The Key to Efficient Inventory: Safety Stock and Low Stock Alerts

Safety stock helps companies maintain optimal inventory levels, ensuring they can avoid stockout issues even when unexpected demand fluctuations or supply chain risks arise. While holding excessive safety stock can lead to high inventory holding costs, it's important to determine the appropriate safety stock quantities by considering factors like customer demand patterns, supply stability, and lead time.

Low Stock Alert: You're running out of stock 🔔

So, how can you ensure that you don't miss out on items with inventory levels below the safety stock threshold? Real-time monitoring of stock levels is the most effective inventory management practice, but it’s not easy to keep track of constantly changing inventory while juggling various tasks.

That's exactly what BoxHero's Low Stock Alert feature is here for. This feature allows you to receive notifications on your phone via the mobile app when inventory levels fall below the pre-set safety stock quantities. The Low Stock Alert feature is not only useful for general inventory management but also in special situations like the ones listed below:

How to Receive Low Stock Alerts with BoxHero

Now, we'll guide you through the steps to get the best use of BoxHero’s Low Stock Alert feature!

1️⃣ Create a Safety Stock Attribute

To receive low stock alerts, you first need to create a safety stock attribute. Log into BoxHero on the PC/Web and go to Other Features > Low Stock Alert > Set up Safety Stock. This will take you to the safety stock settings page.

In the Safety Stock Attribute dropdown, click on the + Add option.

Once a window like the one below appears, click the Register button. You can name the attribute whatever you like.

2️⃣ Enter Safety Stock Quantity

Once you've created the safety stock attribute, click the Edit Quantity > button on the right to enter the safety stock quantity for each item. You can scroll down or search by item name, barcode, cost, or price to find the items you want to set safety stock levels for.

After entering the safety stock quantities, the Low Stock Alert page will neatly organize items that fall under Low stock, Near low stock, or Excess stock, so you can see everything at a glance!

3️⃣ Set up Mobile Notifications

To receive low stock alerts on your mobile app, go to Settings > User and enable mobile push notifications. You can customize when you receive notifications and for which location(s). Whether you want to receive alerts every hour or just check your inventory status once in the morning, you can tailor it to suit your needs.

Managing Inventory across Multiple Locations?

When managing inventory across different warehouses or stores, the appropriate stock levels may vary by location for the same item. If you’re using BoxHero’s Location Mode, you can set different safety stock levels for each location and receive alerts accordingly!

1️⃣ Create Safety Stock Attributes for Each Location

To set different safety stock quantities by location, you need to create safety stock attributes for each location.

For example, if you manage inventory across Warehouse A, Warehouse B, and a Store Z, you should create separate attributes such as 'Warehouse A Safety Stock,' 'Warehouse B Safety Stock,' and 'Store Z Safety Stock.'

Go to Other Features > Low Stock Alert > Set up Safety Stock and create safety stock attributes for each location.

2️⃣ Enter Safety Stock Quantities

Once you have created safety stock attributes for each location, click on the Edit Quantity > on the right to input the safety stock quantities for each location.

For example, you can set the safety stock levels as follows: 30 units for 'Warehouse A Safety Stock,' 40 units for 'Warehouse B Safety Stock,' and 10 units for 'Store Z Safety Stock.'