reality is suppliers won’t always deliver on time, and you can be left scrambling to fill the gaps. Relying too heavily on one supplier is a major risk, since if one link breaks, the whole chain can collapse.
The answer? Diversify suppliers and have a solid backup plan. Make sure to employ smart logistics to keep things running smoothly.
3. 5 Inventory Management Strategies That Drive Business Growth
We've discussed the imperative of balancing stock. Too much stock ties up cash, and too little leaves customers stranded. So, how do you get inventory right?
3.1 Track Sales Velocity in Real-Time
Sales velocity is simply how fast products are selling. Keeping a close eye on this helps you make smarter inventory decisions—restocking bestsellers before they run out and cutting back on slow movers to free up cash.
If a product suddenly starts flying off the shelves, you need to know immediately so you can reorder before you’re left with stockouts and disappointed customers. On the other hand, if something is barely selling, it’s a sign to adjust your purchasing strategy rather than tie up capital in inventory that isn’t moving.
Platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and Adobe Commerce offer real-time sales tracking. Monitoring this data daily can help you make adjustments on the fly. You may need to purchase additional apps or plugins to access this essential functionality.
3.2 Set Low-Stock Alerts—And Use Them
When you're busy running your business, you might not realise that some of your stock is running low, and this can leave you scrambling to secure more last minute. Enter low-stock alerts. These notifications will tell you when stock is running low so you can reorder in time.
Integrating these alerts with your platform is simple, especially if you use something like Magento 2 POS as it can automatically sync product data in real time.
Customise the alerts to fit your sales cycle. If you’re selling fast-moving products, set your alert for when stock hits a certain low threshold. On the other hand, set them a bit later for slow movers.
3.3 Prevent Stockouts with Demand Forecasting
One of the most critical—and often overlooked—strategies is forecasting demand. It’s not possible to nail this 100% of the time. However, getting a solid grip on your inventory forecast can save you headaches down the line.
By analysing past sales, you can predict when demand will spike (like during Black Friday or holidays) and when it might dip. You’ll know how much stock you’ll need to get through those peaks, preventing those dreaded stockouts that set your customers scurrying off empty-handed.
By using data you already have, you can make smarter decisions and avoid panic-buying or overstocking.
If you’re serious about performance management, you can make demand planning KPIs one of the key metrics to help fine-tune your forecasting.
3.4 Cycle Counting—A Smarter Alternative to Full Audits
Full stock audits can be challenging. Cycle counting offers a smarter approach. Instead of shutting down operations to count everything at once, check smaller sections of inventory on a rolling basis.
And if you want to take accuracy a step further, a thorough internal audit process can help ensure your systems and procedures are up to standard.
Start with high-value or fast-moving products. Count those more frequently to catch discrepancies early. Lower-priority items can be checked less often; this keeps the process manageable. This method keeps stock levels accurate without disrupting your business.
When paired with an inventory management system, cycle counting helps reduce errors, improve tracking, and keep everything running smoothly.
3.5 Partner with a Third Party Logistics (3PL) Provider
Handling logistics in-house may sound great, until large orders start coming in, storage becomes an issue, and hours are lost to packing and shipping. As your business grows, so do the complexities. That’s where a third-party logistics provider (3PL) comes in.
A good 3PL takes care of warehousing, fulfilment, and shipping, so you’re not stuck managing it all yourself. The best ones integrate with most platforms and sales channels—even if you trade on multiple channels.
Speed matters, too. Some 3PLs use a distributed warehouse model, storing stock across multiple locations so orders can be shipped from the closest hub. That cuts down delivery times and keeps shipping costs in check.
You’ll want a 3PL that offers this kind of smart fulfillment to make sure your customers get their orders quickly without you scrambling to sort it out manually.
The result? Lower overheads, fewer logistics headaches, and the flexibility to scale without bottlenecks holding you back. Whether you're shipping locally or internationally, having a logistics partner means you can focus on what really matters—growing your brand.
4. Strategies for Success: Overcoming Logistics Hurdles
Here are four key strategies to optimise inventory management and keep logistics running smoothly without getting bogged down in delays, stock issues, or ballooning costs.
4.1 Smart Inventory Distribution for Faster Fulfilment
Storing all your stock in one location can slow down deliveries and increase shipping costs. A better approach? Distribute inventory across multiple fulfilment centres.
This way, products ship from the closest location to your customers, cutting transit times and reducing last-mile delivery costs. You’ll want a logistics partner that offers a multi-node fulfilment network to make this easy.
4.2 Automated Stock Replenishment to Prevent Sellouts
Manually tracking when to reorder stock can be time-consuming and risky. Smart inventory systems sync with your sales data and set automated reorder points based on demand trends. This takes a lot of hassle out of ensuring that you have the right amount of stock at the right time.
4.3 Integrated Returns Management to Keep Stock Moving
Returns can create inventory chaos if not handled properly. This is about more than having solid returns policies. The best logistics strategies ensure that returned stock is quickly checked, restocked, or flagged for resale.
customers an easy exchange via store credit
If you’re on the lookout for a 3PL, make sure they offer automated return processing so products can be swiftly re-entered into your inventory system. This will help you recover value and avoid unnecessary waste.
4.4 Packaging Inventory Management for a Seamless Fulfilment Process
Running out of stock isn’t the only problem—running out of packaging can bring your operations to a halt, too. Keeping packaging supplies in check is just as crucial as monitoring product inventory.
Some fulfilment services track packaging levels and automatically restock them, ensuring orders are always ready to be shipped without delays.
Now that you’ve reached the end of this guide, you know that e-commerce logistics aren’t just about getting products from A to B. They're about creating a smooth, efficient system that helps your business grow while keeping customers happy.
Smart logistics and solid inventory control are essential for avoiding stock issues, cutting costs, and staying competitive.
The key is to take what you’ve learned and apply it in a way that works for your business. Minor improvements can make a big difference, so start refining your approach and set yourself up for long-term success.
Remember, working with the right 3PL could be half the battle won!
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