Lightspeed Retail
Clothing Store Inventory Software
Clothing store inventory software automates old school retail processes such as physical inventory counts and reorder point calculations. Often integrated or included with retail POS systems, these systems keep accurate, up-to-date analytics that help smoothly manage an apparel business. Common features of clothing store inventory software include inventory reports, backordering, inventory optimization, multichannel sales, order management, and sales reports.
Compare All Clothing Store Inventory Software
Jesta Vision Suite
Jesta Vision Suite
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
Lightspeed Retail
Lightspeed Retail
Lightspeed Retail is a cloud-based POS solution that is suitable for retailers in industries such as apparel, footwear, bike, jewelry, pet, sporting goods and home decor. The solution offers retailers tools including inventory man...Read more
Heartland Retail
Heartland Retail
Heartland Retail, formerly Springboard Retail, is a web-based retail solution designed for multi-channel and multi-store retailers. Heartland's point of sale system is fully accessible through any modern web browser on any de...Read more
Cumulus Retail
Cumulus Retail
Cumulus Retail by CAM Commerce is a Cloud, SaaS based retail management solution that enables small to mid-size retailers to manage their entire business in one system. Cumulus combines point of sale, E-Commerce, back office, and ...Read more
RLM Apparel Software
RLM Apparel Software
RLM Apparel Software is a cloud-based solution that helps businesses manage product information, handle sales orders and streamline eCommerce operations. Professionals can maintain a record of product specifications, manage invent...Read more
Software pricing tips
Read our Apparel POS & Inventory Software Buyers GuideSubscription models
- Per employee/per month: This model allows you to pay a monthly fee for each of your employees.
- Per user/per month: Users pay a monthly fee for users—normally administrative users—rather than all employees.
Perpetual license
- This involves paying an upfront sum for the license to own the software and use it indefinitely.
- This is the more traditional model and is most common with on-premise applications and with larger businesses.
Rated best value for money
ApparelMagic
ApparelMagic
ApparelMagic is the central hub behind many of fashion's top brands. As an integrated inventory solution tailor-made for retailers and wholesalers of apparel and accessories, it's the one-stop shop the fashion industry relies on f...Read more
BlueCherry
BlueCherry
BlueCherry is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite featuring modules for omnichannel planning, product lifecycle management (PLM), shop floor control, logistics, e-commerce, finance and electronic data interchange. It is su...Read more
FashionFlow Apparel ERP
FashionFlow Apparel ERP
FashionFlow Apparel is an on-premise enterprise planning software for the apparel and footwear industry. The solution is built on the Microsoft SQL Server and offers accounting modules. This module eliminates the need for double e...Read more
Coats Digital
Coats Digital
FastReact is a product lifecycle management (PLM) software that helps businesses in the fashion and retail industry manage production plans and streamline supply chain processes, from material sourcing and product development to o...Read more
Momentis Fashion System
Momentis Fashion System
Momentis Fashion ERP is an enterprise resource planning solution which caters to wholesalers, distributors and self-sourcing retailers in the apparel and fashion industry. The solution can be deployed both on-premise and in the cl...Read more
Timereaction
Timereaction
TimeReaction provides small and mid-size manufacturers a competitive edge in the age of virtual supply-chain management by delivering a seamless end-to-end collaborative workflow solution for high performing cross-functional teams...Read more
Popular Apparel POS & Inventory Software Comparisons
Buyers Guide
Last Updated: March 14, 2022Here's what we'll cover:
- What is clothing store inventory software?
- Common features of apparel POS and inventory software
- Online customers and apparel retailers
- Market trends to understand
What is clothing store inventory software?
Clothing store inventory software automates old school retail processes such as physical inventory counts and reorder point calculations. Often integrated or included with retail POS systems, these systems keep accurate, up-to-date analytics that help smoothly manage an apparel business. Common features of clothing store inventory software include inventory reports, backordering, inventory optimization, multichannel sales, order management, and sales reports.
Common features of apparel POS and inventory software
In addition to core business functions, retailers should evaluate the following functions to meet their unique requirements of a clothing POS solution:
| Layaway | The POS system should allow customers to put products on layaway and identify the item as such in the inventory system. The layaway payments should be treated as deposits in the general ledger. |
| Holds | The clothing store POS system should allow merchandise to be placed on hold, and identify it as such in the inventory. The hold should automatically expire after a defined time if the item is not purchased or placed on layaway by the customer. |
| Store transfer | If the store is part of a chain, the inventory system should have up-to-date information on inventory in all of the stores. If a customer needs an item that is not in stock at a particular store, the system should check all other stores. The customer should have the option to hold the item for pick up at another store or have it transferred to a store of the customer’s choice. |
| Inventory matrix | The key to a successful apparel inventory system is a matrix of modifiers. The general description is entered once, and the sizes and colors are listed as modifiers to the basic description. The inventory must track each item as a separate SKU and maintain a separate reorder point. |
| Customer relationship management | Because of competition from online stores, warehouse stores and department stores, these retailers have aggressively adopted CRM. In particular, they are adopting social networking by establishing Facebook pages and tweeting coupons to registered customers. The system should also track color, style, and designer preferences to notify customers when new shipments are due. It is important to track special dates for targeted, personalized sale opportunities. |
| Customer loyalty program | As part of CRM and to further solidify customer relations, many stores have customer loyalty programs. The store system should track sales history and monitor loyalty program points awarded and redeemed. |
| Seasonal planning | Fashions and accessories change from season to season. The inventory should make recommendations for new orders. In addition, it should track existing inventory and make sales-versus-storage recommendations. |
| Accessory coordination | Many clothing manufactures provide matching accessories, such as belts. In other cases, different manufacturers make accessories to "coordinate" with outfits. The inventory and POS system should list matching accessories on hand and available as special orders. |
| Split tender | The system must be able to accept payment over several different methods. For example, a customer may want to pay with cash and two different credit cards. The system must properly apply the split payments to the correct ledger accounts. |
Online customers and apparel retailers
Apparel is one of the fastest growing ecommerce segments. Online research firm eMarketer predicts revenue around $40.9 billion in 2012, a 20% increase in growth over 2011. There are a number of reasons for this, including greater sophistication of online tools for shopping and a growing number of traditional retail clothing chains moving to online retail.
To be successful today, apparel shops owners can react by investing in one of the following strategies:
Produce an online storefront: Store owners can enter the online shopping game themselves. Some apparel management software vendors offer ecommerce and shopping cart integration with their system. Other software vendors offer third-party shopping cart solutions. Retailers can then build out and optimize their website for local, regional, or national customers. In this scenario, it may be worthwhile to invest in online marketing services, such as consulting firms that specialize in pay-per-click advertising, to gain visibility.
Improve the customer experience: Another option for retailers is to focus on differentiating from online apparel websites and improving the in-store experience. A number of POS vendors offer clothing inventory software that works on tablets and smartphones to help associates answer customers' questions and look up apparel options from the floor. Some mobile apparel store software can even process payments from the device. One national apparel retailer—Nordstrom—is moving to a mobile point-of-sale solution in all of its stores. Another option is to improve the experience for customers through improved signage, a more open and inviting store layout, and better-trained associates.
Customer attainment is also an important consideration for these retailers. As customers transition to websites and social media to find promotions and deals, smaller clothing retailers should meet these consumers online to offer similar promotions and store information.
Market trends to understand
- CRM-enabled POS: Customer relationship management (CRM) functionality is increasingly integrated with traditional POS systems. More and more apparel retailers are finding they're able to fulfill their CRM and POS requirements with a single system. (Some of the benefits of integrated systems are discussed in the first section above.)
- Internet of Things: While the IoT is very much still a nascent technology, some of its more compelling use cases are in the realm of retail. Inventory management, for example, can be improved—and to a degree automated—with peripherals such as RFID tags and scanners. Expect these systems to be more tightly integrated with other retail technologies, including POS systems, as a larger variety of stores begin exploring their use.