Properly identifying a broad range of inventory features that different businesses need in other to scale operations effectively and efficiently will enable you to make the best decision and will also help you to select the best inventory management system or software to use. In this piece, we shall explore all you need to know about the top Inventory Management Companies, their service Providers, the system, and the software list.
What is Inventory Management
Inventory management is a system different organizations use to ensure optimal inventory levels all the time, by organizing storing, sourcing, and selling both raw and finished goods to final consumers. In essence, it oversees that there are optimal stock levels at the right price all the time and decreases the overall costs of an organization.
Importance of inventory management
Here is some importance of inventory management:
- It reduces costs by presenting every single detail of all the levels of your stock.
- Help you avoid mistakes in calculating your stocks.
- Ensures that products are made available at all times and ensures it goes hand in hand with the optimization of your fulfillment potential.
Inventory Management Companies
There are more than a hundred inventory management companies all over the world that provides and supply well-rounded solutions for your supply chain, as well as your inventory needs. However, making choices of the best inventory management company to use is usually difficult. After so much research, here are the best inventory management companies that can help you out with your inventory perfectly:
#1. FishBowl
FishBowl is the inventory management software for QuickBooks. Over the years, many organizations have utilized QuickBooks as their main accounting system. In addition to this, FishBowl helps to monitor inventory levels for different locations, track data and trends, generate barcodes, track and pull reports on data, automate stock, track and receive shipments with so much ease, and help in utilizing the FishBowl timeclock for tracking the time of employees.
#2. Veeqo
Veeqo is an incredibly user-friendly software that integrates with over twenty different e-commerce sites such as Amazon, Etsy, Magento, eBay, Spotify, Walmart, etc. Furthermore, it is very good for organizations wanting to use mobile apps for ease of use. It focuses on three main features, which are; Digital pick and pack, stock management, and warehouse automation. In addition, Veeqo helps in showing a clear and concise of any pending, sent, or future orders that need to be picked, packed, as well as shipped. It helps in avoiding overselling and syncing inventory levels across all selling channels. In addition, Veeqo provides businesses with real-time updates on replenishments and their stock levels.
#3. Final Inventory
Final inventory is multichannel integrated software that enables you to sell products on Amazon, Etsy, eBay, Shopify and so many of them without changing your strategy. In other words, Final Inventory helps in integrating over forty platforms for a seamless transition. In addition, Final inventory makes it easy for businesses to calculate all costs associated with inventory such as the operating costs, landing costs, etc.
#4. Lead Commerce
Lead commerce is a simplified and cloud-based inventory management software that offers unique benefits as other inventory management companies. The aim of Lead Commerce is to provide you with the best and not a negative inventory. Overall, it helps in tracking SKU batches, customizing inventory reports and analysis, customizing reports to whatever you want to track, and also helps you consolidate all your inventory into a single view.
What Are the 4 Types of Inventory Management?
Here are the four types of inventory management:
#1. Economic Order Quantity
Economic order quantity is a model used for calculating the total number of units an organization should add to its inventory with every batch order to decrease the costs of its inventory while assuming the constant demand of consumers. In other words, this model ensures that the right and total amount of inventory is ordered per batch so an organization does not have to make frequent orders and there is no excess inventory sitting at hand.
#2. Materials Requirement Planning
Materials requirement planning is a model that enables accurate planning of inventory needs, as well as communicating those needs with suppliers in a timely manner. In other words, Materials requirement planning is sales forecast dependent, which means, every manufacturer must have comprehensive sales records to enable accurate planning of inventory needs.
#3. Just in Time Management
Just in Time Management originated in Japan in 1960 and 1970 to be precise. The brand (Toyota Motor) contributed so much to the growth of this model. Basically, this model enables different organizations to save significant amounts of cash and reduce waste by keeping the most important inventory they need to produce. In essence, it reduces insurance and storage costs, as well as doing away with excess inventory.
#4. Days Sales of Inventory
Another name for Days sales of inventory is the average age of inventory, days inventory outstanding. This model helps in indicating the average time in days that an organization takes in turning its inventory, with goods that are a work in process, into good sales.
Which Companies Use Inventory Management?
Here are a few companies that make use of inventory management:
- Amazon
- Shopify
- eBay
- Walmart
- Etsy
Top Inventory Management Companies
Here is a list of the top inventory management companies to make use of. There are:
#1. Extensiv AKA Scout Top shelf
This is one of the top inventory management companies and cloud-based inventory systems. The benefits of this system are:
- Print detailed barcodes
- Warehouse and inventory management on the go.
- Helps in integrating with large companies like QuickBooks, Netsuite, and Salesforce.
#2. Netsuite
Netsuit is one of the top inventory management companies that can be applied and used in almost all the avenues of different businesses. Generally, Netsuit is known for being the number one cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP). The benefit of this system is:
- Help organizations manage their inventory across different locations
- Helps in transferring inventory across your organization.
- Ensure traceability and serial tracking.
- Categorize your inventory by value, price, volume, etc.
- Enhance visibility in your organization’s stock level.
- Give details of the hierarchical location of your business.
#3. Infoplus
Generally, this software offers a variety of products to cater to specific needs. In essence, it can only be used for organizations that only want tracking insights, returns only, and light manufacturing. The benefits of Infoplus are:
- Easily make work orders.
- Track and move stock at the appropriate time between warehouses with ease.
- Provide great customer service.
#4. Lead Commerce
Lead Commerce is one of the top inventory management companies. It’s a simplified and cloud-based inventory management software that offers unique benefits as other inventory management companies. The aim of Lead Commerce is to:
- Provide you with the best and not a negative inventory.
- It helps in tracking SKU batches.
- Customizing inventory reports and analysis
- Customizing reports to whatever you want to track, and also helps you consolidate all your inventory into a single view.
How Much Does It Cost to Manage Inventory?
Managing inventory costs is very paramount in business as they can be a substantial cost to any business. And may vary from ten percent to forty percent of the value of inventory. Inventory costs include shortage costs, ordering costs, and holding costs.
Inventory Management Service Providers
The inventory management service providers efficiently inventory both your software and your hardware assets by defining custom products, product types, and product groups. In essence, it keeps a record of the key assets’ financials such as their depreciation information.
Here are some of the inventory management service providers and their functions:
~1. Asset loans
The asset loans help to track and keep a record of an asset from the time of issue to return. Also, it maximizes asset utility by marking assets loanable at any time.
~2. Hardware asset management
Hardware asset management is one of the inventory service providers that helps to build an inventory of all your hardware assets such as virtual machines, easy automatic scanning, window machines, and tracking with periodic alerts. In addition, the hardware asset management also maintains comprehensive asset data which includes, hardware specification, asset ownership, software installed on them, and visibility into assets.
~3. Software asset management
Software asset management is also one of the inventory service providers that helps in managing all your software asset data efficiently with predefined custom statuses such as malware or freeware; information on purchase including license expiry, and costs, automate periodic scans on individual assets, vendors, and state highly updated on the status of every asset.
~4. Asset discovery and scanning
Asset discovery and scanning helps in scanning and discovering asset from multiple and different sites making use of different scanning techniques such as agent-based scan, windows domain, and script scan.
~5. Asset groups
Asset groups help in managing assets effectively well through organization and categorizing them into custom asset groups based on different set criteria.
Who Keeps Track of Inventory?
Keeping track and record of inventory is a crucial skill for any business that deals with physical goods. If physical inventory is a smaller part of your business, then it should be assigned to a manager among their other duties. An inventory manager is one who keeps track of every inventory in a business.
Inventory Management System
The main aim of an inventory management system is to help you track and keep crucial records of your stock in the most seamless and effective way. Here is a list of the inventory management systems and their different functions:
~1. Enterprise resource planning systems
The enterprise resource planning system helps businesses with the ability to buy a single solution to cover every area of business planning, instead of multiple cloud components that integrate with each other.
~2. Spreadsheet
A spreadsheet is an inventory management system that works fine for companies with simple needs. In essence, spreadsheets are low in cost and easy to set up. However, this does come with a few downsides.
~3. NetSuite
NetSuite is an inventory management system. Its implementation period averages around four hundred and twenty days, meaning you’ve got to be prepared to spend at least one year on it.
~4. Fishbowl
Fishbowl is also one of the inventory management systems best for small businesses with limited plans for upscaling in the future. In addition to this, Fishbowl provides businesses with the quality solution they need with generic reports, a basic implementation checklist, and limited automation.
~5. Linnworks
Linnworks is a platform that comes with a whole lot of decent functionalities. In essence, it provides businesses access to both basic and complex reports, including automation to make workflows progress smoothly.
What Inventory System Does Walmart Use?
There are so many benefits of making use of an inventory management system and Walmart is not left behind. Walmart makes use of the buffer inventory type in its stores.
Which Company Has the Best Inventory Management System?
Here is the best inventory management system. These are:
- Katana: best for producers and manufacturers.
- ShipBob Merchant Plus: This inventory management system is best for hybrid fulfillment.
- inFlow: Best for B2B(business to business).
- Ordoro: Best for multichannel sellers.
- Cin7: This is the best overall.
What Is the Most Commonly Used Inventory System?
There are so many of them, but here are a few of them:
- AdOr: AdOr is a management tool that helps in managing all aspects of warehouse operations, from receiving and moving different products. Thus, AdOr is properly designed for businesses in manufacturing, automobile, technology, and other industries.
- EZRentOut: This is a cloud-based equipment rental solution that provides businesses such as IT, construction, event management, etc, with the help they need.
- PALMS: PALMS is a warehouse management system that provides industries or businesses with highly profound features for managing operations in both 3PL and 2PL warehouses.
Inventory Management Software List
Here is the inventory management software list:
- Zoho Corporation
- TradeGecko
- Fishbowl
- Odoo
- QuickBooks
- Stitch Labs
- Xero
- Veeqo
- Orderhive Inc.
- Final Inventory
- Vend
- MRPeasy
- EZOfficeInventory
- Netstock
Does Quickbooks Manage Inventory?
Quickbooks help you manage your inventory with so much ease. Quickbooks are one of the inventory management systems lists or software that helps businesses build better insights and help them easily track their cash flow.
Conclusion
In conclusion, knowing the best inventory management system to use for both large and small businesses is very paramount and crucial to the growth of your business because it enables you to make the best business decisions and to meet some business goals as well.
Related article
- EFFECTIVE INVENTORY MANAGEMENT: Guide To Do It 2SIMPLE INVENTORY MANAGEMENT: System, Services, Software and More
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