A party rental business cannot have endless or ever expanding inventory. There will be a limit to which you can expand your existing inventory, cutting across the type of equipments or inflatable games and a myriad of other fixtures. Since the inventory is limited, it must be used very well to generate maximum revenue. Inventory management is a prerequisite. Without it a party rental business would not be viable. But efficient inventory management is the quintessential need, which will be the key to your success.
Underutilization and Overbooking of Inventory
You may have fifty items in your inventory which you would rent out for an array of events, parties and festivities. From carnivals to private gatherings, you need to ensure that there is an event to make use of the assets you have. But you need to ensure that the reservations are confirmed based on the available of inventory. You cannot overbook and you cannot underutilize your inventory either. Achieving this is akin to treading a slippery slope. If you focus too much on underutilization, then you may end up overbooking and if you do the opposite then you may end up with no booking for a given day or a slot of a few hours. Ideally, you must never have any inventory in your warehouse. You should always have them rented out, at the venue and catering to your customers or their guests. But such utopian scenarios may never be reality.
Study the Demand to Aptly Market your Inventory
What you can do is instill an efficient inventory management system to make the most of what you have and the market that you are targeting. You can easily decipher the needs of your existing customers by studying trends. You can observe the industry, the local market and also learn of upcoming and perennial needs of the prospective customers. Accordingly, you can prepare to make the most of days when you would be expecting some activity and then there will be days when you would need to deal with the lull. By anticipating the rush and then preemptively acting during the periods of no activity, you can manage your inventory to maximum revenue.
You can use aggressive marketing when the going is tough so you can use your assets and generate revenue. During happening seasons, you can try to slow things down by preempting the demand. This will become possible when you have previous records of sales and events, present and future trends at your disposal.