Best Inventory Management Software

Inventory management pertains to the process of ordering, storing, and utilizing a company's inventory. Whereas warehouse inventory management controls and optimizes the movement, storage, and tracking of inventory in and around the warehouse.

On the other hand, a warehouse inventory management system is more detail-oriented, while inventory management takes on a broader view. For example, warehousing gives you the detail of the actual location of an item in a warehouse, and inventory management gives you the location of the specific warehouse where the item is stored. 

Bulk shipment 

Bulk shipment is a cost-efficient method where you ship multiple items at once.

ABC inventory management 

ABC inventory management is a technique based on categorizing the products in the order of their importance. Not all products have an equal value; you can identify them as A being the most valuable to C being the least valuable.

Backordering - Backordering is a technique where you decide to take orders and receive payments for products that you don’t have stock yet. This method is a bit risky considering that you’re already selling products without the security of having the stocks yet.

Just in Time (JIT) 

Just-in-time inventory management is a strategy where you arrange an order of supplies and goods to arrive just when you need them. This is a great way to reduce inventory costs and avoid ordering too much.

Consignment 

Consignment is an inventory practice where the stock supplier retains ownership of the product until it gets sold to the consumer. At the same time, the retailer buys the goods from the supplier without paying for the product until it's sold.

Dropshipping - Dropshipping is an inventory management technique where the retailer doesn’t stock the supplies they are selling. After receiving an order and payment, they simply forward the orders to the supplier and let them ship the product to the consumer. The retailer then pays the supplier.

Inventory Cycle Counting 

A cycle count is an inventory procedure where a small number of products or a specific area is counted on a specific day. Cycle counts usually are scheduled at a fixed date or time over an accounting period. 

An open-source inventory management software is freeware or free-to-use software that some companies offer to help small businesses experience free inventory management software. This will help them manage their orders, deliveries and maximize the potentials of their businesses.

These open-source inventory management tools also have limitations as per software for users to upgrade their subscription plans in the future. The upgraded subscription plans add more features that may be important to users that can come up with more economical and beneficial business decisions

A lot of features can be found in Inventory management software. Find out what features will benefit your business. The versatility of a system can help your business in multiple ways.

Stock Optimization

Inventories that have short-term expiration need to sell fast to avoid spoilage. Also, seasonal changes in demands can happen in your business, maintaining just the right amount of inventory for each product to maximize your storage capacity.

Inventory Stock Notifications

Receive alerts and notifications when there’s overstocking for you to offer promotional discounts or replace them with your suppliers to clear out extra stock, or place an order in case of stock shortage and keep up with your product orders.

Product Returns/Exchange Handling

With this, you can manage and minimize stock returns and determine what products are always returned or exchanged to determine points in improving product quality and restock quantity.

Product/ Material Grouping

Group inventory into predefined categories, wet or dry products, manage their stock levels, manage reordering schedules, and track components and specifications that make up your inventory.

Sales Report Analysis

View sales history reports and find a list of your popular products. This will help you analyze your stocks and find out what to sell more. If a product is slow-moving,

exchange some from your suppliers or offer product discounts to clear them off your inventory.

Purchase Order Management

This allows you to manage purchase orders and analyze stock demands to prepare and meet your customer’s needs. The right software or product must only be used to make this happen.

Product Demand Forecasting

Through this feature, you can draw on past data to identify future demand, Identify the peak and off-peak of products. Forecasting can help you strategize and plan your future selling capacity and target markets. 

Sales Report 

These are your sales summaries or in detail for a day, week, month, quarter, or even a year. This will help you analyze your selling pattern and what products you need to sell for a specific period of time. Industries change, so keeping up with trends will help you adjust to economic situations.

Spoilage Report 

These are your slow-moving items or products that have not completed the manufacturing process. Constraints are common in the business, but

managing your spoilage will make your business and efficient and can save you some money for other product opportunities.

Inventory On-hand Report 

 Sometimes, knowing how much inventory in your warehouse is simply not enough. With an on-hand inventory report, you can accurately differentiate allocated stock and available stock, resulting in fewer stock-outs and maximize sales opportunities.

Stock Location Report 

This report will determine the location of your inventory and products. With this report's help, you can allocate specific items, transfer them from a warehouse to another warehouse at multiple locations that need to be restocked or are needing a supply of raw materials for the manufacturing process.

Inventory Change Report 

This report will determine what inventory levels are good for your inventory and manufacturing capacity. Enough supplies of raw materials will maximize your manufacturing production and will increase product output.

Stock Reorder Reports 

Stock reorder report tells you when a re-order and immediate replenishment of goods is necessary. Re-order points are typically unique with each product. Factors that affect reorder points are delivery lead times, sales, and safety stock. This will help you avoid low stock and stock-out situations.

Purchase Order Report  

A purchase order report allows you to track what stock is incoming and when it will be arriving at your warehouse. This will also prevent over-ordering and help to streamline your entire supply chain.

Inventory Pick List Report 

This report is a list of items that your operations team takes inventories into production. This normally fulfills customer orders for the day or packaging of good products for delivery. Using an inventory pick list report also allows you to determine accurate on-hand inventory.

Inventory Packing List 

An inventory packing list or production report details the total amount of materials required to produce a product or fulfill a customer’s order. With this, you can plan out the production schedule and customize the bill of materials for production. 

Inventory refers to the company’s assets, goods, and materials that a company holds for the ultimate goal of resale. Products are items or materials that have undergone a specific process to reach its purpose.

Inventories in a merchandising business are considered merchandise inventory. Inventories in a manufacturing business are classified as raw materials, work-in-process inventory, and finished goods.

The proof is in the numbers when measuring success in managing your inventory. After you have implemented new inventory management techniques, and using your inventory management software, compare the data from before and after.

Have your level of mis-shipments, mis-picks, or out of stocks decreased? What about dead stock and spoilages? Have you eliminated the losses of inventories and loss of sales? Have you already expounded your market? Exceeded your sales from previous months?

If you can answer yes to these, you’ve successfully conducted inventory management. As a result, you can expect to see better customer and product reviews, improved customer loyalty, increased sales of a previous idle product, and even a boosted Online Seller Rating Performance. 

Online systems are inventory management systems that are connected through the internet or are working via a network database. Online inventory management systems are updated in real-time and can be connected to multiple online applications. These online applications can help you buy additional inventory and sell your products.

An offline software only works and can be accessed at a specific place or area. They use data files to be accessed only on a Local Area Network (LAN). An online inventory management system can be used anywhere and configured by an online software provider. Its features can also be updated from time to time to adapt to the users’ needs.