Inventory Management Software

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  • Inventory management software is software designed to track and manage items through various stages along the supply chain. Features include stock level management, inventory item categorization, sales order and purchase order tracking, barcode scanning, and automatic reorder point purchasing.
  • 2020 Inventory Management Software Rising Stars: Cin7, mHelpDesk, JDA Warehouse Management, ShopKeep, Zebra Warehouse, Brightpearl, Dude Solutions, Orderhive, Katana, Bellwether Our leader of the pack, Oracle Inventory Management Cloud, is a suite of integrated solutions that includes monitoring, management, and analytics that caters to on.

An Advanced Inventory Management System for an Affordable Price

This all-in-one online inventory management software takes just 15 seconds to get started. There is a free platform available on SalesBinder, as well as a $19 per month Bronze package. Veeqo is a cloud-based, multi-channel inventory management app, suitable for small to large businesses. The system enables businesses to manage orders. Inventory is a list of stock or business goods. Inventory management helps to monitor and tracking stock levels, sales, orders, and deliveries. Inventory management software thus can automate, streamline and organize the entire inventory tracking and monitoring processes and tasks.


A good inventory system should be simple enough for small businesses to understand and use in their daily operations and yet advanced enough to cover all of their business needs. It should allow them to save time and money and prevent that dreaded inventory headache that comes to business owners as they try to keep track of their many assets. And, most importantly, it should do all of this without breaking the bank.

Inventory Management Software

Inventory Management Software C#

INVENTORY CHALLENGES

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Tracking inventory is an important part of doing business. It is the means by which companies remain stocked with all of the essential goods they need to sell to customers and perform daily operations. When products are sold, they must be replenished at a rate that finds a healthy balance between the extremes of overstocks and stockouts. If you have too much of an item, your carrying costs go up and you have less room for faster-selling items. If you have too little of an item, you’ll miss out on sales opportunities, your customers will be disappointed, and they will likely go to a competitor to meet their needs.

Supply and demand aren’t constant. They often change with the season and over the course of a product’s lifecycle. So successfully managing inventory means hitting a moving target. Not only that, but your warehouse staff isn’t static. Employee turnover means you have to constantly train new people on how your inventory system is set up and what processes you have in place to keep everything running smoothly. If you don't have written or video documentation, this can be quite a daunting task. And what happens if your warehouse manager or whoever else is in charge of the system ever leaves the company? Do you have more than one employee who is an expert on your system?

There’s also the problem of keeping track of inventory with different units of measure and suppliers in various countries with their own distinct tax rates and laws. And let’s not forget the challenge of keeping up with government laws, regulations, and audits. Many companies must comply with rules set forth by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and other government agencies and bodies. To fail to do so will likely result in business closure and possibly even prosecution. When there is a product recall, you will need to be able to find all of the items in your inventory that are subject to that recall and show documentation of their progression through your supply chain, warehouse, and all the way to the end user.

Software

While it may be possible to overcome these and other problems by yourself, it’s much less stressful and faster to use an inventory management system and software to take on most of the legwork for you.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

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To solve these challenges, companies often turn to software that can help them track their inventory, orders, shipments, vendors, and more. Here are three systems that companies often use.

Manual – Using a manual system is often the first step for startups as they begin working with inventory and assets. A manual system can be as informal as simply having an employee remember inventory quantities, locations, vendors, and orders. Or it can be a little more formal in the sense that those things are written down on pieces of paper and kept in a notebook. The drawbacks of this type of system should be obvious. It’s easy for someone to forget key information if it’s not written down, and even if it is, there is nothing to stop someone who’s unauthorized from looking at those notes, making changes, or stealing them. And if there’s a fire or something gets misplaced or damaged, there are likely no duplicates, so that information is simply lost.

Excel Spreadsheets – Startups frequently record the inventory quantities they have on hand in an Excel spreadsheet because it’s readily accessible on any computer with Windows, so they don’t have to put a lot of money into obtaining it. It can make sense for a time, but this is only a temporary system for very small businesses. The trouble is that if the employee who created the spreadsheet and has a deep understanding of how it works ever leaves the company or even just takes a vacation, things will likely come to a standstill and get disorganized extremely fast. It is not a safe, secure way to manage inventory. Also, as small businesses grow bigger, they find that Excel lacks any advanced features they need to analyze data, spot trends in sales and supply chains, automatically update inventory records from a barcode scanner, and keep their data secure yet accessible by the right people.

Accounting Software – When small businesses try to use accounting software as an inventory system, they discover that it has a number of constraints and that it can’t meet all of their needs. It’s a great accounting solution, but it lacks many key inventory control features that companies need. That’s because it was made for bookkeeping, not inventory tracking. You wouldn’t buy a lawnmower and then complain that it does a terrible job when you use it as a blender. They both have spinning blades, but they’re made for two different jobs.

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

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A better solution for tracking inventory is to find software that is affordable and robust enough for small and midsize businesses to stay with for many years. Make sure it can handle what you need it to do before making a final decision. You don’t want to have to switch systems every few years when you discover that the one you went with can’t handle more complex requirements, such as multiple locations, barcode scanning, and stages of production. That’s a waste of time and money.

Your software should have features that are simple enough for a young business to master and that can also be expanded to fit that same business’s increasingly complex needs year after year. Fishbowl is a powerful tool that fits the bill.

Fishbowl Manufacturing and Fishbowl Warehouse help you oversee multiple locations, track shipments, automatically reorder products, print and scan barcodes, convert units of measurement, use multi-currency features, create multi-level work orders, and much more. Fishbowl integrates with dozens of other business solutions, including Amazon, eBay, Shopify, Magento, QuickBooks, Salesforce, and Xero, just to name a few. So you can share your inventory data across all of your other online and desktop platforms to ensure each one has accurate, up-to-date inventory quantities and values.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN AN INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

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Companies look for systems to solve logistical problems they are facing as they grow. There are certain features that will help them in this endeavor. We’ll start with basic features and move on to more complex ones in a minute. There are three basic elements every good inventory management software should contain:

  • Tracking items so that you know exactly what quantities you have on hand of every part and product in your inventory. This is quite possibly the most basic part of inventory management. You need to know how many items you have on hand to make informed decisions about ordering and shipping them.

  • Multiple locations, which allow you to designate where all of your items are located at different warehouses. You can even drill down into each warehouse and set up individual shelves, aisles, and bins to hold your items. That makes the receiving, storage, and picking processes much faster and more organized when you know where everything goes.

  • Units of measure like eaches, gallons, pounds, inches, cases, packages, etc. that allow you to accurately identify the quantities that are available to you. The software should also allow for unit of measure conversions, so that if you purchase a case of widgets and sell them individually, you can account for that change in how you count them in your records.

Once you have the what, where, and how much down, you can move on to more advanced features to help you manage your inventory.

  • Tracking lot numbers – Lot numbers let you identify a specific group of items that came from one particular order or manufacturing job. This helps you hunt down any items that might be part of a product recall or that contain a defect instead of having to throw out all of the items in your inventory because they might be affected.

  • Tracking serial numbers – Serial numbers help to uniquely identify an individual item and distinguish it from every other item in your inventory. For example, if you have 100 computers that are all the same model, each one of those will have a unique serial number so you can track which unit you ship to which person. There are many benefits to using serial numbers, one being it gives you the ability to track warranties and returns, and another is that you can better handle recalls.

  • Tracking expiration dates – Companies that work with perishable goods, such as bakeries, grocery stores, hospitals, and many kinds of retailers, need to know when their goods need to be used or sold by. Tracking each item’s expiration date allows them to make the best use of their resources and avoid spoilage and other waste.

  • Tracking costs – If you manufacture goods, it’s absolutely essential that you know how much your finished products cost to make. A bill of materials should add up the costs of all of the parts that go into a manufacturing job and also add labor costs and ancillary costs, such as electricity and storage space/lease expenses. This will help you price products at a level that covers all of their costs.

  • Receiving and landed costs – When you order items from international vendors, you will need to pay landed costs to receive them into your warehouse. These can include shipping costs, crafting, packing, and handling costs, brokerage and logistical fees, taxes, insurance, and employee wages. In addition, you may need to factor in tariffs, customs duties, harbor fees, and currency conversions. If your software has built-in features to account for all of these costs, you will save yourself a lot of time and worry.

  • Identifying shipments sent to customers – This might seem like a basic function, but you’d be surprised at how many companies struggle to figure out where and when they sent shipments out. Sales orders should have a fulfillment date, shipment date, shipping address, recipient, and other vital information. That way, you will know which customer each shipment was sent to on which date.

  • Scanning barcodes – To speed up the process of reordering items, receiving them, picking them, and performing other important functions in the warehouse, you should try using barcode scanners. Instead of hand-typing information, you can scan items’ barcodes to ensure they are recorded quickly and accurately. A barcode system empowers your workers to accomplish a lot more in less time.

  • Accounting software integration – A major benefit of integrating your inventory system with your accounting software saves a lot of time and headaches. It eliminates the need for double data entry. Shortly after changes are made to the inventory software, it sends those changes to the accounting software to create invoices and update the general ledger.

  • Ecommerce integration – A growing number of transactions are done online via ecommerce platforms. Make sure your inventory program integrates with all of the ecommerce platforms you have an account with. That way, when you sell an item on one of them, it will automatically update the others to reflect the new number of items available to purchase.

  • Picking, packing, shipping, and receiving – The order fulfillment process is at the heart of inventory management. Your software system should enable workers to pick in batches to save time, pack items in the appropriate containers, print shipping labels and inform shippers that packages are waiting to be picked up, and check that everything that was ordered is received when a shipment arrives.

  • Production stages and notes – Manufacturers need to be able to add notes to work orders and bills of materials. They can use those to insert step-by-step instructions, schematics, and other details that help workers know exactly what is required of them on each manufacturing job. This helps to manage the flow of your manufacturing process. You’ll be able to set up production stages and sub-assemblies, which allow you to know which step of manufacturing your items are in.


Simple Small Business Inventory Software

THE IDEAL SYSTEM AND SOFTWARE

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Fishbowl is an ideal inventory system for more than 40 industries. It has been successfully implemented by a variety of business types, including:

  • Manufacturers who work with anywhere from hundreds to thousands of parts, components, and other materials.

  • Wholesale distributors with multiple warehouses and suppliers both inside and outside their home country.

  • Professional services, such as plumbers, electricians, and HVAC technicians, who must maintain adequate numbers of cleaning supplies, replacement parts, and other items to serve their customers.

  • Food producers and beverage makers using ingredients that must be consumed before reaching their expiration dates.

  • Government agencies looking to track their assets across wide expanses and to serve a large number of people.

  • Ecommerce retailers that want to speed up the order fulfillment process, drop ship items, and maintain a just-in-time inventory model.

  • Chemical companies that need to use lot numbers, expiration dates, and unit-of-measure conversions in order to comply with strict government regulations.

  • Agriculture businesses that grow all sorts of things from cabbages to cannabis. Bills of materials, custom tracking, and expiration dates are a few of the features that help them the most.

  • And many others, ranging from SMBs to large organizations.

With Fishbowl, you can speed up your inventory processes by using barcode scanners, save money by balancing your inventory needs, and get more out of your workers by giving them the tools to be more productive. Eliminate double data entry by integrating Fishbowl's inventory software with your accounting software and other business solutions.

Convert multiple currencies into your home currency in purchase orders and sales orders to help with taxes and other calculations. And use production stages in multi-level work orders and bills of materials to make sure manufacturing jobs get done in the right order and fast enough to keep up with demand. That’s a tall order, but Fishbowl is up to the task.

Fishbowl is the complete automated system. Start improving your company’s inventory management today by getting a 14-day free trial of Fishbowl!

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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There are many inventory challenges, such as shortages, calculating the true costs of products, and supply chain disruptions, which can be solved by using an inventory software system. When looking for an inventory software system, make sure it has the ability to track items by lot number, serial number, and expiration date, add multiple locations, create and convert units of measure, track costs, receive items, identify shipments sent to customers, scan barcodes, integrate with accounting solutions and ecommerce platforms, add notes to work orders and bills of materials, use production stages, and facilitate the picking, packing, shipping, and receiving of items. Fishbowl is an ideal solution because it offers all of the above features, plus many others. In the end, inventory management software should save time and money, and it should be easy to use and advanced enough to fulfill all of your company’s needs. A good system solves problems and makes your inventory life easier.

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Published January 17, 2020

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Getting the right goods to the right place, at the right time, and in the right condition is a crucial prerequisite for running a successful business.

But how is it supposed to happen if you end up selling an item that wasn’t actually in stock?

Or the sold item gets misplaced?

This is why you must know where your inventory is, how much you have, and how to get where it needs to go. Even better if all this is possible without any extra effort from you.

Getting the best inventory management software for your business will make all of it a reality.

And if that isn’t enough, the software tool can also help you reduce operating costs, increase revenue, and most importantly, ensure greater customer satisfaction.

But how do you know which platform you should choose?

That’s where we come in.

Our team at has curated a list of the best inventory management solutions for different types of businesses below. Read on to find out the best match for your company.

The Top Five Options for the Best Inventory Management Software:

  1. Cin7 — Best for Enterprise Resource Planning
  2. QuickBooks Commerce — Best for Wholesale Business
  3. Upserve — Best for Restaurants
  4. Zoho Inventory — Best for Multi-Channel Retailers
  5. Ordoro — Best for eCommerce Websites

How to Choose the Best Inventory Management Software for You

An inventory management software is more than a solution – it’s a savior for your business.

You can systematically source, store, and sell inventory, for both raw materials and finished products. It also covers the entire supply chain, from production to retail and warehousing to shipping, plus any stock movement in between.

The good news is that the software is a one-time investment, but you need to make the right decision. To ensure this, keep the following factors in mind before making your final choice.

Business Type and Requirements

Although inventory management software is versatile, only a few cater to specific niche industry initiatives and business models.

Think about it: The inventory requirements of a wholesaler differ a lot from those of a physical retailer.

Moreover, every business has its unique needs, and your business is no different. You have to be aware of the kind of features you require in software for your inventory process’s smooth functioning.

Do you sell your offerings in-person or online? Is it through a website or online marketplaces–or a combination of the two? Movies and tv with pina colada song meaning.

A prospective software may offer several innovative features and support various sales channels, but if it doesn’t have the features you need or back the sales channel you currently use, buying it would be useless.

Possible Integrations

Many inventory management software tools can integrate with other platforms, which helps you save time and ensure smoother operations when it comes to inventory management.

Before choosing a tool, find out whether the prospective software plays well with the other solutions you already use and pay for.

Imagine you sell products on Amazon. Understandably, you’ll want to keep a record of your listed stocks in real-time. Make sure you cross-check that the solution you want to purchase can integrate with Amazon. If it can’t, move on and look for other options.

Process Automation

The rule here is simple: Choose a software that offers as many relevant automated features as possible. After all, the whole point of getting inventory management software is to make our lives easier.

Think through each step of your inventory management process to determine what could be automated and what has to be done manually.

For example, automatically reordering more units when you’re low on inventory. Or updating your inventory according to purchase orders and fulfillment. This, of course, will be done based on the settings you customize in the software you choose.

Customer Support

There’s no guarantee there won’t be any learning curve with the inventory management software you choose. Therefore, you may benefit from some expert advice from your software vendor in the beginning, after an upgrade, or when you face a glitch. Look for online resources, live chats, and other customer support tools they offer.

Make a point to choose a company that has a reputation for providing exemplary customer service. Don’t forget to read customer reviews and feedback before initiating a purchase.

The Different Types of Inventory Management Software

In addition to the above factors, you must also understand the different inventory management types to make the right choice.

From free and basic tool suites to ones that are more expensive and have super-accurate programs, inventory management software varies a lot. You can also categorize them according to their features, as some tools do nothing but list orders, while others facilitate sales departments to track and categorize orders, give dynamic product information, and carry out personalized branding.

But since it’s a software we’re discussing, we’ve listed the different inventory management software types depending on how the vendor deploys it.

There are three kinds of inventory management software based on deployment.

Inventory management software small business

On-Premise Inventory Management Systems

These systems include software covered by a single license and hosted on the client’s local server. This is the most expensive category, as they require complex setups and even hardware installation in some instances.

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) Inventory Management Systems

These solutions have a monthly subscription and are hosted on the vendor’s server. The user isn’t responsible for any installation, updates, or maintenance.

Cloud-Hosted Inventory Management Systems

Cloud-based solutions are quickly gaining popularity because of their high level of affordability and universal access. Also due to these reasons, this system category offers free basic plans. Additionally, the user doesn’t need to update the software or perform any maintenance.

You’ll also find software solutions that have a hybrid deployment. In this case, you’ll have the option to choose between being an on-premise client or use a cloud-based interface.

#1 Cin7 – Best for Enterprise Resource Planning

Cin7 can do more than inventory management–it’s a comprehensive cloud-based software that can integrate with other modules, including point-of-sale software, an e-commerce platform, and a warehouse management tool.

We feel this solution is best for enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms because it features built-in modules for every aspect of your business that are a part of its subscription plans. It has a fully integrated point-of-sale (POS) system, along with plenty of B2B e-commerce features, manufacturing features, and a payment portal.

You also get inventory tracking, barcode scanning, and order fulfillment benefits that are standard with most inventory solutions.

Cin7 can integrate with more than 100 third-party applications, allowing you to run your business from a single platform, which is impressive. You can manage inventories across multiple markets and efficiently sell and distribute your products with minimal effort while your system remains up to date, thanks to its advanced demand forecasting and cross-channel syncing support.

Key Features

  • Inventory management
  • POS software support
  • Order management
  • Manufacturing and warehousing tools
  • Branch transfers

Pricing

Cin7 offers three pricing tiers based on your business size:

  • Starter
  • Advanced
  • Momentum

Prices start at $295 per month. You’ll have to contact the company for a more accurate quote for your business, though.

#2 QuickBooks Commerce – Best for Wholesale Business

This product’s name doesn’t ring a bell? We don’t blame you.

Management

You may know QuickBooks Commerce by its former name, TradeGecko, and while the name might have changed, the software still offers everything you need for your wholesale business.

It allows you to easily monitor products as you sell, manufacture, and restock goods across all of your warehouses, sales channels, and locations. Plus, you can also set up a B2B e-commerce site, allowing all your clients to pay the agreed price.

Additionally, there’s a built-in payment processor that enables you to add a ‘Pay Now’ button in your invoices, making it easier for your clients to make a payment as soon as they receive an invoice.

Inventory Management Software App

QuickBooks Commerce can simplify your supply chain and order management. Not only does it have a mobile app to help you sell on the go, but its barcode scanning feature also makes it easier to update items or modify sales orders.

The software automates several repetitive ordering processes as well. This includes custom workflow creation for all types of orders, sending trigger emails, Slack notifications, and so on.

Key Features

  • Inventory optimization
  • Multi-channel management
  • Reorder management
  • Warehouse management
  • Reporting/analytics
  • Product identification
  • Mobile access

Pricing

QuickBook Commerce has three plans payable monthly:

  • Essentials: $40
  • Plus: $21
  • Advanced: $45

Disclaimer: The above screenshot was taken when the website was offering a 70% discount for the first three months of purchase. It may not be applicable at a later date.

#3 Upserve – Best for Restaurants

Restaurants have unique inventory needs, which is why they need more than a simple order management system–a challenge Upserve meets.

Upserve is a dynamic inventory management solution enabling users to track expiration dates and focus on specialty supply chain needs. It has been specially designed to fulfill the needs of a restaurant.

For instance, you can create recipes for the dishes on your menu and customize each recipe with an accurate reading of the ingredients (and the amounts) used on the software. Once a customer places an order for that dish, Upserve will automatically deduct those quantities from the inventory levels for the ingredients used.

This feature also helps you decide the right prices for your menu items and identify where there may be excessive food waste.

Upserve has a built-in POS system, but you can only use their unique proprietary POS hardware to run it. Nevertheless, this isn’t a deal-breaker when you consider its inventory management properties, especially for restaurants.

Key Features

Inventory Management Software

Inventory Management Programs

  • Real-time inventory tracking
  • Recipe costing
  • Multiple-location support
  • Vendor management
  • One-click ordering
  • In-app barcode scanner

Pricing

Upserve offers three subscription plans to its users:

  • Core: $59
  • Pro: $199
  • Pro Plus: $395

You also have the option to request a demo of the software.

#4 Zoho Inventory – Best for Multi-Channel Retailers

If you need advanced inventory management software for expanding business over multiple channels, Zoho Inventory is one of the best you can get.

It can streamline business operations, allow users to effectively manage inventory, purchase orders, sales orders, and shipments. It’s a GST-ready tool that saves your business GSTIN and auto-populates itself whenever there’s a purchase, sale, bill, or invoice.

The platform also offers integration with digital marketing sites like eBay, Amazon, Shopify, and Etsy. As a result, your sales team can manage online and off-line orders quickly and seamlessly.

What’s more, the tool comes equipped with an end-to-end tracking system that allows you to track the movement of every item from your warehouse to the sales point. Receiving real-time shipping rates and in-transit details is another advantage.

You can think of Zoho Inventory as an AI-powered system with several powerful features that can be customized to suit your business needs.

Key Features

  • Inventory optimization
  • Multi-channel management
  • Reorder management
  • Product identification
  • Reporting/Analytics
  • Mobile access
  • Retail inventory management

Pricing

Zoho Inventory has different plans to suit the needs of diverse multi-channel businesses. Currently, you can choose from four options payable per organization, per month:

  • Free Plan: $0
  • Basic: $39
  • Standard: $79
  • Professional: $199

The above are annual rates. If you choose to pay monthly, the prices will increase slightly.

#5 Ordoro – Best for eCommerce Websites

Ordoro is an all-in-one solution for inventory management and shipping for your e-commerce business.

You can integrate all of your online sales channels, assign barcodes to SKUs, manage purchase orders, and automatically update quantities on fulfillment of orders through the software. It’s designed to handle inventory updates for returned merchandise authorization (RMAs) as well.

It’s an excellent choice for sites that require vendor management features, thanks to its dropshipping capabilities.

Ordoro allows you to manage–both manually and automatically–all dropship requests to vendors without your involvement. It has a vendor portal that enables suppliers to fulfill orders directly within the platform.

Implementing a non-traditional inventory management strategy is also possible with this software. There’s an option to strategically oversell your goods or limit the number of in-stock items visible to your customers to create an illusion of scarcity, encouraging people to place their orders sooner.

Key Features

Inventory Programs Free

  • Barcode scanning feature
  • Built-in advanced analytics
  • Automatic inventory syncing
  • Multi-channel support
  • Inventory alerts/notifications
  • Kitting

Pricing

Ordoro has three feature-rich plants, including :

  • Express: Starting at $59 per month
  • Pro: Starting at $499 per month
  • Enterprise: Request a quote

You have the option to schedule a free demo from the company as well.

Conclusion

Choosing the best inventory management solution for your business shouldn’t be taken lightly. Along with the pricing, feature availability, and benefits, you must also consider the people who will be using the software and their needs.

Inventory Management Software Cheap

Luckily, inventory management software is available in all different shapes and offer different functionalities to make it suitable for various businesses and industry niches. Just don’t forget to use our guide and recommendations to find inventory management software that works best for your business.