Inventory Management System Features
The features of an inventory app will vary depending on which businesses you are using it for. Integrating several elements depending on your business and usage is possible. There are certain features that every app for inventory management should include.
Inventory Management
Inventory Management module aims to streamline warehouse operations. By keeping track of every inventory detail - such as stock levels, product histories, and product specs - this data, synced across other inventory modules, ensures accurate inventory operations while increasing productivity.
The inventory Management Module allows you to generate real-time inventory reports quickly. Automated shortage reports help quickly resolve issues, while alerts and reports provide accurate monitoring. Inventory management gives your online presence to multiple locations worldwide.
Top Things That You Can Do Using The Inventory Control Feature:
- Stock categorization
- Measuring products
- History of Inventory/Products.
- Cycle counting
- Reports on livestock
- Vendor management
- eCommerce
- Total Inventory Management.
Barcoding & Tagging
The barcoding module eliminates human errors often caused by manual data accumulation. Barcode scanning is a faster, more reliable solution than manual data entry. Barcode systems are also easier to learn for employees and only take a few moments. The old-fashioned way of training an employee to enter product details required much effort and time. The barcode improves the inventory and precisely keeps track of things like pricing and product information.
These Are The Essential Features That You Will Get When Using Barcode Modules:
- Barcodes can be scanned easily.
- Performance accelerated
- Recordings things quicker than the workforce.
- Find out more about products.
- Find products
- Barcodes and Tags
- Inventory Management System.
Inventory Tracking
A warehouse requires that a team of workers keep track at all times. The barcode we discussed earlier is a key tool for tracking your inventory. Serial number of assets, RFID, and many other factors are important as they provide real-time information about your inventory.
Inventory Tracking: What you can do
- Tracking products
- Tagging
- Reports and audits
- Inventory Tracking Solutions.
Reporting Tools
To run an efficient inventory, it is important to have real-time information about the status of products, drivers, orders, shipments, and more. Inventory Management apps can integrate various tools and features for reporting, making reporting easier. It is an essential feature for any inventory-intensive business.
Benefits Of Using Optimized Reporting Tools:
- Communication that is smooth and seamless.
- Enhanced Productivity
- Human error can be reduced by reducing the common errors.
- Inventory Management Reporting Tools.
- Businesses that actively manage their inventories report an increase in sales between 2-10%.
Stock Forecasting
Would you want to disappoint your clients by not having their favorite products in stock? The name of the tool is Inventory Forecast. It lets you know which products will be out-of-stock soon and what are in high demand.
It's a good trick for providing a better user experience. Forecasting gives you control over your budget and the wisdom to spend it wisely. To be prepared, you should pay more attention to sales attributes like size, color, and material. You can then make a more accurate estimate of the number of items to buy and when.
What Do You And Your Company Get When You Use:
- Future insights that are powerful.
- Sales and marketing alignment is important.
- Stock-outs can be reduced by reducing the stock.
- Lower holding costs
- Increase in turnover rates.
- Maximizing asset efficiency.
- Stock Forecasting
Stock Alerts
It's no longer necessary to manually monitor the stock information. Would it be possible to alert the user directly via an alert for low inventory? You can get notified via SMS or email if any future issues arise. What is sent out, what's received, the status of an order, alerts for issues, etc. Inventory alerts will help you manage important business aspects.
This Feature Has Some Amazing Benefits:
- Stock waste reduction
- Inventory levels optimized
- Departments across the organization can view stock data.
- Manage your investment style
- Drive sales
- Keep operational control
- Stock Alert
Stock Security and Backups
It doesn't matter which business you run; the security of your inventory is important. Inventory Management Apps should have the right protection. From protecting assets to the data accumulating on them, they should all be adequately and safely backed up. To protect data, it is important to optimize the stock.
IoT Integration
Inventory management using IoT and RFID is becoming more popular. RFID helps manufacturers overcome the challenges they face manually. Inventory management can be smartly managed by combining real-time inventory visibility with automatic inventory recording.
IoT integration with inventory systems boils the RFID data into meaningful and productive insights. Integrating IIoT into the Inventory System will give you valuable insights and keep you focused. It will also update you about items, their location, live statuses, movements, etc.
It Has Many Other Advantages, Such As:
- Tracking and reporting automated.
- Monitors assets at all times, including their location, quantity, and movement.
- Inventory optimization is essential.
- Lead Time Optimization.
- IOT Integrated Inventory Management System
Cloud-Based Software With Real-Time Updates
You can access your inventory app from any device using a cloud inventory system. You can track your inventory in real-time. The system can be accessed from any location and device. This will help improve coordination amongst staff. Accurate coordination leads to quick, perfect decisions.
Here Are Some Advantages Of Cloud-Based Inventory Support:
- Cost Savings
- Easy access
- Always safe and secure.
- Real-time Visibility
- Enhance Efficiency
- Improved Coordination
- Cloud Integrated Inventory Management.
Integrating Inventory App with Other Systems
Some companies have installed other software, such as ERP systems. If this is the case, it's easy to integrate an inventory management app into ERP and get more advanced data. ERP can be integrated with the Inventory system or not.
Transfer Management Capabilities
As an inventory business grows, you'll have to deal with more complex inventory transfers. It takes work to manage these requests. It is important. Successful transfer requests are essential to maintaining a secure warehouse stock and ensuring business operations are uninterrupted during this transition.
Transfer Management Capabilities in an Inventory Management System can Provide many Benefits:
- Reducing the chance of miscommunication.
- Monitoring in real-time to make sure transfers are done securely.
- Alerts and notifications for discrepancies.
- Savings of time and money
Mobile Support
It only matters how effective your inventory system is if you can monitor/manage it remotely. The most efficient Inventory Management applications come with a native application or a mobile site. It would be best to remember that mobile support depends on OS specs. Although most vendors will try to make apps compatible with all platforms, it's a good idea to check.
Mobile Support Is A Great Feature To Have In An Inventory Management App:
- Boosting Productivity
- Get 24/7 Real-Time Access.
- Eliminate/reduce inter-departmental paperwork.
- Real-time inputs of data can increase efficiency.
Stock Returns Handling
Inventory management systems are essential in running any Ecommerce platform and managing products purchased, delivered, returned, etc. It must provide comprehensive oversight to ensure timely returns of products purchased and returned for exchange or refund. Keeping track of every returned stock manually and determining its future disposition can become tedious and stressful.
Utilizing an Inventory Management System will facilitate creating, verifying, or canceling returned stock, assigning them to a warehouse of your choice, and setting a pick-up day for these items. Reasons can also be specified for why items were returned in this software which allows updates via SMS/Email and synching up with shipping partners to determine whether or not to return these goods.
Stock Returns Handling Can Help You:
- You have a competitive edge
- Saves time and money
- Improves customer satisfaction.
- Reducing the chances of incorrect entry.
- You can streamline an annoying process.
You can customize and optimize your inventory application to meet the needs of your business.
Accurate Expense Tracking
Inventory is not an exception. Expenses tracking is a vital part of every department in a company. Inventory software allows you to run reports that calculate total sales, taxes, and other financial data, such as real-time inventory valuation, to track your inventory costs.
The inventory reports, and expenses will help your business when you are auditing your inventory. Compare your inventory with your financial data to ensure they match up when you do your next audit. Please make the most of your inventory by reducing its size.
Improved Customer Service
Customer satisfaction is greatly enhanced by giving customers what they need when they need it. The inventory software can send you alerts when stock is low so your business keeps the most popular items. All your information about suppliers is in one place, so you can easily order more and see the quantity of stock on hand.
Stocking and displaying popular products can turn first-time customers into repeat buyers. You'll always have the products they want, so you can expect them to return repeatedly. Inventory management software helps you retain existing customers and attract new ones.
More Profit
Inventory tracking software can help you gain business insight by letting you know what products are selling well and which should be discarded. If you keep an eye on your inventory reports and track what's selling, investing in a popular stock will result in a higher profit.
Inventory management is about knowing the product and market and then using this knowledge to maximize your profits. This information is provided by inventory software to help you make better decisions and increase your income.
Top 14 Trends In Inventory Management
Cloud Computing for Hybrid Work
Cloud computing improves inventory control. As a result, businesses need more information technology to manage. Cloud computing can sync data such as inventory, sales, and purchases across warehouses, stores, and supply chains.
Cloud computing is improving, and its use in inventory management continues to increase. Work-from-home or hybrid setups have accelerated technology implementation. An Inventory Management App can sync stock details between business offices and employee homes. Cloud-based inventory management software for inventory management is not just compatible; it is entirely or mostly cloud-based.
Internet of Things: Complete connectivity
IoT is one of the biggest trends in inventory management. The Internet of Things (IoT), which integrates cloud-based technology across locations, is a new trend in inventory management. Can communicate with each other but also virtually anything in the business establishment. The IoT network can include scanners, loading docks, goods, and equipment.
Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning to Improve
As computer programs gain more knowledge about an inventory system, they provide constant improvements. They can combine the flow of goods and its levels in intricate networks and locate cost-increasing weak spots. AI/ML could, for example, show that a product's package results in higher than average shipping damage rates. AI and ML become more powerful when businesses implement IoT technology. This innovation gives AI/ML more data to analyze.
Data Analytics For Predictive Picking
Improve picking rates by analyzing and recording large amounts of data. The analysis can reveal products often purchased in conjunction with or by customers with certain buying habits.
It is possible to place products commonly combined next to each other, saving pickers time by avoiding the aisles. Sometimes, it is possible to select orders before their occurrence. This not only increases picking efficiency but also allows quicker delivery times. IoT is a prerequisite for data analytics. ML and AI are also required. These three technologies will allow more companies to implement predictive picking.
Automating Warehouses to Reduce Labor
The less money businesses spend on wages, and the more automated warehouse management can become. It is usually cheaper to keep a robot running than to hire an employee. Automating warehouses will be more common for several reasons. The availability of more equipment and software and improvements in AI, machine learning, and robotics will lead to greater automation. Additionally, increasing wage rates can lead to greater savings.
The Use of AMRs and AVGs in Automation
Automation equipment, including autonomous mobile robots and automatic guided vehicles, is needed. The AMRs are still used today in many warehouses, even though they have been around for more than half a century. AMRs can do more than ever before. Automation requires both AMRs and AVGs.
Distributors Can Benefit From Multi-Warehousing
Distributed inventory management utilizes several distribution locations in a particular region, country, or even the entire world. Storing products allows for more efficient supply chain management. Also, it's easier to grow, scale, and handle emergencies.
Amazon uses multiple warehouses for its quick shipping and to reduce transport costs. More businesses follow suit to meet customer expectations for delivery times. Managers are also more aware of the Covid-19 outbreak. Having multiple locations is helpful when dealing with local emergencies. Lockdowns and natural disasters. Multi-warehousing is only possible with cloud technology. This management method will be more viable when the cost of inventory management software on the cloud falls, and its capabilities increase.
Cost-Effective Third-Party Logistics
It would be best to have specialized equipment and software to make the most out of certain inventory management techniques. You also may require a specific warehouse design. Some small and medium businesses need more financial resources for these.
Outsourcing to third-party logistics providers can eliminate the need for expensive capital investments. 3PL specialists have all the resources they need but charge a monthly fee which is more affordable for small budgets.
Intelligent Inventory Forecasting to Improve Purchasing
Businesses can make better decisions with the help of AI and data analysis. Inventory levels will be improved by smart inventory forecasting since businesses can predict how much stock they'll require due to changes in conditions.
Personalization for Better Anticipation
Personalization is the pinnacle of smart inventory forecasting. The personalization process includes suggestions for products based on customers' past behavior, as well as pre-ordering based on future expected purchasing patterns.
Safety Stocks for Fluctuations
A safety stock is an excess of inventory kept for a hedge. This "safety" stock is used to protect against any changes in sales or production. Safety allows companies to sell products or deliver on orders even if supply chains are interrupted by a malfunctioning machine. If customer demand surge depletes standard inventories, businesses can continue to sell while production ramps up.
Safety stock has been a standard practice for some businesses. Due to the disruptions in supply and the changing demand created by Covid-19, many businesses now realize the advantages of keeping safety and buffer goods.
Sustainable And Resilient Supply Chains For Greater Dependability
Greater communication between inventory management networks is possible due to technological changes such as cloud computing, AI, and IoT. Multi-warehousing and decentralizing techniques like cloud computing reduce dependence on one region. These changes will improve the sustainability and resilience of supply chains across all industries and even for businesses.
Omnichannel Customer Service for Better Communication
Customer service should be able to provide the most current information about their order. Omnichannel customer support ensures clients have access to the latest information.
Omnichannel Customer service goes beyond simply communicating with customers via the channels they prefer. Customers can access data on the supply chain, distribution, and warehouses to be truly informed. Many logistics companies have found this solution to be a good one. Customers had many questions during the pandemic. This is a trend that will continue.
Investment In Inventory Management To Improve
These current trends are changing how we manage inventory, so managers must keep pace with these new methods and technologies. Many businesses invest in inventory managers because they have an interest in the skill sets and knowledge of their managers. Certifications, seminars, and on-the-job training all provide managers with ways to learn how to manage inventory in a way that produces positive results.
The Final Words
Investment in inventory applications may not deliver maximum return; you could end up with solutions that don't support your business properly or only partially do. Your time, effort, and investment would all go down the drain. Look for apps that offer all these features under one umbrella package to save hours of labor time that could otherwise be dedicated towards marketing or improving strategy. A well-functioning inventory system could even save your life.
Your next step should be finding an inventory management software development company capable of creating solutions tailored specifically for you and meeting any deadlines set forth for the project. Once all requirements - cost, timeframe, duration, etc. - have been fulfilled for your project to start, you are set. Get in touch with most reliable and dependable inventory management software services for your business.
