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Freshservice is a powerful IT Service Management solution from Freshdesk. This cloud-based system frees IT departments from clunky, server-based solutions, offering on-the-go mobility, powerful features, and flexible pricing....Read more
eLabJournal is an all-in-one electronic lab notebook that includes eLabInventory and eLabProtocols. It enables users to improve efficiency in labs, enhance productivity and generate more output in the same amount of time. Feature...Read more
eLabInventory is an inventory management and sample tracking system designed to help organizations access business data in real-time. It offers a broad range of features and add-on tools that makes eLabInventory ideal for a resear...Read more
monday.com, an award-winning collaboration and project management platform, helps teams plan together efficiently and execute complex projects to deliver results on time. monday.com team management and task management tool allows ...Read more
Megaventory is a cost-effective, Web-based inventory management system. Designed with small businesses in mind, Megaventory includes standard features such as order management, demand forecasting and reporting capabilities....Read more
Smart IP&O is a cloud-based and on-premise solution that lets businesses manage processes related to inventory planning, demand forecasting, supply chain management and more. Hosted on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform, it le...Read more
Zoho Inventory is a cloud-based inventory management solution designed for small to midsize businesses. It features inventory management modules including reporting and analysis, vendor managed inventory and lot traceability. It f...Read more
EZOfficeInventory is a dynamic asset and maintenance management solution tailored for companies of all sizes. The cloud-based software works as you do and is accessible from anywhere and at any time. Track items across locati...Read more
Jesta I.S. is a leading supplier of integrated software solutions for midsize and large retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers specializing in branded goods, apparel, footwear, hard goods and specialty industries. Jesta's c...Read more
Packed with features and flexibly priced, browser-based Accolent ERP can be installed on-premises or hosted in the Cloud for distributors from 3 to 100+ users. ADS Solutions has 25+ years of experience. ...Read more
Stitch Labs is an integrated, cloud-based inventory and order management solution that caters to mid-size multi-channel retail brands. Stitch serves as an operational hub to brand operations, centralizing inventory across al...Read more
Solid Commerce is a cloud-based inventory management solution that caters to businesses of all sizes across various industries such as computer software, apparel and fashion, consumer goods, business supplies, retail, and more. Ke...Read more
Tigerpaw is a cloud-based professional service automation (PSA) solution designed for small and mid-size customers. It offers project management, time tracking and billing management within a suite. The project management fun...Read more
Upp Technology's Aptean WMS is a web-based Distribution system. Mobile ready, it offers users in many industries inventory visibility and accountability in real time. ...Read more
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.
Retail businesses can typically use scaled-down systems focused on maintaining perpetual inventory data and inventory levels, whereas businesses with complex supply chains often use the inventory management functionality in ERP systems or with strong warehouse management integrations.
Depending on the complexity of your asset tracking and physical inventory needs, you may require features to support multiple sales channels, multiple warehouse management, and a mobile app. We'll get into more detail below.
While you can track inventory in Excel, spreadsheets only work for periodic inventory counts (i.e., the inventory system is only updated at intervals, say after physical stock counts). Inventory software is necessary to enable a true dynamic inventory system, where stock levels are updated continuously as sales are made and goods are received. Benefits include:
As a business owner, you need a good inventory management system that offers you a competitive edge. For e-commerce retailers, logistics providers, and businesses in other industries where margins can be razor-thin, you need inventory software that works hard for you.
Inventory management software is used by businesses of all sizes, across a variety of industries.
Our internal data shows that of a sample of 1,676 inventory management buyers who contacted us recently, most were small businesses, with 91 percent employing fewer than 100 people, and 75 percent generating less than $5 million annually.
Inventory management functionality is included in a diverse group of software categories, such as:
Accounting software: Helps businesses automate their core accounting functions to more easily balance their books and provide proof of their financial standing. Systems typically include a centralized general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, billing and invoicing and the ability to produce standardized reports.
Distribution ERP systems: These are required by a wide variety of businesses that operate in the middle of the supply chain between manufacturers and customers. Distribution software systems can feature a wide variety of functionality and features, including inventory control, warehouse management, CRM, order management and accounting.
Manufacturing ERP systems: Provides functionality to plan and execute projects from beginning to end, while automating materials planning, production tracking and scheduling and product lifecycle management.
Retail management systems: Many vendors combine point-of-sale systems with inventory management systems in a single platform. Retail ERP systems also include inventory functionality.
Warehouse management systems: These systems are inventory control systems specifically designed for warehouse inventory that also offer software automation for crucial warehouse processes. Automating processes such as warehouse picking has been conclusively shown to be vastly more efficient than manual methods.
Product categorization | Tracks stock levels according to item attributes such as size, color, lot/serial number etc. Generate bill of materials and streamline the reorder point process. |
Sales order and purchase order management | Tracks each product sale, order, wholesale purchase, build or delivery and automatically updates inventory quantities. |
Order management | Advanced systems like SAP, Oracle and Microsoft Dynamics can be set up to automatically reorder a product when it falls below a certain quantity. |
Specifying item attributes in Acctivate Inventory Management
At Software Advice, we've helped thousands of buyers find the right software for their business. We've analyzed those interactions to determine the top-requested features by Inventory Management buyers, presented here:
Small business | Perpetual inventory: Allows small retailers and e-commerce retailers to synchronize product levels across multiple locations and multiple sales channels, both online and brick-and-mortar. Support for purchase order processing, inventory report, and invoicing are key features needed for small businesses to make smart business decisions. |
Midsize business buyer | RF support: Barcode scanning, especially on a mobile device barcode scanner, allows for powerful inventory control, improves count accuracy, and substantially speeds up processes like receiving, FIFO, and pick/pack/ship. |
Enterprise business buyer | Lot traceability: Manufacturers and large distributors are increasingly using lot and serial numbers to track products through their supply chains from raw materials to retail shelf. |
Processing a purchase order in Fishbowl Inventory
Typically, inventory software is priced according to a number of factors. There are different pricing tiers for businesses of varying size, based on:
In addition, whether the software is hosted online or on-premise can make a difference in up-front versus recurring costs.
We looked at a sample of buyer interactions to compare how much businesses are willing to budget either for monthly fees for cloud platforms or upfront, one-time fees for on-premise platforms. We've broken this data down by business size in terms of number of licensed users, since licensed users is one of the primary factors affecting pricing for systems:
There are no real drawbacks to using inventory management systems, but there are drawbacks to choosing the wrong vendor for your business.
Here are three major ROI drivers for inventory management software: