An Inventory Management Software comprises of business applications that can track, handle and establish product sales, material acquisitions and other production procedures. Tracking inventory with pencil and paper has become a thing of the past.  Businesses nowadays make use of inventory systems that are based on barcodes or radio-frequency identification (RFID) to keep a tab when shipments come in, see where raw materials are positioned, and when their products have been sent. With the help of inventory management software, businesses can cut the time and efforts formerly put into basic tracking, and rather focus more on analysing, finding and decreasing inadequacies in their model. Inventory management software provides better visibility into the whole stock, helping businesses maintain ideal amounts to carry on satisfying orders without holding too much of a given item. Inventory management software automates important tasks and decreases the chance for human mistakes, particularly through integrations with important systems such as accounting software and POS solutions.

Market Overview

Inventory Management Software market is projected to grow at a healthy CAGR 2020 to 2026. The growing manufacturing production due to the acceptance of Industrial IoT (IIoT) is causing the market growth. The inventory management software is used by organizations for numerous purposes such as to keep a tab on the inventory expenditures through the entire manufacturing & sales process, monitor stock levels, and track returns. It is also used to forecast inventory levels, prices, and the anticipated product demand. The Inventory Management Software tracks all inventory events and also keeps track of the inventory database. It makes it simpler to track stock levels, offers approved people an access to the database, and offers comprehensive insights into the inventory action of the business. The outburst of COVID-19 internationally has driven the enterprises to make use of progressive inventory management tools to guarantee optimal management and supply of inventory across supply chains in a well-organized manner.

Varying consumer choices and the rise of Omni channel retailing are driving the adoption of inventory management software. Companies guarantee optimum finished goods stocks due to supple consumer buying behaviour. This software helps businesses to manage their inventory competently. Furthermore, it provides access to only official people to its database.

The implementation of software across large businesses is likely to grow at a higher CAGR till 2026. Large businesses are investing in progressive inventory management solutions with integration competences to track bigger volumes of inventories. These businesses make use of QR code-based systems, RFIDs, and barcodes to track the inventory. Best Inventory Management Software assimilates with these systems and delivers real-time analysis of stocks. It also helps in electronic scanning and programmed ordering along with sales order tracking.

The automotive end-use section is expected to record excellent gains during the forecast timeline. Businesses offering automotive software solutions are acquiring ground-breaking inventory management solution vendors to improve the competences of their automotive software solutions. For example, in January 2020, DealerSocket, Inc. publicized its plan to buy Auto/Mate, an exceptional all in one software solution provider. This software provides automotive suppliers with inventory management and digital retail competences.

The competitive leadership mapping showcased provides information for Inventory Management Software. Vendor evaluations are based on two broad categories: product offering and business strategy. Each category carries various criteria, based on which vendors have been evaluated. The evaluation criteria considered under product offerings include the breadth of offering, delivery (based on industries that the vendors cater to, deployment models and subscriptions), features/functionality, delivery, product quality and reliability, and product differentiation. The evaluation criteria considered under business strategy include geographic footprint (on the basis of geographic presence), channel strategy and fit, vision alignment, and effectiveness of growth (on the basis of innovations, partnerships, collaborations, and acquisitions).

They have a strong portfolio of Inventory Management Software and associated services. These vendors have been marking their presence in the inventory management market by offering highly customized and easily deployable software for their commercial clients, coupled with their robust business strategy to achieve continued growth in the market. NetSuite, Zoho Inventory, Orderhive, EVERGREEN and IMS have been identified as Visionary Leaders in the inventory management market.

They have an innovative portfolio of Inventory Management Software and have an extensive network of channel partners and resellers to increase the deployment of their services across various vertical markets. Over the years, the Dynamic vendors have been consistently generating positive revenue growth in the inventory management space and their market position is enhanced by organic and inorganic strategies undertaken by them over the period. CribMaster, KlientMaster, Silo, Stockpile and PIRO have been identified as Dynamic Differentiators in the inventory management market.

They have an innovative portfolio of Payment Gateways Software and strong potential to build strong business strategies for their business growth to be at par with the Vanguards. These vendors have been providing server rack offerings as per their customer demands. Innovators have been forefront in deploying their solutions for niche and custom requests by their clients requiring the processing of high-performance workloads. Agility, SpaRc, Galley, Edulogic Tech, and Everest have been identified as Innovators in the best inventory management software market.

The emerging players are specialized in offering highly niche and tailor-made solutions and services to their clients. A majority of the emerging vendors have been undertaking multiple acquisitions and boosting their sales capabilities in various regions to offer their integrated services to a wide range of clients. RS Enterprise, Shiprocket, OneUp, Tana, XPERT and PALLADIUM have been identified as Emerging Companies in the inventory management software market.

Why is Inventory Management Software so important?

More Precise Ordering

This may seem understandable but its significance cannot be exaggerated. The products purchased and put on the shelf by the vendors is one of the principal investments that they make in their business. How can they know about what’s needed to be ordered and kept on shelves if they don’t know what they currently have? Whether they are creating orders by hand, or using any suggested ordering or some amalgamation of the two, they need to know what they have so they know what they need to order, which is where inventory management solution comes in.

Customer Service

Ever ask a store assistant for a preferred product and watch them mess around, going from the shelf to the stock room while you tolerantly wait for them to figure it out? Having a precise inventory management solution in the retail management system removes this problem. The staff can instantly and effortlessly tell the customers whether they have the product on stock from the point of sale system. The right system can even tell them where to locate it.

Vendor Management

At the best the suppliers can be actual partners, helping to develop sales and handle inventory more efficiently that there is uniform growth. At worst, they may mess up with shipping, add on additional items and send impaired or perishing products. Making use of the best inventory management software will guarantee that you are getting just what you ordered for and can easily track and reply to those times that you don’t.

Employee Effectiveness

Any staff has more productive things to do than to search for product and manually receiving. inventory management software enables employees to deliver a great customer service for which there were probably hired for. The software provides them with the tools they require to precisely manage inventory as competently as possible. Spending the time to track inventory efficiently will make ordering, reception and those difficult year-end inventory tallies simple. Working with the correct technology partner will make this procedure simple, precise and effective.

Avoid Expired Product

There’s nothing shoddier than having to offer discounts on certain product only because they are getting closer to their expiry date. inventory management software will help users to recognize stale dated and dying products. Effortlessly run a report to see the products that may be getting closer to their expiry dates and make sure that they are selling resourcefully to get it out the door before they are forced to mark it down or write it off.

Avoid Damaged Product

The more a product remains on the shelf the more it is expected to get bumped, fallen and spoiled. Inventory management processes such as cycle counting, allows businesses to categorize the slow moving items so that they can pull them out to make place for products that will sell. Having a process for tracking all the spoiled or returned product is a significant part of inventory management. This will allow users to recognize patterns and trends that are costing money.

Cost & Margin Control

By now it is a known fact that inventory is one of the largest investments that is generally made in any business. Nobody would invest in the stock market without understanding the real value of their stocks and what return they would get? Correctly using an inventory management system is going to provide businesses the control they want to increase profits while recognizing problem areas. More progressive systems allow businesses to more precisely track inventory value on a FIFO (First in, First Out) basis while accounting for marketing expenditures and vendor reductions. Precise inventory budget can also be factored into recommended ordering. Lowest stock levels can be set based on inventory budget to confirm that the systems are proposing a re-order on low turnover items as long as their cost falls within a suitable threshold.

Loss Prevention

According to a survey, inventory loss makes about 2% of sales. If a store does $1M in sales per year that makes $20,000 declining from the bottom line. Inventory loss happens in several ways that Inventory Management will lower. Employee stealing, burglary, paperwork mistakes and supplier deception are the primary causes of shrink. These matters are all addressed with the Inventory Management software. The number will never fall down to zero but the software can help businesses get their inventory loss as close to it as imaginable.

Cash Flow

One of the most significant problems for a small business to manage is the cash flow and this may also be the most significant benefit offered by the best Inventory Management software. This software directly affects the cash flow by helping businesses to assess their inventory investment and enhance inventory income to mend the cash flow, increase sales, better margins, cut shrink, increase customer service and employee effectiveness.

Knowledge is Power

Business, in general, know what they do. Whether they are counselling a patient on drug collaborations, recommending the best cut of meat, selecting the perfect tomato or searching for the right natural solution to a health problem, they are front-runners in their industry. A reporting and analytics solution is just here to strengthen their knowledge, involvement, know-how and gut instinct to help them make choices to advance their business. Web-based dashboard reporting and analytics are abundant but only if there is a precise data to report on. Having the correct tools for inventory management will guarantee that businesses can make choices based on the best likely information.

What are the main features to look at before buying an Inventory Management Software?

Businesses or users should look for the following features in the inventory management software:

Point Of Sale Integration

An incorporation with the point of sale system helps businesses routinely track whenever a product sells, whether in a bodily storefront, on an e-commerce site or through other sales channels. When a product is scanned or checked out in an online cart, the point of sale system mechanically updates the inventory management system accordingly, recoding the sale in real time. Joined with automatic reordering, this feature enables businesses to guarantee that they always have an appropriate amount of stock to rapidly fulfil orders.

Inventory Catalogue

For businesses, it is significant to be able to catalogue inventory not just by the sort of unit, but also by distinctive features such as the size, colour and other unique characteristics. For instance, if they sell shoes, they should be able to identify shoes down to the particular type – the inventory system should be able to recognize if they have adequate quantity of a particular shoe size.

Automated Reordering

Whenever the inventory level is going low, it's vital to order more with sufficient lead time to evade running out, particularly for the chart-topping items. Numerous inventory management solutions provide automated reordering; which only require businesses to just set their minimum amounts for each item and, when that number is touched, the system will routinely generate an acquisition order to send to the supplier to refresh their stock level. Smart inventory management solutions can also automatically enhance their reordering points and reordering amounts per item based on past sales data to keep the inventory level at perfect quantities.

E-Commerce Integrations

Most businesses nowadays sell across all the sales channels – brick and mortar stores, e-commerce sites, online marketplaces such as Amazon and others. It is important that their inventory software tracks sales on all the channels so that they don't unintentionally try to fulfil more orders than they have the stock for. Integrations with the e-commerce channels will help guarantee that the businesses don't run into this issue.

Product Cost Analysis

Product cost analysis solutions not only track the raw materials and ready goods, reordering the essential constituents when they hit least levels, it also helps foresee the labour expenses and operating expenses, such as machinery purchase and maintenance expenditures. This is why businesses should look for an inventory management system that can produce a bill of materials that comprises a description of all these prices.

Forecasting

Forecasting is the method of assessing past production and sales data to forecast what future order management requirements will look like. A forecasting tool helps businesses enhance the exactness of this process. Software with a forecasting feature analyses the data to decide best reordering points, hiring references, and even shift agendas that are obligatory to meet the targets and continue growing.

E-Commerce Integrations

E-commerce used to be just for retail some years ago, but nowadays even manufacturers are selling directly to customers. Looking for an inventory software with e-commerce amalgamation is also significant for manufacturers, even if they don't presently sell straight to consumers online, as they could use it rationalize sales to their retail customers, or they could even grow to embrace an extra sales channel in the future. Lastly, warehouse inventory management is a precise subdivision of a bigger inventory management software, and it comes with key deliberations of its own.

Barcoding

Barcoding is a capability that warehouse management systems make use of in order to track the inflow and outflow of products in storing facilities. Employees can scan items in as they're received, scan them at the location they have been moved to, be it a particular aisle and bin, and then scan them again when they're out for consignment – mechanically tracking all activities. There are numerous methods of barcoding, along with serial tracking for high-ticket items and batch barcoding for high-volume, low-cost products. Some barcoding functionalities can be done with a basic QR reader on a smartphone, dropping the overhead related with scanner hardware.

RFID Capabilities

If businesses attach RFID tags to the products in their warehouse, they can track all the movement without using the scanner hardware. RFID tags and readers, located through the warehouse, mechanically track products when they come in nearby vicinity to a reader, removing the need for an employee to manually scan items in and out. This moreover modernizes the process of order management and removes the risk that a worker overlooks to scan an item, losing it in the process.

Inventory Management Integrations

While warehouse management is a subcategory of a broader inventory management plan, the two are thoroughly connected and should be combined. Which makes it important to look for a warehouse inventory management solution that can be flawlessly integrated with the greater inventory management system.

What are the benefits of implementing an Inventory Management Software?

Improved Inventory Accuracy

Inventory tracking is not only about counting all the material that is currently present in the warehouse. Businesses also should be able to monitor their inventory as it goes in and out. This means sales invoices and purchase order invoices are required to be processed and the stock levels are required to be attuned consequently. Any blunders in this routine will outcome in an imprecise inventory count, and even the minutest inconsistencies can mean distress. Inventory management solutions takes the conjecture out of keeping track of the stock levels. With the correct software, businesses can automatically keep track of where and when each transaction takes place, confirming that the businesses always have an up-to-date stock level count.

Automated and effortless management

Nobody tracks inventory as a hobby. There is nothing fun about counting stock, filing purchase orders, or making inventory reports. These chores drain away hours of your week, taking time away from marketing, management, sales, and other crucial parts of keeping your business running smoothly. As more and more tasks are automated by inventory management software, you'll need to spend less and less time performing those tasks by hand. Less time shuffling through receipts, sorting through bins, or tallying stock counts. Take that time back and spend it running your business.

Save Money In Stocking And Restocking Inventory

A main fragment of inventory management is having the correct quantity of inventory on hand. If businesses order too minute of something, they will oversell or run out of stock early. If businesses order excessively, they'll waste valued warehouse space while waiting for those products to sell. But how does a business determine the correct quantity of inventory to order if they don't have the correct stock levels documented? Having more assurance in the present stock levels will make an enormous difference in what they spend refilling them. Businesses can evidently see how much needs to be ordered and at what time, allowing them to cut costs where they aren't required.

Enhanced Productivity In Operations

Analytics and reports can allow businesses to observe what items are retailing quickly through their business channels. This helps them to settle on making more clever business choices and they may identify an arrangement.

Data Security

Inventory management software allows businesses to confine the user as per their requirement. They can confine every user and provide them rights so that, no error takes place. Another advantage and most prominently it offers security at all levels. For instance, an employee can write data about items and the manager will accept them if the whole thing is in the correct order. Overall businesses can give rights to a user who can view what data, who can recover & access what data info. Every user is reserved, so there is no chance for data loss or leak.

Better Customer Service

Happy customers mean worthy reviews and repeat business. Not just that, businesses can build a reliable name in the marketplace as they instantly and precisely fulfil customer’s orders. Inventory management is meant to improve and help increase the brand value. Growing correctness ensures the correct product is distributed to the correct place while the swiftness of automatic tasks gets the product in question delivered even faster. Some systems come with immediate update features that inform customers when their consignment is leaving the warehouse and when they can assume it to arrive. Offering customers the tools to find out when an item is set to arrive and where it is in real-time helps reduce their doubts and saves businesses from answering questions.

Automate Time-Consuming Manual Tasks

Companies are always watching for ways to save time and reduce labour costs. Best inventory management software offers one of the best ways to achieve that. Several of the best systems include barcode scanning or other agile inventory dispensation features. This can remove labour-intensive and manual procedures like separately typing in product numbers or box numbers. With this kind of technology integrated into the inventory management procedures, employees or robotics can radically up the number of scans they complete.

What are the key factors to look at before finalising any Inventory Management Software?

Integrations

When picking an Inventory software, it’s vital to make sure that it comprises the Integrations required by the company. It is important to make sure that the system has the ability to interface with 3rd party platforms. While the list of unlike add-ons is unlimited, businesses will want to see that there’s sufficient customer support for all of the following categories that apply:

• ECommerce - Does a business plan to operate on Amazon Marketplace, Etsy, eBay, or any other online market? Thy need to make sure that their Inventory solution integrates seamlessly with these sales channels prior to going live.
• Shopping Cart - Some wholesalers manage sales through a shopping cart that is merged directly into their website. Integration will enable businesses to sync orders, stock, and sales info between the cart and the Inventory software flawlessly.
• Accounting: A plug-in for the accounting software has the potential to save a business from having to manually import their sales data every time they want to take a look at the books.
• Shipping - If at all a business uses a software-based shipping solution, the correct Integration will allow them to effortlessly send shipping info from their own Inventory software with just the click of a button.
• Payment Processing - Backing for payment portals such as Square, PayPal and Stripe can make things more suitable for both the business as well as the customers.

Variants

Does the company make numerous types of the same product? Maybe the business is a clothing brand that makes various colours and sizes of a dress shirt. Or maybe the business is a boutique guitar maker offering both a standard as well as a deluxe version of their flagship design. In this case the business is going to need support for Variants. Not all the Inventory software packages do this. Businesses should also look for the capability to identify various categories of inventory (e.g. retail, wholesale), just in case that’s an obligation for the company.

Contacts

One of the more valuable features in the best Inventory management software is its ability to store contacts. This allows clients, vendors, sellers, distributors, producers, and suppliers to be indexed and swiftly recalled whenever they need. Some software suites even allow businesses to upload and store official papers for each contact, such as purchase orders, statements, and resale licenses. This way they’ll be simple to find in the future. Contact management is a great feature that rationalizes the Inventory end of any company.

Reports & Analytics

Businesses today depend on Reports and Analytics more and more to measure where they’re standing currently and where they want to be. Best inventory management software provides robust Reports/Analytics tools that can be retrieved simply and that don’t need prior experience to understand. The capability to generate custom reports is mainly useful. If they are crunching a huge number of rows of data, they want to be able to cut the numbers and keep the emphasis on variables that matter. Best inventory management software generally includes this functionality at no additional charge.

Support Choices

This group, is one that is regularly ignored by small business proprietors when they are getting started. While looking for an Inventory software, it would be important for the business to consider what their needs are from a support standpoint. They need to reply if they are good with the software? What about accounting? Are the users contented receiving email-only support, with 24-hour response times? Is live chat a choice that works, or a phone call is obligatory to be comfortable? Support hours are another thing to reflect on. Numerous businesspersons are busy running their business throughout the daytime, and have to leave minor tasks like software setup/configuration for the early morning or late evening. If the software provider’s customer service is only accessible nine to five, Monday through Friday, that could throw a problem. One last thing to check is whether or not the software providers subcontract their customer service. Many customers prefer to obtain support from a team based in their area of the world.

Custom Views

Another valued feature in the best inventory management software is the capability to create custom views. Custom views allow businesses to make a workspace that shows only info specified by users, laid out in a way that makes meaning to the users. This feature is extremely sought-after in pro-grade applications, since the advantage they can add to the workflow and competence is enormous. If a business plans on spending a lot of time with its Inventory software, then Custom Views are very valuable.

Cost

The price of the software typically depends on the business requirements. It will be great if users can find out the market worth of the software, so that they can decide whether the price quoted by a vendor is worth it or too expensive. Prior to deciding to finance the inventory management software, businesses need to ensure that their business is ready for such an investment. It is critical to take a look at the budget and ask a question; is this the correct time to invest in new technology? Cloud-based inventory solutions are ideal for startups, SMEs, or those with lower budgets since they are way more reasonable than the conventional ones.

Ease of Use

Usability is most frequently ignored by business owners, while in reality, it decides how operational the implementation of inventory management solution in the business. If it consumes many hours for the staff only to learn the ins and outs of the software, then it’s perhaps it is not worth buying. Businesses should look for a solution that can help them simplify their inventory management, so they should go for the user-friendly one rather than the complicated one.

Flexibility

Another significant point to reflect on when picking an inventory management solution is the flexibility. Businesses should check if the software they are considering is attuned with mobile devices, how many users can use it, if it is web-based or on-premises, and so on. Flexibility is important particularly if they have several stores or warehouses that are located far apart from each other.

Support

After purchasing an inventory management solution, businesses definitely don’t want to be left out in the cold and stressed to use it. When they can’t find their acquisition transactions or when their workforce doesn’t know how to set up low-level stock signals, they will anticipate someone to deliver the solution as rapidly as possible. Thus, they must check if they are going to receive ample support in the form of training, warranty, and assistance.

Inventory Management Software trends to look at in 2021

Using AGVs and AMRs in warehouses

Ever more, customers anticipate to receive their supplies in the least amount of time possible. In reply, businesses are looking for ways to mechanize the order completion process and reduce picking and distribution time. One of the most ground-breaking methods for renovating warehouse operations is making use of Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and Automated Mobile Robots (AMRs). AGVs have been used for quite some time and have facilitated businesses with big warehouses gather items from pallets and decks. AMRs are a more progressive versions of AGVs and don’t depend on a fixed route to traverse across the warehouse. They have sensors and cameras, so once the warehouse map is updated into their system, they can steer on their own without being reliant on a human operator.

Distributed inventory management

After many years of managing business with a central inventory process, sellers have comprehended that allocating products across manifold warehouses accelerates delivery and is better matched for today’s high-demand e-commerce market. Customer satisfaction is highly reliant on precise and fast delivery times. With most number of online shoppers supposing a three-day delivery as a normal, companies are stressed to find new ways to reach their customers speedily. Distributed inventory not only works miracles for this, but it also helps sellers lessen transportation expenditures as goods are posted from the warehouse that is closest to the customer.

ArtificiaI Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT)

AI and IoT have been trending in the technological territory for a long time now. Numerous industries have already started executing AI technologies in their everyday processes. According to a recent study, it’s likely that most of the retail stores will be assimilated with IoT and AI by the end of 2021. AI and IoT composed are a great amalgamation to harmonize data generated by dissimilar systems, analyse it, and excerpt important insights. In regards to inventory management, AI and IoT is used precisely in warehouses.

Blockchain to the rescue

When deliberating future technological progressions and trends, the list would be unfinished without mentioning blockchain. Since its beginning, many businesses and industries have executed blockchain technology, and many more are eager to follow suit. The supply chain business is likely to observe an enormous infusion of blockchain technology soon. What is blockchain precisely? In easy words, it is blocks of info linked together in a public database. This technology generates a dispersed public ledger of info that can be retrieved by parties who are linked based on a shared protocol. The idea is to give consent straight to the peers who need access to each other’s data without necessitating a third party to audit the information. This is helpful for the supply chain industry.

The expected rise in 3PL integrations

The growth of distributed inventory has already been discussed enough. Third Party Logistics, or 3PL, is alike. In this circumstance, the warehousing and distribution activity is subcontracted to a third party. The company can pick whether to only subcontract storage processes or to have a third party manage the whole logistical process, along with packing and shipping. 3PL lets small and medium-sized businesses to reach a bigger set of customers without experiencing the expenditures of infrastructure development.