Inventory Management for Winery

From grape cultivation and harvesting to delivering bottles and enhancing customer experience, winery owners and operators can maximise profitability by managing inventory. Inventory management for wineries provides the owners with absolute control of the business.

What is Wine Inventory?

Wine inventory refers to the stock that wineries, restaurants, and bars monitor to track sales patterns, develop pricing strategies and earn profit. Taking wine inventory helps in the calculation of the following:

• Variance – Bottles of the same wine with different tastes and smells.
• Pour Cost – Cost of drink’s ingredients divided by its sale price.
• Surplus Inventory – Excess quantity of inventory in hand.
• Par Level – Normal inventory level in hand suitable for a given period.

How to Take Wine Inventory?

The following two ways can be used to take wine inventory-

• Taking Wine Inventory Using a Software

Using the software is a faster and more efficient way of taking wine inventory. The software keeps track of all the incoming and outgoing wine bottles by assigning barcodes to them. Each bottle with a barcode is scanned and captured into the database, and important details like cost, location, date added, etc. Whenever a bottle is sold, it is removed from the database by the software.

• Taking Wine Inventory Using a Spreadsheet

Using a wine inventory spreadsheet can be a little time-consuming. The employees will have to enter the names of the bottles in the spreadsheet after counting each of them once they arrive from the distributor.

Benefits of a Winery Inventory Management System 

The following are the benefits of proper inventory management for the winery:

• Track Inventory in Real-Time

Using inventory management software allows wineries to monitor the wine bottles and the raw materials required for producing the wine bottles. Tracking inventory reduction in real-time helps wineries enhance sales and customer experience by avoiding stock-outs.

• Manage Multiple Channels

Inventory management becomes more challenging when you have multiple channels. An inventory management software can alleviate stress by helping you track and transfer inventory across various channels or storage facilities of your business.

• Monitor the History of Individual Bottles

An inventory management software will provide you with error-free (unlike spreadsheets) and efficient monitoring of stock and allow you to track the entire production and performance history of each bottle, from grape to glass.

• Create a Clear and Transparent Accounting System

An inventory management software will help establish an accurate accounting system by providing perfectly organised and regularly updated financial data or information.