What Is Inventory Management Software?
A resource management program is a tool to help you organize your inventory. This will help you manage the flow of goods in the warehouse by checking whether there are more or less items. Resource management software is also useful if you want to track changes at the product level.
Inventory management software is a tool that helps companies manage all their products by ensuring that they are properly configured and monitored. This helps companies keep track of their inventory and see where and how much money can be found from each sale. Inventory software also helps companies at times.
Inventory Management Software As An Industry-:
According to Softwarepath.com's 2020 report, "the demand for inventory
management software has doubled with more businesses looking to
implement a new solution". The same report mentioned that "inventory
distortion results in an estimated $1.1 trillion loss worldwide. 43% of
small businesses don't track their inventory, or use a manual process to
track it instead." This could be the reason for the losses. The report
also notes that "only 18% of small businesses use inventory management
software." With the numerous benefits that inventory management software
offers, businesses - big and small - are slowly changing to it from
manual inventorizing.
Why Do You Need Inventory Management Software?
One of the biggest advantages of using a management system for your inventory is that it makes managing your products a whole lot easier, saving you time, money, and energy. If that is not enough to convince you about why you need inventory management software for your business, then here are some more reasons that might convince you.
Accuracy
Such management systems aid in filling orders and tracking inventory. They monitor supply, storage, and sale, and help in resource planning. Some of such inventory management software also has built-in Point of Sale systems or is linked with external POS systems which can give exact records of sale. This can help reduce inventory costs along with bettering the relations with suppliers and customers.
Cost Reduction
Inventory management system can also have an accounting software inbuilt that helps in reducing costs for the company that arises due to over-stocking, or even under-stocking. Having the right amount of inventory at the right time is crucial to ensure sales are made consistently and no backorders have to be placed. It also aids in reducing labor costs, insurance costs, and transportation costs.
Automation
With inventory management software, automation in business is made possible. This can help in reducing any errors, minimizing labor costs, and producing accurate inventory counts. This aids in maintaining the inventory levels.
Increased Productivity
With lesser errors in the process, the money and time inventory management takes is reduced. This can be put into other departments like warehouse management, asset tracking, etc of the business. This helps in increasing the overall productivity.
Better Organisation
The organizational systems for inventory can be optimized with inventory management software. Categorizing as per requirements and prioritizing as per needs is made possible. This helps in making the business more efficient.
Better Relationships
An efficient business process will lead to better relations with the suppliers as well as the customers. A good inventory management system will aid in improving the customer experience. It will also ensure the orders are placed in time with the suppliers and purchase orders and invoices are placed timely. This aids in bettering the relationship with the suppliers.
With all your business data about inventory, purchase, and sales in the system, one has to ensure it remains safe from any cyber crimes. Inventory management software comes with restricted access which will ensure that the important data remains private.
How Does Inventory Management Software Work?
Inventory management software is an effective way to keep track of the products that you have and make sure that they are being used in the best way possible. It can help with increased transparency and efficiency, as well. If you're considering using inventory management software, here's what it does-
- It does inventory tracking and tracking data from sales channels that help identify where your product sales are coming from.
- It helps you maintain a good supply chain with reliable product stock levels.
- It helps you improve communication with your suppliers and customers by enabling real-time updates on order management and purchase orders.
6 Best Inventory Management Software For Small Businesses.
With the increased use of technology, it's important to keep up with the latest trends to stay ahead of your competition. One way to accomplish this is by using paid or free inventory management software. It's a must-have tool for any business that has items they need to be able to sell and stock. Here are some of the most popular inventory management software available today in order to help you decide which one is right for your needs.
1. Orderhive
Manage your inventory in real-time across multiple channels for your fast-growing brands with Cin7 Orderhive, and widen your eCommerce reach. It is an automation platform that helps you save time and focus on growing a business. Amongst the many features of this software, some are shipping, warehouse inventory system, manufacturing and purchase management, inventory control, and eCommerce automation.
2. inFlow Inventory
inFlow Inventory has many features that make inventory management easy. It can organize inventory in various ways including units of measurement, serial numbers, dimensions, and weight, amongst other ways. It can also generate and scan barcodes with its inventory scanning system. It can also help with quotes, purchase orders, and invoices. It aids in stock trackings like stock adjustments and product availability. It has various other features too.
4. Lightspeed
With Lightspeed, you can not just track but also automate your inventory. It helps with eliminating manual inventory management and simplifies it by tracking usage, purchases, and sales of the products. It helps to avoid over-stocking, wastage, and spoilage of inventory. It gives real-time stock reporting, alerts for low stock and automates recurring orders. It helps analyze food cost reports and profit margins. It has many more features that help with supply chain inventory management.
5. Upserve
With Upserve, you'll automate the manual and time-exhausting parts of restaurant inventory management when you receive inventory and automatically replenish your supply when it gets low. You can also make one-click purchases with the alerts system. It offers automatic tracking and simple reporting which helps you understand inventory variances. It can manage food costs across multiple locations.
6. Zoho Inventory
Apart from inventory tracking, Zoho Inventory can capture all the sale information immediately and it eliminates double data entry and enables comprehensive reporting. It also categorizes inventory into groups that can help in the analysis and performance tracking. It tracks movement across multiple locations and also expiration dates. It automates the alerts and tasks while also monitors the performance reports.