CHARTER ABC Clothing of Locust Grove Virginia is a small family owned clothing store that has been open for over forty five years now. We have one location in Locust Grove, Virginia and our store uses a paper card system. We have to continuously adjust our totals as the inventory is bought or sold. Our store has to shut down every year for two days to perform an annual inventory by hand. This takes an extensive toll on our staff and uses up a lot of our manpower. Since our store is not computerized, we have difficulty keeping accurate track of our inventory and we are constantly over ordering. This leads to us continuously putting items on clearance and losing more money. We formally request that you advise us on a new system that will help us to keep a track of our inventory better so we can stay competitive in the area.
TYPE OF EQUIPMENT NEEDED Clothing retailers have to be more on their toes than most other retailers. They have to constantly adjust their stock for the four seasons, holidays and special events throughout the year. Using the manual method could get overwhelming especially around special events and holidays. Over ordering items can lead to having to reduce prices and selling items clearance. Under ordering can lead to a significant loss of your customer base. For this reason, using the automated system is very important for a clothing store. There are many different ways you can set up your automated inventory system. The first system is a standard barcode system. This is where you scan the barcode with a scanning device. Then either the device can upload the information manually or automatically into your inventory management software. Depending on how this is set up, you can keep a very efficient track of your stock. This stock can be ordered by you or automatically by your software by preset values you input yourself. (Figure 1-1)

Figure [ 1 ]-1

Then there is the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system. This system employs the technique of microchips. Scanning these chips at any point can track your item at any point in the supply process. (Figure 1-2)

Figure 1-2
The Just In Time method orders only stock that is needed with little to no leftover stock. (Finn, N.D.) The new method is called Vendor Managed Inventory software. This new software allows the vendor to assist the retailer in ordering products so that the retailer does not have to worry much about their stock. There are many methods to assist a small business transition from a manual to an automatic inventory system. Since this company has a limited budget, I recommend the company start off with the barcode method.
EQIPMENT NEEDED FOR THE BARCODE SYSTEM The equipment needed for a barcode system can start off with the basic package. This could simply be a computer in which your particular inventory database can be stored. There are also different types of printers that can be purchased and a receipt printer to print out receipts. Another printer of some type for printing out statements, labels and other items needed. There is also the need of some sort of barcode scanner. This can be either a handheld scanner or a slide scanner or both. Typically a handheld is only used at inventory time, but more and more it is used at the cash register as well. As the business grows you can add more equipment as needed. Touch screen monitors are getting very popular in today’s retail industry for easy input into the inventory management system. A high volume barcode printer can also be purchased for when the inventory starts to really grow. (“Building Your”, n.d.) There are many different vendors these items can be ordered from. You can order these items separately or as a whole system. These can be purchased from a local computer store. The only real issue with that is that you typically do not get onsite support of your product as it is self installed. There are numerous POS websites that you can order these systems through and you will get full lifetime customer support on your POS system.
The automated system works much more efficiently than the manual system. Your inventory database is setup on your computer system waiting to get input. The barcodes are placed on your inventory. There are many different types of barcodes you can choose from depending on which type of merchandise you are selling. It can also depend on the geographical region that the items being sold are located. The UPC barcode is typically used at Point of Sale (POS) in North America and other countries. The EAN barcode is very similar, but used primarily in European countries. (“Exploring Different”. n.d.) Either handheld or slide scanners scan these barcodes. At this time, the information can be sent automatically to the database wirelessly, or you can manually plug the handheld scanner into the computer. Either way, the database is updated with the new information and records are updated. Depending on how you have your software set up, it can automatically order low stock items for you. One of the disadvantages of having a barcode system is that the barcode has to be replaced periodically. In the clothing store environment, this does not happen as often. Since clothing is typically rotated very quickly in and out of the stores, the barcode degradation issue should not be much of an issue. RFID is a more secure system as it continuously tracks the inventory as it is scanned. But for an organization that has a limited budget, this might not be a viable option.
IMPLEMENTATION COST OF INVENTORY SYSTEM The cost of the inventory hardware has been coming down over the years. You can either buy the system as a whole or little by little. For a smaller store, it might make sense to buy the system in stages if there are budgetary concerns. On the other hand, the cost of software and implementation costs can be pricy. To best fit your needs, you need to speak with many different vendors or integrators about which system would best fit your situation. For example, you can have a system where you get an Inventory Management Software (IMS) of your selection installed onto your computer. Then you can pick up a fixed position scanner where you slide the barcode over the sensor. You can also select the number of portable scanners to be used during your annual inventory. There are also different printers that you can get for the system.
I personally would suggest since this company has a low budget, to get a start up system from Staples or another local store. Calling in a consultant to run anything more elaborate at this point will be too expensive. I suggest buying Intuit Quick Books Point of Sale system runs $1250.00 roughly. This system includes a cash drawer, receipt printer, bar code scanner, and credit card swipe for your PC and a mobile credit card reader. Everything is included in the package to get you started off. Since this is a system you can install yourself and get set up in a very short time there is no consultant fees that you have to worry about.
INVENTORY MAINTENANCE The only maintenance on this system would be that when your store grows and gets more business, you might want to expand your system. This would include getting more mobile scanners, a high tech bar code scanner and maybe another register. Another maintenance issue that you will run into is when you decide that you want to get an online store. You are going to have to buy a website and hire someone to maintain the inventory and sales that may come up.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, this is a growing business that will take advantage of the improved efficiency of your automated system. Before stock went missing, there were more clearance sales to get rid of overstock from the previous season, and too many man hours were spent doing inventory every year. Now with the new system, no inventory has gone missing, there are is no real overstock to speak of unless there is a need for it. And now there is more man hours available to run your new online store front. Installing this new system will help to keep this store very competitive in the area for years to come.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Finn, Andrew. (n.d.) Types of Inventory Control. http:// www.ehow.com/info_ 7753159_types-inventory-control.html
No author. (n.d.) Building Your Own Point of Sale System. http://www. retailsoftware .com /diy.html No author. (n.d.) Exploring Different Types of Barcodes. http://www.scandit.com/ 2012/ 12/13/exploring-different-types-of-barcodes/