Computer Inventory and the Danger of Spoilage

In the past I have written business articles for computer repair technicians, now I be focusing a little more on writing for those of you who are looking to start up a computer store for selling complete computers and parts. In this article, I will be briefly talking about having inventory in your store.

Inventory is considered items you have in stock without a pre-existing buyer and its worst enemy is called spoilage. In the same way supermarkets buy perishables such as milk and meats, they will eventually have to sell them at discount prices or simply throw them out if they are not sold. The computer industry suffers the same problems in both computer software and hardware.

The value of computer hardware slowly creeps away as newer and faster versions of the hardware becomes available. This is especially true with CPU’s, video cards and hard drives. If a CPU was worth $400 when it first came out, after about a year it is either down to about $100 or totally obsolete as motherboard manufacturers no longer create motherboards to fit that particular CPU. This is why it is a bad idea to stock up your store with large quantities of high end parts as they will lose value quicker than you can sell them.

The only type of computer hardware that isn’t particularly affected by spoilage are network cards, sound cards, keyboards and mice since most of this can be picked up for under $25 now days.

Software spoilage is much more sudden than hardware spoilage. Generally as soon as the software manufacturer releases a new version of the software, the previous versions value will drop at least 50%, if not 100%. Luckily, most legitimate software wholesalers will allow you to return old software for store credit.

The point is, don’t stock up on hardware and software unless you already have a buyer for it (you better make sure you have a signature and if you do) because like supermarkets, your stock is going to become old and smelly before you know it. Only stock what you can sell in a few days.