Top 10 Key Features of Inventory Management System for SMB’s

Inventory Management is a crucial step in the supply-chain network. Here, inventory and stock quantities are tracked in and out of your warehouse. The objective of carrying about inventory management process is to be aware about your inventory whereabouts at any given time and to have a clear picture of the quantities you have to manage your inventory levels accurately. A clear sense of Inventory Management process helps a business pursue longevity. Properly organized inventory automatically sets the supply-chain management in place. Manually keeping track of inventory can be troublesome and difficult.

This is where Inventory Management Apps comes to the rescue! An efficient Inventory Management App helps inventory businesses carry out the most crucial tasks such as tracking shipment whereabouts, tracking products level, sales, purchases, orders, stocks, scanning the barcode, and much more. The inventory software and its features are equally important for an inventory business to run smoothly.

So, we are on the same line with some of the noted features, benefits, and the types of inventory management software to help small to large businesses gain maximum benefits.

Reducing stock-outs and overstocks can lower your overall inventory costs by 10%– Zebra

Top Features of Inventory Management System

An inventory app can have distinctive features, depending on the businesses it is serving to. You can integrate end number of elements as per your industry and use. However, there are some standard features which every inventory management app should have in place.

1. Inventory Management

The module or feature is all meant to keep your essential warehouse functions centralized. This helps in tracking every single inventory details like stock level, product history, and other product specifications. More importantly, the data syncs with all other modules in the inventory system.This helps in accurately operating inventory which enhances productivity by promoting a sense of collaboration among team members working from different locations on their systems.

The Inventory Management module enables you to have multiple sub-categories and features to get real-time reports for all necessary inventory. The automated shortage reports help in controlling any issues quickly and timely manner; alerts and reports let you efficiently tackle any unfortunate inventory mishaps. Inventory management empowers you to successfully build your eCommerce presence at various locations.

Here are the top things you can do with Inventory Control feature;

• Categorization of products in stocks
• Measurement of products
• Inventory/Products history
• Cycle counting
• Livestock reports
• Vendor management
• eCommerce
• Total Inventory Management

43% of retailers ranked inventory management as their number one day-to-day challenge – Wasp barcode

2. Barcoding & Tagging

Barcoding module helps you eliminate standard human error, which often occurs due to manual data accumulations. Scanning barcode provides fast and reliable solutions compared to manual data entry. At the same time, having a barcode system in place reduces employee training time, as it requires no more than a few minutes to master. The traditional means used to requireimmense efforts and workforce to train an employee on how to record products details.

Barcoding improves inventory control and tracks things such as pricing and product details precisely.

Here are some of the most essential things which you can get with the support of barcode module;

• Scan barcode easily
• Faster performance
• Records things faster than the workforce
• Get precise details of products
• Locate products
• Barcode and Tagging
• Inventory Management System

3. Inventory Tracking

Warehouse requires a workforce to keep a tab at every step. Barcode, which we have understood earlier in this article, plays a significant role in letting you track your inventory accurately. Assets serial number, RFID, and other things important here as these are the things which let you know real-time data of everything inventory.

Things you can do with the Inventory tracking;

• Product tracking
• Tagging
• Reports and audits
• Inventory Tracking Solutions

4. Reporting Tools

For any inventory business to be efficient, you need to be updated with real-time data regarding product status, driver’s whereabouts, order status, shipment and much more. An efficient Inventory Management app comes with the capabilities of integrating various reporting tools and features that makes the reporting process easier. This is a crucial feature for any hardcore inventory business.

Here’re the benefits you can get from optimized reporting tools;

• Smooth and flawless communication
• Enhanced Productivity
• Reduced common human error
• Reporting Tools for Inventory Management
• Businesses who actively manage their inventory report a 2-10% increase in sales

5. Inventory Forecasting

You would never want to disappoint your customers with their favorite products out of the stocks, would you? Inventory forecast, as the name suggests, lets you find out which products are going to out of stock soon and what’s in abundance. This is a great trick to have up your sleeve for serving an excellent user experience to your customers. The biggest advantage of forecasting is it gives you the control and wisdom of spending your resources wisely. You should be more alert about sales attributes such as size, color, material, scent and other features to be better prepared. This gives you a better judgement of purchase quantity and a better understanding of what to purchase when.

Here is what you your business get with:

• Powerful future insights
• Align sales and marketing efforts
• Reduce the risk of stock outs
• Lower holding costs
• Increased turnover rates
• Maximizes asset efficiency
• Inventory Forecasting

6. Inventory Alerts

Gone are the days when you had to waste your valuable business time and money on manually monitoring the critical stock data. What if it directly be alerted via a low stock inventory alert? With the right inventory alert feature, you will be able to find out the possible issues which might occur in the future directly via email or SMS alert. What goes out; what comes in; status of a shipment, issues alerts, etc. important aspects of running a business accurately will be easily managed by getting a reliable inventory alerts.
Here are some awesome benefits that you got with this feature:

• Reduced stock waste
• Optimised inventory levels
• Improved cross department visibility of stock data
• Helps manage your Investment Style
• Drive sales
• Maintain operational control
• Inventory Alert

Businesses lose $1.75 Trillion per year to out-of-stocks, overstocks, and returns.- CNBC

7. Inventory Security and Backups

No matter what business you are in, having the right security for your inventory is essential. If you have Inventory Management Apps, the proper protection should be put in place. Right from protecting your assets to the data it accumulates should be safe and adequately backed up. Generally, the inventory should be securely optimized, to protect our data from hacking.

8. IoT Integration

IoT-driven inventory management is an increasing demand and as an IoT along with RFID helping manufacturers outflank the problems faced manually. Right from real-time visibility of the inventory to record details of the inventory automatically can help you manage the inventory smartly.

IoT integrated with inventory system boils down to the data fetched by RFID readers into productive and meaningful insights. Integrating the IIoT into the inventory system will get you insights will keep you more focused while it will keep in you informed about the items’ location, assets’ live status, movement and so much more.

Besides, it has plenty of other benefits such as;

• Automated tracking and reporting
• Keeps a constant tab on assets, location, movement, and quantity
• Keeps inventory optimized
• Lead time optimization
• IOT Integrated Inventory Management System

9. Cloud-Based Software with Real-Time Updates

When you have a cloud-based inventory system, you are supposed to access the inventory app into any device. It empowers you with the ability to track inventory in real-time. You are able to access the system into any device, anytime, anywhere, that means it will improve the coordination between among staffs. Having accurate coordination will lead to taking a quick and perfect decision.

Following are some benefits of integrating your inventory with cloud support

• Cost Savings
• Ease of access
• Always Safe and Secure
• Real-time visibility
• Enhanced Efficiency
• Improved Coordination
• Cloud Integrated Inventory Management

10. Inventory App Integration with Other Systems

There are companies which have already installed some other software such ERP system. In such a case, an Inventory management app can easily be integrated into it and provide more sophisticated data relentlessly. You can choose not to incorporate into the inventory system into ERP.

11. Transfer Management Capabilities

For a growing inventory-related business, the more you grow, the more you will have to manage recurring and complicated inventory transfer requests. Managing these transfer requests is not an easy task. But it is an important one. Successful transfer requests are the key to ensuring warehouses are securely stocked and to ensure the business operations continue seamlessly through this transitions.

Here are some of the benefits of having Transfer Management Capabilities in your Inventory Management System :

• Reduces chance of miscommunication
• Real-time monitoring to ensure transfer gets done in a secured manner
• Notifications and alerts for any discrepancies
• Saves time and money

12. Mobile Support

No matter how efficient your inventory management system is, it really doesn’t amount to much if it can’t be monitored/managed remotely. Most efficient Inventory Management apps come with either a mobile website or a native mobile application. Mobile support depends on OS specifications so you should keep that in mind as well. Most vendors would try to create apps that support all platforms, but it is still a good habit to double check.

The benefits of having capabilities of mobile support in your Inventory Management app are

• Boosts Productivity
• Give 24/7 real-time access
• Reduce/Eliminate inter-department paperwork
• Real-time data inputs can help increase efficiency

13. Stock Returns Handling

This is one of the most important feature any Inventory Management System should have. When you are dealing in the Ecommerce platform, there will be many instances where your products would be purchased, delivered to the customer and returned for various reasons. In such a case, it can be overwhelming to manually keep track of returned stocks, and deciding what happens with them. Hence, if you have an efficient Inventory Management System in place, it will be able to create, confirm or cancel returns, assign it to the desired warehouse and add pick-up date. There should also be a return reason based on which it can decide if the inventory should go for refund or replacement. Such software should also be capable of sending return updates via SMS or email and sync tracking with the shipping partner.

Stock Returns handling can help you:

• Gives you a competitive advantage
• Helps save time and money
• Improves customer satisfaction
• Reduces chances of wrong entry
• Helps you streamline a tedious process

These are some of the top, and standard features which you will have in inventory applications, though you can integrate as many features and functionalities along with customization and optimizations as per your industry needs.

Final Words

To summarize, investing in any inventory application will not yield you the most benefits. Rather, you might end up with solutions that don’t work well for your business or provides half-support. In such a case, your investments would go to waste, along with your time and efforts. You should look out for inventory management apps that provide holistic list of benefits by combining all these important features in its deliverables. Having an efficient inventory management system can save many labor hours and you can utilize that time in improvising your strategies and marketing.

More than that, once you are done with research work, you also need to find out the right inventory management app development company which will help you get the right solutions. When you select the company, you need to check if the company is well capable enough to deliver the required project in the deadline.

Having conformed everything from your side, such as cost of Inventory management app, duration, and requirement, you are good to go with the projects.