Originally published on September 6, 2022
Last updated on March 6, 2026
Storing Inventory for Protection | Finale Inventory
Your inventory is the life of your business. Finding a way to ensure your items are safe and protected, whether they’re in your warehouse or another storage facility, will give you peace of mind and keep your business running smoothly. This guide will take you through factors you should consider to ensure your products’ safety, […]
Your inventory is the life of your business. Finding a way to ensure your items are safe and protected, whether they’re in your warehouse or another storage facility, will give you peace of mind and keep your business running smoothly. This guide will take you through factors you should consider to ensure your products’ safety, as well as ways to keep your inventory organized.
8 Ways to Store and Protect Your Inventory
All of your inventory may not fit in your warehouse, or in one location. Storing items in a separate location will allow you to save space in your warehouse, but it can be difficult to stay organized and keep it all safe. Here are some tips on the best way to keep inventory safe and organized:
1. Consider Your Location
Consider where your storage facility is located in terms of safety. If it’s in a dangerous neighborhood where there is a high crime rate, you may want to implement added security outside the building or consider choosing a facility in a different area.
You should also think about where your storage facility is in relation to your business. If you will need to get items out of storage frequently, ensure the storage facility is near other parts of your operations to save time.
2. Keep Items Clean
Before filling your storage facility, make sure all the items are clean, as dirty items are more likely to be damaged or lose quality after their time in storage. Bugs and other unwanted creatures are more likely to be attracted to dirty items, as well.
If possible, go in yourself or have designated staff go into the storage facility and clean things periodically. Monthly cleanings are ideal, but every few months may also work for your operations.
3. Use Proper Ventilation
One way to ensure your items stay clean and in good shape while they are in storage is to choose a storage space that has enough ventilation to keep the room cool and dry. When moisture gets into a storage space, wood items can become warped and metal tarnished. Other items can become damaged with high humidity or extreme heat or cold.
Implementing an HVAC system or using vents to allow airflow can help manage your storage space’s climate, depending on where it’s located. Ideal humidity for a warehouse is around 50%, while the temperature should range around 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Those numbers may change depending on your inventory, so opt for whatever’s best for your materials.
4. Pack Properly
When storing products, there is a lot of thought that needs to go into how you are packing them up. If you are storing bigger, heavy equipment, you likely aren’t boxing it but may want to cover it with a tarp or use some other method to keep it covered. Smaller items should be boxed up in a way that will protect them should a box fall over or be dropped. Wrap items in bubble wrap or other packing materials to help keep them protected, even if they aren’t necessarily fragile items.
You should also consider what kind and what size boxes you choose to store your items in. Packing your items efficiently will allow you to fit more in your storage facility safely.
5. Stay Organized
There should be a method to how you organize the items in your warehouse so they stay protected. Valuable items should be placed on a high shelf where it is unlikely they will be knocked over when items are taken in and out of the lower levels more often.
In general, you should try to keep as many items off the ground as possible to help control moisture and temperature.
Because the items will likely be in boxes that make it difficult or impossible to see what is inside, label them before they are packed away in product storage. Make sure your labeling system is clear for you and any members of your staff who will be getting items in and out of storage.
You may consider implementing a barcode system to help with organization. This allows you to know where every item in your inventory is through an automated system.
6. Use Automated Inventory Software
As your business grows, you will need more than a simple labeling system and list to keep track of your stock. Implementing an automated system is the best way to ensure your inventory is kept organized. Inventory management software can grow with your business and help you know exactly what is in your storage facility and what is in your warehouse.
7. Have an Audit Trail
Use your automated inventory software to implement a comprehensive tracked audit trail. This feature tracks individual items in your warehouse or storage facility, allowing you to generate different reports based on your needs. Track the lots or serial numbers your business manufactures, sells, receives and ships to maintain storage organization.
8. Conduct Inventory Observation
Periodically, you should consider conducting an inventory observation by doing physical counts of the stock in your warehouse and in your storage facility. Most companies hire a third-party auditor for this, allowing you to ensure your stock is organized and there are no glaring errors between what you have in stock and what you’ve sold. Doing this will also help you more accurately predict future customer trends so you can order the right amount of materials.
Convenience: All of the data on your inventory is at your fingertips when you use a cloud-based inventory management system. You always have a real-time look into your inventory available to you, as well as data insights.
Data integrity: The data collected by an automated system is far more likely to be accurate and comprehensive than information collected manually. Keeping your data this way ensures it’s safe and updated, so you always have the most recent information to work with.
Scalability: Having an automated inventory software helps you stay organized as your business grows because it grows with your business.
Low maintenance: Our inventory programs do not require an on-site server, which helps limit maintenance costs and make them much more predictable.
“The core of maturity, that I see, is starting with a unified view of inventory. I’ve got to be able to accurately represent what do I have, make sure that I know where it’s located so I can get it to my customers quickly.”
— Troy Graham, Descartes
What is the first thing I should fix if I want to scale operations?
Start with a unified view of inventory. The core of maturity starts with being able to accurately represent what you do have and make sure that you know where it’s located to get it to customers quickly. Without a unified view across your warehouses, 3PLs, and vendors, you cannot make the best decisions because you don’t have the best information at hand.
With Inventory Visibility, Businesses Can Make Smarter Allocation Decisions
Once inventory is centralized, businesses can move from reactive updates to intentional allocation. They can decide how much inventory to expose to each channel, when to use buffers, which marketplaces need extra protection, and how seasonality or campaign performance influence availability.
Once I know what inventory I have, how should I decide where to make it available?
Inventory allocation should reflect where orders are coming from, where marketing is working, and which channels carry the most risk. Once you know what you have and where it is located, you can think more strategically using centralized inventory to make prioritization happen automatically. One fertilizer company lost a little over 5,000 orders in one weekend because someone manually uploaded the wrong available inventory to Amazon.
Better Inventory Data Improves Planning, Purchasing, and Growth Bets
Better visibility turns inventory data into a planning tool. With insight into sales velocity, inventory levels, vendors, and channel performance, businesses can make more informed replenishment decisions, avoid overbuying, and test new product lines or vendor-supplied inventory without taking on unnecessary risk.
“You have to have unified inventory to know how to price your products just at that basic level. I can’t price my products if I don’t know the true cost to get it.”
— Mike Bernico, Flxpoint
How does better inventory data help me make smarter buying decisions?
It lets you measure whether your plan is working before you commit more capital. A key question becomes: “Did my plan work? Am I overleveraged in one place or another?” Centralized systems can also help businesses test new product lines or vendor relationships by looking at sales velocity by channel, allowing them to take risks in a calculated and measured way.
Intelligent Order Routing Turns Inventory Complexity Into Automation
Once inventory and supplier data are reliable, businesses can automate fulfillment decisions. Orders can be routed based on cost, speed, margin, location, warehouse priority, vendor fallback, split-shipment rules, or customer expectations. This helps hybrid fulfillment scale because every order does not need a manual review.
How do I decide the best way to fulfill each order?
There is no single answer, which is why order routing needs to account for the context of each order. Intelligent order routing is not just sending an order to someone who has stock; it is taking each and every order and treating it like its own unique use case. Depending on the order, the business may prioritize speed, margin, an internal warehouse, vendor fallback, or preventing split shipments.
Supplier Inventory Sync Extends Inventory Beyond the Four Walls
For hybrid fulfillment to work, supplier inventory needs to become part of the operating model. Supplier sync does not always require advanced technology; it can happen through automated files, FTP, email, APIs, EDI, or ecommerce storefront integrations. The key is replacing manual updates with automated, reliable supplier data.
Can supplier inventory really be treated like part of my own inventory?
Yes, but the goal is not necessarily to force every supplier into a complex integration. Real-time supplier sync can be defined as any way to get an automated update from a supplier, such as Google Sheets, email, FTP, API, EDI, or ecommerce storefront connections. The key is that accurate supplier stock is foundational. If you don’t have an accurate view of what is in stock with your suppliers, you cannot tell your sales channel accurately what’s available.
Exception-Based Workflows Keep Humans Focused Where They Matter
Automation does not remove people from the process. Mature operations let technology handle the routine majority while humans focus on exceptions, such as high-value orders, fraud risk, compliance requirements, restricted products, export rules, or unusual fulfillment scenarios.
If my business has special cases, can automation still work?
Yes. The point is not to automate every possible decision; it is to automate the routine work and surface the exceptions. Businesses should not have to look at every single order. Instead, technology can highlight high-value orders, risky locations, or compliance requirements. The goal is to take care of the 80% of workflows that are obvious while still allowing human review when specific exceptions arise.
The Right Inventory Technology Should Fit the Business, Not Overwhelm It
Software decisions should be based on business fit, not popularity, feature volume, or broad “all-in-one” promises. Growing ecommerce businesses should identify their highest-impact bottleneck, prioritize what matters now, and choose technology that is right-sized but flexible enough to support future phases of growth.
How should I choose software without overbuying or picking the wrong system?
Start with your priorities, not the biggest feature list. Avoid an all-in-one system that claims to “do everything under the sun” and look for a “best of breed approach” with systems that can scale as you add channels or vendors. The practical advice is to stack rank what matters now, make sure the system can support future phases, and choose technology that fits your business rather than overwhelming it.
How to Scale Ecommerce Operations Beyond Spreadsheets
For many growing ecommerce businesses, Finale and Flxpoint work together as a practical answer to these challenges. Finale helps centralize and manage internal inventory, purchasing, warehouse operations, and stock visibility, while Flxpoint helps connect vendor inventory, automate supplier sync, and route orders across hybrid fulfillment networks. Together, they give businesses a best-of-breed way to improve inventory accuracy, reduce spreadsheet work, and scale fulfillment without forcing every process into a one-size-fits-all system.
Ecommerce Fulfillment Operations FAQ
What Is Ecommerce Fulfillment Operations?
Ecommerce fulfillment operations are the processes that move an online order from purchase to delivery. This includes managing inventory, syncing product availability across channels, routing orders to the right warehouse, 3PL, supplier, or vendor, and making sure the customer receives the right product on time. As discussed in the webinar, fulfillment is no longer limited to “what’s in my warehouse these days”; growing businesses may rely on internal warehouses, 3PLs, marketplace fulfillment services, and supplier inventory at the same time.
What Are Ecommerce Fulfillment Operation Examples?
Examples of ecommerce fulfillment operations include updating inventory across Shopify, Amazon, Walmart, and other sales channels; allocating inventory to specific marketplaces; sending orders to an internal warehouse, 3PL, or vendor; syncing supplier inventory through files, APIs, EDI, email, or FTP; replenishing warehouse stock based on sales velocity; and flagging exceptions such as high-value orders, compliance requirements, or restricted products. In the webinar, the speakers also discussed hybrid fulfillment examples where a business may fulfill some products from its own warehouse and use vendors as a fallback or extension of available inventory.
How Can I Track My Inventory at an Ecommerce Fulfillment Center?
The best way to track inventory at an ecommerce fulfillment center is to create a unified inventory view that shows what is available, where it is located, and how that inventory connects to each sales channel. That means tracking inventory across internal warehouses, fulfillment centers, 3PLs, marketplace fulfillment programs, and supplier locations instead of relying on disconnected spreadsheets. The webinar emphasized that businesses need to “accurately represent” what they have and know where it is located so they can get products to customers quickly.
How Can I Connect My Inventory to My Supplier?
You can connect supplier inventory through several methods, depending on what the supplier supports. The webinar discussed low-tech and advanced options, including automated Excel or CSV files, Google Sheets, email updates, FTP servers, APIs, EDI, and direct connections to ecommerce storefronts such as Shopify, BigCommerce, or Magento. The key is to ask suppliers how they share inventory today, then use a system that can automate that data flow instead of manually copying supplier inventory into spreadsheets.
What Is Ecommerce Order Routing?
Ecommerce order routing is the process of deciding where an order is fulfilled from after a customer buys. In a simple operation, every order may go to one warehouse. In a more complex or hybrid fulfillment model, the best fulfillment source may depend on inventory availability, shipping speed, cost, margin, customer location, warehouse priority, vendor fallback rules, or whether the order should be split. The webinar described intelligent order routing as treating each order like its own use case, so businesses can automate the best fulfillment decision without manually reviewing every order.
