What is Inventory Management?
To develop a successful company, you need to know what you have on hand. A Stitch Labs survey found that after an order was made, 67 percent of respondents experienced losing consumers due to oversold or out-of-stock issues. One Inventory management software that works seamlessly in both online and brick-and-mortar locations is the ideal option.
As a result, it’s critical to choose the appropriate equipment for your retail or restaurant operation, as opposed to a small manufacturing facility. Asset management systems including stock, warehouse, order and shipping management were among the most highly-rated systems reviewed by our team of experts. We analyzed services based on industry-specific features, integrations, and total costs in order to select the best of the best.
Orderhive
Orderhive is a cost-effective solution that can quickly become your all-in-one inventory, order, and fulfillment partner thanks to its comprehensive features and wide range of connectors.
Pros
- Free 15-day trial for Shopify users
- No credit card required
- Multi-channel inventory changes in real-time
Cons
- There is a $99 startup cost if you do not have access to an SKU generator.
- Currently, this app is only accessible on the Google Play store.
- Companies of all sizes may benefit from Orderhive’s strategies, from huge corporations to start-ups. Orderhive is the greatest overall inventory management software since it offers limitless stock-keeping units (SKUs) and hundreds of connectors in its feature-rich plans.
A web-based inventory management software program, Orderhive may be used on any of the main browsers, however, the business advises using Chrome and Firefox. Reordering or refilling inventory is accomplished via the use of a Kanban system that adheres to the FIFO technique.
Included in the many options available are:
- Kitting, bundling, and composite support are all methods of distributing materials.
- Purchase orders (POs) may be generated automatically.
- Products may be added, updated, or deleted in bulk.
- Products with various SKUs or names may be linked or unlinked.
- Stock may be moved between warehouses with ease.
- Barcode scanning is supported.
- The cost of goods sold is one of several alternatives available for reporting (COGS).
- A serial, batch, lot, and expiration date management.
- Alerts for low and out-of-stock items.
- Dropshipping with no or limited inventory.
- More than a dozen e-commerce automation technologies are available.
- There are hundreds of connections with major programs such as Etsy, Amazon, and QuickBooks.
It’s possible to pay in yearly installments and save 10% on any of the five Orderhive options. Amazon’s fulfillment service (FBA) orders are free and do not count against your order limit. A one-time setup cost of $99 is also required, and more users may be added for $50 per month. Using Orderhive’s pricing page, you can see how rates are calculated, and your dashboard comes with a meter to keep track of your monthly spending. The following plans are available:
- Free: Basic order, shipping, and inventory management tools are provided free of charge to Shopify members.
- It costs $49.99 / month for 200 orders and one user, and $0.30 for each additional order beyond the limit; further orders cost $0.30.
- For $149.99 per month, you can have up to three users and 1,200 orders, with each additional order costing you $0.15.
- For 3,000 orders and five users, it costs $0.0012 per order to grow at the rate of $299.99/mo every month.
- Enterprise: To get an estimate for bespoke pricing and an infinite number of users, get in touch with the firm.
Email or chat with customer care 24 hours a day, six days a week to get answers to any questions you have. Additionally, Orderhive provides an extensive library of e-books, a knowledge base, and instructional videos.
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InFlow
An inventory database and business-to-business (B2B) showrooms are included in this simple-to-use platform.
Pros
- No credit card is needed for the 14-day free trial.
- Support for two to six hours.
- A total of 30 reports have been filed.
Cons
- Phone help is limited.
- Unlimited integrations are available only on the most expensive plan.
- There are several features that are only accessible with a Windows download
- Manufacturers, B2B distributors, online inventory management retailers, and other types of businesses may benefit from inFlow’s simple yet effective software. Business-to-business firms choose it because of its comprehensive reporting features and shoppable B2B showrooms.
- Apps for Android and iOS devices are available for the inFlow software, which is either web- or computer-based. Moving average (MA) and latest in first out (LIFO) approaches are supported.
Using inFlow gives you complete control over your whole workflow.
- 14 sales, 7 purchases, and 14 inventory reports are included in this set of data.
- Set up a broad B2B showroom or a password-protected B2B showroom for a select group of customers.
- Invoices paid to suppliers, orders completed, and purchase orders issued.
- Assembling and putting together the various components of a project.
- Capabilities for reordering
- Scan barcodes and create them.
- B2B showroom and portal development Email-based billing and reimbursement
- Records of previous purchases and contact information
- Shopify, QuickBooks, Amazon, WooCommerce, and Squarespace are just a few of the platforms to which you may link your inFlow inventory management software.
Upgrade or downgrade from one of three available plans. Additionally, you may pay $99 per month for five additional users (available exclusively with the Plus subscription plan) or access to inFlow’s application programming interface (API; $29-$59 per month, depending on the subscription level). You can save 10% if you make a one-time payment instead of paying monthly:
Intuitive: $79 per month for up to two people and one location for up to 100 orders.
In the basic package, you’ll get four hours of setup support and five users with 1,000 orders for $199 per month.
Added benefits include a monthly fee of $499 for up to ten people, an unlimited number of locations, 10,000 orders, and six hours of set-up time.
You may access seminars, videos, and a knowledge base on inFlow’s website. Monday through Friday, you may request a callback or get your questions answered by live chat or email.
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Lightspeed
It’s a POS and inventory management software designed specifically for inventory management software for small businesses, with stock monitoring features, many connectors, and good e-commerce capabilities.
Pros
- No credit card is required for a 14-day free inventory management software trial.
- 29 kinds of applications are supported.
Cons
- There are no e-commerce features included with the basic package
- Android smartphones are not supported.
- Unneeded extras may be unnecessary for small businesses
- Web-based inventory management technology Lightspeed Retail is intended for brick-and-mortar and online retailers. As a result of its industry-specific features and in-store sales capability, it has been voted the best for retail shops in our review.
Lightspeed Retail is a cloud inventory platform features that includes an iPad app for speedy customer checkout. Average cost and FIFO approaches are supported.
Lightspeed Retail’s primary offering is a point of sale, but it also offers useful capabilities for managing retail inventories. With SkuVault, a warehouse management solution, you’ll have even more power at your fingertips The following are the most important aspects of retail inventory:
- Change pricing in bulk, and apply reductions automatically
- Oversee numerous locations’ stock levels and SKUs.
- It is possible to use discount programs such as employee coupons and promotions.
- synchronizes your online and in-store stock levels
- Set up reorder criteria for your customers.
- Calculates COGS
- Bundled items may be used.
- Import vendor catalogs into the inventory management system.
- Purchase orders may be created and emailed.
- Many inventory management apps may be integrated with the Lightspeed Retail platform, including Kimoby and Pointy from Google.
To use Lightspeed Payments, which costs 2.6 percent plus $0.10 per card-present transaction and 2.6% plus $0.30 for every card-not-present transaction, is included in all Lightspeed Retail programs. Extra registers cost $29 a month and are available for purchase with all subscriptions. If you want to pay annually, you may choose a monthly plan that costs between $10 and $40 extra every month. Lightspeed’s retail strategies include the following:
- Lean: $69 a month for a simple POS and retail business.
- In the standard plan, accounting and e-commerce capabilities are an extra $119 a month.
- Lightspeed’s reward program and analytics may be added for an additional $199 per month.
- Personalized advice and preferential Lightspeed Payment rates are included in the Enterprise plan, in addition to all of the services offered by the Advanced plan. The cost may be obtained upon demand.
- Lightspeed has a YouTube channel and a knowledge base where you may find a wide range of instructional videos. Alternatively, you may reach out to customer care at any time of day or night by chat, email, phone, or callback request.
Upserve
Your materials and prices may be tracked automatically with the use of Upserve’s “automated solutions,” which clients have reported a “30% revenue boost and 10% cut in table time.”
Pros
- Real-time ingredient inventory reductions
- In-app barcode scanning
Cons
- Expensive
- The online mode may be glitchy.
- In addition to a robust point-of-sale system and inventory management software, Upserve is an excellent restaurant management tool. Upserve is the obvious winner in our best for restaurants category because of its strong features and the ability to monitor ingredient consumption down to the ounce.
In order to manage your restaurant, you need a cloud-based and mobile app-based inventory management software system that works on both Android and iOS smartphones. Upserve also has an offline mode, and you may pick from a variety of hardware provided by Upserve to use in offline mode.
The inventory management software provided by Upserve also includes menu optimization and personnel management solutions.
- Set up a sync between your POS system and your recipe database
- When you get fresh goods, automatically reorder the amount you need.
- For inventories, use one-click purchase.
- Vendor and supply management
- The inventory system may be scanned using a mobile app.
- Compare the actual stock management reports with the predicted ones.
- A real-time inventory tracking system is needed.
- Subscribe to low-stock notifications.
- More than 40 applications, such as bar monitoring, reservations, and online ordering inventory management systems, are integrated with Upserve.
There is a set cost of 2.49 percent + $0.15 for each transaction for credit card processing with Upserve Payments. Three Upserve options are available, with the Pro and Pro Plus packages including inventory, while the Core plan costs an additional $99 per month. You have the following choices:
- For POS, marketing, and reputation management, you’ll pay $59 per month for each location in addition to a $60 terminal charge.
- In addition to the monthly charge of $199 per location, there is a $50 terminal fee for inventory features and a loyalty program.
- Advanced account management and API access are included in the Pro Plus subscription for $359 per month per location.
- On top of that, Upserve offers in-app POS training as well as an extensive website with tutorials and advice on how to best use the program. You may also get in touch with customer care via phone, email, or live chat.
[Also read: How to Create an NFT Marketplace]
How We Picked the Best Inventory Software
To make our list, the inventory management software has to be reasonably priced for small to medium-sized enterprises and have a user-friendly interface. Additionally, we looked at various industry-specific features and connections, such as manufacturing, retail, and restaurants. Lastly, we looked at ways to assist customers and innovative solutions for managing the purchase and fulfilment process.