Why is inventory management software important?
Effective management of inventory affects your business’s many aspects – from warehousing cost to your ability to fulfill orders accurately on time. But unfortunately, doing inventory management by hand takes time and makes the whole process slower.
Therefore inventory management software is designed to help business owners automate their inventory tracking and manufacturing. So let’s see few benefits it,
Inventory management software makes it easier to run your business
Inventory management tools may include other tools that can help you run your business more efficiently. Here are a few:
Improves management of stock
Inventory management software also includes most features of warehouse management software that can help you achieve accuracy. It may also help you streamline efficiency in your warehouse. Another essential tool to improve your business is demand forecasting. It will help you make sure you have everything you need to guarantee customer satisfaction and make the best decisions for the company.
Some inventory management tools will help you map warehouse space, including the pallet size of stock and cost per square foot of storage space. This will help you figure out a cost-efficient and easy-to-use system. You can also use a frequency ID or barcode to scan your inventory management system and update stock levels. Nowadays, not having a Vendor Managed Inventory is a bad idea for any company dedicated to providing its customers through clear scheduled cycles.
All this helps you minimize the guesswork and achieve a more accurate picture of your inventory situation when you need it.
Manage multiple locations
As we already mentioned above, inventory management software can help you juggle inventory when overseeing sales from multiple channels. But some software can also help you manage inventory storage between multiple warehouses for brick and mortar locations.
These solutions integrate the supply chain features, allowing you to order products for all your locations in bulk form. You can then move products between locations based on your needs and never lose track of where a particular item is at any given moment.
Integrate well with other softwares
Inventory management software can integrate with several other business tools such as
Point of sale systems: it helps track sales and stock levels in real-time and also assist forecasting of products
Bookkeeping systems: it analyses the working capital of your business as much it is available and plans inventory
Accounting systems: it gives more accurate forecasting metrics to find the most economical quantities suitable for stocking
Customer relationship management software: to link order fulfillment with customers satisfactions
Inventory management software increases your profits
Like the stock market, inventory also carries a bit of risk. If you invest in a risky venture and don’t diversify your portfolio, you may run the risk of losing everything.
Fortunately, with the help of inventory control management system, you can streamline your cost and minimize your risk, which ultimately means better growth in your business.
Reduce storage costs
Implementing a good inventory management software should ultimately provide you with basic economic order quantities or EOQ. This helps you identify the most cost-efficient method to order new products by showing you the cost of storing products versus the cost of ordering your products.
The inventory management software can do this automatically without any interruption to minimize warehousing fees and save more money.
Minimize losses
Products that sit on the product shelves essentially end up losing money for your business. You can’t recoup the capital by selling that product. The inventory tool can minimize this risk by including product forecasting.
Product forecasting involves the number of units you sold and then estimating how much more you will sell in the future. Even with automation, the inventory tools cannot hundred percent accurately provide results. But using an inventory tool will give you a lot more advantage than you figuring out the market trends in spreadsheets manually.
The inventory software can also be integrated with your point of sales system to update the stock numbers real-time. That gives more accurate projections and lower the risk of investing in products that won’t sell. Plus, your software can automatically calculate the number of items needed and place an order with the supplier at an ideal time.
Sell more items
The worst moment for any shop owner is when a customer enters your store looking for something and has to go to another store as you don’t have this item. If you don’t have enough stock to meet the demand, you may start losing customers left and right. Even a single lost sale can represent thousands of dollars of worth of potential sales. This is why it is essential to have enough stock to meet customer demand.
With inventory management tools, you won’t have to face this situation in the future. It will also help you sell more products and secure customer loyalty in the future.
Inventory management software improves customer satisfaction
Waiting to receive an order and opening package to discover that the wrong item was received is an experience that doesn’t paint your business in the best light. They can negatively impact customer loyalty and the image of your brand.
Boost product availability
As we mentioned earlier, the inventory management system includes forecasting and automated order protocol. This improves the likelihood of having enough product on the shelf for your customers.
Improve order accuracy
The inventory tool also integrates many features of warehouse software as it helps maintain an organized warehouse. It reduces the chances of merely putting new inventory into a random spot, forgetting location, and losing track of your merchandise. Also helps your warehouse employees pull the correct item accurately from shelves so your customer can get what they ordered.
Some inventory softwares also includes a logistic feature that provides the ability to track orders. This way, your customer can accurately estimate the time they will receive their orders.
Promote brand loyalty
Keeping your order processing time at a minimum can help you keep products for customers who want on the shelf. Combine that with product quality and improved order accuracy, and you will get customer loyalty.
While shopping, if your customer has a positive experience, they will quickly choose your business over any other shop next time. It is also more likely that they will recommend your business to other potential customers.
Summing it up
There’s a lot that goes in inventory management, but with the help of a good inventory management system in place, you can manage it efficiently. As a result, better inventory management leads to business growth and an increase in your profits.
