Inventory levels are slightly up - why is this important to you?

U.S. wholesale inventories rose sharply in May '04 as stocks of durable goods posted their biggest gain in four-and-a-half years. Demand is up but how can vendors do a better job managing demand fluctuations? And, why is this important to a small business?

Vendors struggle with tracking inventory levels are their sites and also at their sales partner sites. Gaining a good grasp on what exact levels of inventory remains a critical part of their forecasting and supply chain planning business. If you are diligent to keep track of your inventory levels in a software application or in an XLS file, then be kind and send that information back to your vendors. They'll appreciate it and they will reward you for it. It'll make their jobs easier. Some vendors even have programs where they reward you for submitting your inventory levels.

Some benefits you can expect if you offer this kind of collaboration with your vendors include: better pricing, advanced notice of product releases, more qualified and better leads, technical assistance, pre sales support and post sales support. There are more, but I list these to give you a feel for the benefits.
Check out Western Digital's program benefits. For validated POS reporting, this is how they get inventory levels checked, they offer additional montly volume rebates,

http://www.selectwd.com/northamerica/PDF/SWD_PlatinumPartner_v6.pdf