When it comes to inventory management, many people think of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets or manual stocktakes. While this can be a good alternative for managing inventory or stocks at an initial level, it can never be precise on a longer run. On a stronger note, the age of paper-based inventory management, log books and spreadsheet is now over. The traditional methods of inventory management invites errors and mistakes that affect your company growth and profitability.
Why invest in an inventory management software?
As a retail business owner, you know it right that inventory management requires a high level of high level of accuracy, precision and foresight. Any error in stock tracking, counting or data entry can cause serious issues such as stock out, unnecessary stock out or shipment delays which eventually isn’t good for your retail business. It can even lead to customer dissatisfaction, which you would never want to happen.
An inventory management software is designed and built to help all types and sizes of retail businesses to automate their inventory management and tracking and improving their business efficiency. Thanks to its automation features, an inventory management software can eliminate any possibility of error.
If you are looking for an automated inventory management software, here we bring essential tips to consider when selecting the right software package for your business inventory management needs.
Inventory Management Software Selection Tips
Know Your Inventory Challenges
Before buying an inventory management software, you need to first know your inventory management challenges and requirements, which’ll differ for every individual business organization. Every software has different capabilities and features to offer. Understand what inventory management challenges you face with your current workflow, and which features of an inventory management softwares you need the most. This information will help you decide which inventory management software, you should buy.
The Cost
You can go for a free version of an inventory management software which offers basic features and tools. However, it offers limited usage and accessibility permissions only. Before investing in inventory management software, ensure that your business finances are stable enough for the expenses. Check your budget and choose the best software version/level, which suits your finances and requirements both. There are many advanced cloud-based inventory management software packages that offer a lot of features at affordable price packages.
Integration Needs
When using CRM, ERP, accounting or other software, you would be looking for an inventory management software that integrates well with your other business software as well. Therefore, ensure the inventory management software you choose should be able to integrate with other systems and you don’t have to manually enter data. It is wise to select the software that seamlessly integrate to greatly improve visibility and efficiency.
Customization
With different business needs, you might need to customize your inventory management software from time-to-time. Therefore, before buying the software ask the seller or vendor whether the inventory management system can be customized to meet your specific business needs, and if it does allow customization, know how long or how much customizations it can support.
Reporting & Analytics
Reporting and analytics is an inseparable part of inventory management software. As a business owner, you depend a lot on analytic based data and reports to take several buying/selling decisions. An advanced inventory management software features robust Analytics/Reports tools that can be accessed with an ease. Thanks to the ability of custom report generation, you can view specific data and focus on variables that matter.
Cloud Storage & Accessibility
Businesses with presence in more than one geographical location would always prefer a cloud-based inventory management software, which can store, organize and present inventory/stock data across different warehouses on a single screen at once. Therefore, if you have warehouses based in more than one location, always invest in an inventory management software that saves all its data on a cloud. It also allows real-time accessibility from any part of the globe through a compatible device connected to the internet.
Mobile App Support
Life without a smartphone is impossible to imagine today. Therefore, while selecting an inventory management software, ensure it has an app version present on Google Play Store or Apple iTunes, depending on the smartphone platform you use. It will allow you to stay connected with your business inventory management system on-the-go.
Find out more benefits of cloud-based inventory management software.
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