Inventory Management Practices of Micro, Small and Medium Grocery Stores in Daet, Camarines Norte

Abstract : Sourcing, storing and selling are the three very significant processes in the practice of inventory management. These processes are the focus of assessment of this research to a group of selected MSM grocery stores in Daet, Camarines Norte. Specifically, it sought answers to the following questions: 1) What is the profile of the MSM grocery stores in Daet, Camarines Norte in terms of length of the business operation, current capitalization; and total number of inventory management personnel? 2) What are the existing inventory management practices of grocery stores and their assessment of the level of effectiveness in terms of sourcing, storing, and selling? and, 3) Is there a significant relationship between the profile of the MSM grocery stores and the assessment of the level of effectiveness of the inventory management practices of grocery stores? The study covered 150 respondents composed of MSM grocery stores. Descriptive-correlational method and F-test (One Factor Analysis of Variance) were used in the gathering and treatment of data. Frequency count and percentage were employed to determine the number of respondents characterized by each of the items in the profile. Weighted mean and adjectival ratings were utilized in marking the inventory management practices as well as the challenges encountered by MSM grocery stores. Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation and the Somers’s Delta using the SPSS software was used in determining the significant relationship between the level of effectiveness of the inventory management practices of MSM grocery stores and their profile. The findings of the study revealed that majority or 38 percent of the MSM grocery stores are already existing for 4 to 6 years with less than Php 3,000,000 current capitalization and most of them admitted that they had no particular employee assigned as inventory management personnel. The existing inventory management practices along the sourcing and storing process were all absolutely effective with ABC Classification System being the highest indicator. Moreover, findings showed that the inventory management practices for selling were 50 percent absolutely effective and 50 percent highly effective, where Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) was the highest indicator. In the correlation analysis conducted, it was found out that the length of business operation and the level of effectiveness of inventory management practices of MSM Grocery stores along sourcing and storing are not significantly related unlike selling as an inventory management process which resulted to a significant correlation. Further, all other profiles such as current capitalization and the number of inventory management personnel have no significant relationship to the effectiveness of the inventory management practices of the respondents