What to look for in an inventory management system

Feb 19

Inventory software has the potential to solve a lot of problems and open up opportunities for businesses. You should take these factors into consideration before choosing inventory management software. In addition, we will explore a few of the most valuable features of top inventory management software solutions. These features will definitely help you with inventory management for Amazon and much more.

If you are searching for inventory software to manage your Amazon store, be sure to check Inventooly.

Why is inventory management important?

Inventories, also called merchandise or product, encompass the goods and materials that a business intends to sell in the future. A business may not sell these goods or materials to customers for any purpose other than profit-making. The inventory of a business is one of its most important assets.

The amazon warehouse management systems are used in the process of purchasing products, analyzing sales trends, and keeping tabs on the on-hand stock. Additionally, product liquidation services for wholesalers and distributors as well as e-commerce retailers and manufacturing companies. The idea behind Supply Chain Management is to make things run more smoothly which managing inventory effectively.

Inventory management software features you should know about

A business owner's and finance director's top priorities are these features. In the event that your inventory management solution lacks any of these features, consider another option.

A real-time inventory tracking system

Inventory management software systems are absolutely necessary in order to fulfill the first requirement. You need your software to reflect in real-time your company's stock movements and allocations so you know exactly what you've got and where it's located. This means:

Stock positions are updated when sales orders are received. It allows you to avoid reselling the same thing or selling stock you cannot deliver
Whenever your inventory management software scans inbound goods, they are reflected in your system.
Real-time tracking of warehouse transfers is available.
As a manufacturer, you must reserve components. Thus, you don't start another assembly run only to discover that half your parts were already used on a previous run.
If it's held at someone else's store, you can track consignment stock in your system.

Low stock alerts & reorder points

If you don't prevent yourself from running out of stock, knowing exactly what you have and where is of little use. Inventory management software should be able to set automatically generated alerts when crucial stock levels are low. As well as generate purchase orders quickly as a result of those alerts.

If you're managing stock at scale, you'll want a reorder report that lets you see everything that needs to be replaced in one shot, so you can purchase everything at once.

Controlling the purchase of goods and services and managing the supply chain

Gaining control over your purchasing is one of the key efficiencies you can unlock with inventory management software. The more you know about what you have, its value, and its location, the easier it is to avoid making unnecessary purchases or to make the right buying decision. Manually entering your inventory data into your purchasing process must be done carefully so that you do not lose time or make mistakes. It may be necessary to repeat the process of copying and to paste the supplier information.

You should be able to do the following with inventory management software:

Orders can be generated automatically.
Organize all your supplier details in a central location.
Make optimal purchasing easy by automatically generating quantity discounts you receive from your suppliers.
Each supplier's transaction history can be viewed.
When goods arrive in bits and pieces, partial receipt of a purchase order.
Maintaining inventory properly

If you have to manually extract all your inventory data each month, you shouldn't be getting fancy new inventory management software. Ultimately, the goal of any software system is to make scaling operations more efficient and reduce the admin workload.

There should be built-in reporting capabilities that can provide data such as:

The turnover rate of your inventory
The time it takes for an SKU to sell on average
The number of backorders you receive
Age of the stock
Sales by unit
Margins
Scanning & Barcoding

In computing, a barcode represents data visually and in a machine-readable format. In essence, it is a way to enter data electronically. There is typically some identifying information in a barcode, such as an SKU, lot number, purchase order, or customer shipment. The user can view the data once it has been scanned and access additional information or take action.

Several WMS vendors provide bar code functions, but the inventory app should support them.

Integrated systems and interfaces

In the case that all functions cannot be accessed from one source, such as an ERP or WMS system, what are the most important integrations and interfaces required? Is an additional add-on system necessary? How much will the implementation cost? Consider the following:

Data relationship between primary and secondary. The Inventory Management System (IMS) and the Warehouse Management System (WMS) are often regarded as two different systems. To keep in sync in terms of both data and timing, they must be tightly coupled.

As the "primary" inventory management system for many businesses, Inventory Management became the best solution. This model makes the WMS a "secondary" system that incorporates data from the inventory management system and controls it. Depending on the vendor, both inventory management and WMS may be provided in one interface.

How do you plan to integrate retail, point of sale, and website applications with customer-facing or selling applications?

Conclusion

A proper inventory management system is essential for increasing sales without overstocking your inventory. The following features have been provided as guidelines for how to choose inventory management software on the market.

When it comes to selecting an inventory management system, you may still be unsure. You need not look any further since we have the solution you need. Check Inventooly it has every feature listed and even more.