Parts Inventory- What's Happening?

No one's asked, but I know the question is out there. The Small Parts Inventory has two effects on our business, one of them Inventory Management and the other Business Management.

Inventory Management-
We now know exactly what all of our stores have in stock for repair and upgrade parts. We did not know the details before as much of it has accumulated over the last few years under a miscellaneous SKU. Under that SKU, we only knew retail dollar value and an item count, but nothing else.
The Inventory has been reviewed, with most of the items assigned to get a specific SKU and price. The other items have been "Get Rid of It" priced. The items that get specific SKU's will go into our E3 replenishment program, and will facilitate the growth of our repair/upgrade business.

Business Management-
Let's use one item as an example, a Shimano LX (High-Normal) SGS Rear Derailleur. Sales of this item per location is an indicator of the quality of the associates and manager team. As more of an "indicator item" are sold, the overall volume of repair work goes up, and the range of customers expand. The indicator item, and sales of others similar will be used to determine "How" we are doing and "What"we should be changing.

From an in-store perspective, it can be very tough to see the big picture. Heck, it's tough from even knowing all of our stores like our Trainers do. But clearing out the old items and gathering critical new things will place us in a position to have the business, the vendors and the customers that will keep us in the place that will enrich us all.

And that is when we help the customer...