Inventory management software is a must in today’s fast-paced retail environment.

It’s almost hard to believe that once upon a time, tire retailers could keep track of their inventory with a simple spreadsheet and a sharp pencil. To be fair, however, those were very different times. The pace of life was a lot slower, customers were not as demanding, and vehicle manufacturers weren’t pumping out different tire sizes as fast as they are today.

Keeping track of inventory in our modern world would be impossible with paper and pencil. Even an Excel spreadsheet would have trouble keeping up. That’s why dedicated inventory management software is critical for the successful operation of any modern tire retail operation, especially if you’re managing more than one location.

Benefits of software

When it comes to software options, tire retailers have a few choices. Although we won’t be comparing one software supplier with another in this article, let’s look at some key features you’ll want to consider when shopping around.

Ideally, your software solution should allow you to log in a set of new tires when they arrive at your store, locate them in stock when they’re needed, log them out once they’re installed, and even help you generate an invoice for the customer. Then, that same software should either remind you to order the same SKU so that you can restock them, or the software should be integrated with your suppliers, and should be able to place that order automatically, or with as little input from your staff as possible.

In today’s technology-driven business environment, there’s no reason why your staff should be placing orders at the end of the day without a complete inventory report that shows them what’s in stock in your store, what you’re going to need to order to care for customers’ needs the next business day, and which SKUs are a priority for your store.

Your software is an integral tool that can help you keep inventory levels in perfect balance at your store, making sure that you’re never overstocked or understocked, and that you always have the right SKUs on hand for your customers. And if you manage more than one store, you should be able to transport tires from one location to another, keeping track of all stock, in all locations.

The bigger picture

Carla Lindsay, Owner of OK Tire St. George, located in St. George, Ontario, a small town roughly 30 minutes west of Hamilton, Ontario says that she has been using the same tire inventory software since 1993, and that it’s not only beneficial for her point-of-sale needs, but that it helps her with the bigger picture.

“Each year,” she says, “I review sales of each SKU to see how many have gone through, and I use that as the basis for next year’s order.”

She also automates the ordering process, which saves her and her team a lot of time and energy. “We set up minimums and maximums,” she adds, “and we create automatic POs to keep our fast-moving products in stock at all times.”

OK Tire St. George serves a broad range of customers, selling and servicing consumer tires, commercial tires, farm tires, and industrial tires. At any given moment, they have well over $1.5 million worth of tires in stock, which makes managing all that inventory, for so many different customers and industries, a challenge.

Lindsay says that without the right software in place, there’s no way she would be able to manage all that inventory, and no way she would have the right tires in stock at the right time for her vast array of customers.

“With the right software system, you’re able to generate the correct reports to assist you in making educated decisions and ordering the right tires,” she explains. “The last thing you want is the wrong inventory on your shelves, because that will hurt your bottom line.”

Even with the best software and the best reports, she admits that sometimes ordering the right tires can be a challenge, simply because vehicle manufacturers are coming out with cars and trucks with so many different tire sizes. But with the right reports in place, she can keep the guesswork to a minimum.

Returns and refunds

When tire retailers order the wrong tires for their market, or when they end up with tires that simply aren’t selling as well as they thought they would, it’s better to send them back than to have them waste away in the back of the shop. Here again, the right software can help.

“Most of the manufacturers or suppliers have a time limit on returns,” Lindsay explains, “so I monitor what we have in stock. I check every five months, because a lot of our suppliers have a six-month time limit, and if there’s something in stock that has been sitting there and not selling, we look at why it’s still there.”

Whatever the reason, without the right software in place, that unsold stock becomes a liability that can’t be sent back after the time limit is up. “You have to be on top of things,” Lindsay adds. “Otherwise, you’re losing money.”

Looking beyond the report

While a computer-generated report is essential, and retailers shouldn’t be planning their tire orders without a thorough understanding of what’s selling and what isn’t in their particular store, Lindsay notes that you still have to rely on human intelligence when making all buying decisions.

“I just put my winter tire order in for the 2024/25 season, and I looked at all the reports to see what we sold last year,” Lindsay explains. “I was impressed to see we sold something like 135 of one particular tire alone, from one particular brand, so I thought to myself that I better stock up on those again.

“But then my brother, who works for me, said that those go on a particular vehicle and that we’re likely not going to sell a lot of those particular tires next year for a variety of reasons.”

Her advice: Besides consulting computer-generate reports, you need to understand industry trends, as well as the vehicle market. Quality software is a must, but human intelligence is a key factor when making tire inventory management decisions.