FREE online courses on the Basics of a Computer - COMPUTER APPLICATIONS -
Stock Control and Sales
Stock control, the processing of
sales orders and sales accounting, sales analysis, market research, forecasting
and subsequent production planning are additional areas in which the computer
assists in business commercial organization. In all these cases the company can
benefit from the immediate availability of information which the computer
provides.
For example, it may be a misuse of
capital to hold more stock than is needed, but customers soon become
dissatisfied if delays occur because of a shortage of stock. Automated inventory
or stock control, as often practiced in supermarkets, provides exact information
at all times so that neither of these situations should occur through ignorance
of the level of stock. It would be customary for each item in the inventory to
be assigned a pre-determined minimum level. (This will take into account the
rate of sale and the time needed for re-ordering). When this figure is reached,
the computer program outputs the information so that action can be taken.
When handling sales orders by
computer, the present volume of sales is known and this information together
with past records and perhaps statistics obtained from market research, forms
some of the data needed for sales forecasting, which in turn influences stock
control. Basic information for billing (including discounts, shipping postage
costs VAT etc., etc.) is obtained from sales orders and the computer can be used
to maintain customer accounts and to print invoices. All these various
applications make effective use of the machine's abilities to store large
quantities of information and to retrieve items at speed, and they rely on
program inventiveness to ensure that information is updated promptly, accurately
and usefully.
The computer is also being used
more and more in everyday cash transactions. The intrusion on the public is
largely unobtrusive. The cash register in supermarkets, stores and offices where
goods and services are sold is no longer the traditional device it once was.
Though looking similar, apart from more graceful lines, it is probably a
computer terminal, sometimes referred to as a point-of-sale terminal, linked to
a central computer, recording information about sales as well as providing
change for the customer.
