Proactive Inventory Strategies That Keep Small Businesses Running Smoothly

Go from reactive to proactive

Walmart Business recently commissioned Morning Consult to survey nearly 500 decision-makers at small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and nonprofits to better understand their needs.¹ One finding that stood out to us is that about a third of respondents wait until their essential business supplies are almost gone before reordering. That last-minute approach can create stress, especially during peak business hours or when key staff are unavailable. 

The good news is that it’s easy to shift to a more proactive strategy that saves you and your employees time, reduces stress and keeps your operations running smoothly. 

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The benefits of proactive inventory strategies

Your business likely doesn’t purchase any goods “just because.” You stock paper towels and cleaning products so employees can tidy up messes in the moment. You buy printer paper, toner, pens and notepads to keep the back office running. You keep your break room stocked with snacks and refreshments so employees can refuel and recharge before returning to their tasks. 

You want to prevent running out of stock during a rush when you can’t spare the time to re-order, or when the person responsible for ordering is on vacation. When you plan ahead, you put your business in a stronger position to stay focused and productive.

Proactive inventory planning helps you:

• Budget more predictably: Spread your purchases out over a span of weeks or months instead of placing large, last-minute orders. This makes budget forecasting much easier.

• Share responsibilities: A proactive inventory strategy lets you prepare for who needs to cover what and when. If a key ordering employee is out sick or on vacation, you have time to wait until they return or to train someone to do the work in their absence.

• Reduce stress: Instead of reacting to last-minute needs, you can trust your inventory management system to keep things on track and your team focused on their core responsibilities.

So, how do you achieve a more proactive approach to supplies? The answer lies in your purchasing and inventory data.

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How to improve your inventory management

Proactive inventory management relies on structured monitoring, which means you need to keep your purchase data in one place.

Here are a few of the ways a free Walmart Business account can help: 

• Each account includes access to multi-user accounts, so you can add up to five users to a single account.

• Sharing your organization's payment information, order history and purchasing power in one place helps your teams assume responsibility for supply purchasing and restocking.

• It also gives you full visibility into your organization’s spending for easy accountability.

Walmart Business+ members get access to the Spend Analytics tool, which provides an easy way to track spending on the essentials you need to run your organization. Spend Analytics delivers insightful data and spending patterns such as spend by user, top categories, items and more.

With your purchasing data in hand, try these ideas to take your inventory management even further:

• Overlay data from your supply or inventory management system to understand when stock enters and leaves your business.

• Bring in external data points such as time of year, special occasions or even weather conditions to see what products are likely to need restocking and when.

• Take a proactive, data-driven approach to help you forecast needs and avoid potential pitfalls.

Find the inventory solutions you need

Taking a proactive approach to inventory management will help your business run more smoothly, reduce day-to-day stress on you and your teams and help you avoid last-minute scrambling that might disrupt operations. Walmart Business offers resources to put that plan into action.

Whether you’re streamlining your supply purchases, managing budgets or sharing responsibilities with your employees, Walmart Business and Walmart Business+ can make the process faster, easier and more efficient.

Sign up for Walmart Business to start unlocking your benefits. You’ll access a growing selection of tools and tips to help you manage your business, as well as a shopping experience that makes finding office staples and break room snacks easy.

Join Walmart Business+ and you can save over $500/year² as you enjoy exclusive rewards for your organization. You can get what your business needs with free shipping, no order minimum³ and free delivery from the store with a $35 minimum.⁴ You’ll even earn 2% in Walmart Business Rewards on orders of $250 or more.⁵ Sign up today.

¹ Walmart Business commissioned a survey of SMB and non-profit decision-makers with Morning Consult. This poll was conducted between January 3 – 17, 2025 among a national sample of 499 U.S. Adults 18+ who are currently employed as either an owner, founder, co-founder, purchasing manager/buyer, office manager or administrator, operations manager, or inventory/supply chain manager, at a company with under 500 employees.

² Savings based on 1 free $35+ delivery order vs. $9.95 fee and 1 free shipping order under $35 vs. $6.99 fee biweekly, plus 2% Walmart Business Rewards on monthly order >$250 (average value of $400).

³ Excludes most marketplace items. Freight & location surcharges may apply.

⁴ Restrictions apply. 

⁵ Rewards can only be used toward future purchases on Walmart Business. Additional terms apply.