5 Best Inventory Software for 2020

Inventory, of course, refers to the materials, work-in-progress goods, and final goods that enterprises sell to generate revenue. Unsurprisingly then, many would agree, inventory is a business’ most important asset. No inventory equates to no business, and it is not adequate to just procure it, it is essential to keep a track of it in order to run an efficient and profitable business. In fact, according to the US Small Business Administration, poor inventory management is one of the top reasons why businesses fail. According to a report by GT Nexus, 81% of consumers experienced an “out-of-stock” situation in the past 12 months, resulting in lost sales for retailers and lots of disappointment for in-store shoppers. Globally, retailers recorded losses of a whopping $1.75 trillion due to mismanaged inventory. It’s why inventory management software has become an essential tool for business owners to run and manage their businesses successfully.

An Inventory Management Software helps you manage and monitor your business’s inventory through business applications that track, manage, and organise sales of products, purchase of materials, and other processes involved in production. The right tool ensures that everything is digitized with the use of systems based on barcodes or radio-frequency identification (RFID). All this so businesses can track shipments and movement of goods, raw materials locations, and shipping.

Navigating and finding the best inventory management software that suits the nature and needs of your business can be exhausting and cumbersome, and with the wide range of inventory software available, it can be extremely confusing. Here are our top picks for the 5 Best Inventory Software for 2020:

Zoho Inventory

Zoho Inventory is a cloud-based inventory and warehouse management system for small and medium sized businesses. It helps you create and manage both the sales and the purchase orders for your business, and effectively track and manage the inventory. Unique services aid in managing workflow, selecting and managing shipping providers for orders, etc.The wide array of features on Zoho Inventory include:

• Creation of inventory reports,
• Invoicing and billing,
• Calculation of real-time shipping rates and printing labels,
• CRM software, and
• Support for multiple store integrations.

It also provides multi-channel support for Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Shopify, with setup assistance. There’s Android and iOS support - although the apps do seem to have room for improvement. There’s a dropshipping option as well, while the tool remains tightly integrated with other apps in the suite and for more than 40 shipping carriers.

Cin7

Founded in 2012 as a tech startup with 12 employees, Cin7 has grown to become a brand that offers a fully integrated, cloud-based inventory management software and Point of Sale (POS) systems. These streamline stock management across multiple channels, helping centralise business inventory, order workflows, stock locations and sales channels in a single solution that connects it to its customers all across the globe.
Cin7 provides solutions that enable easy and hassle-free syncing of online sales channels, Point of Sale systems, and third party integrations which provide a comprehensive inventory interface. Other features include:

• Flexible inventory methods,
• Integrations for WooCommerce, Magento, Amazon, eBay, etc.,
• Higher stock visibility,
• Mobile stocktaking,
• Single click accounting synchronisation,

and many more features that ensure smooth and fast inventory management for businesses of all sizes and scale.

NetSuite

NetSuite, acquired by Oracle in 2016, provides all-in-one business solutions that aid businesses with inventory management, accounting and marketing. The objective seems to be to offer inventory management solutions for businesses of all scales. NetSuite strives to do this by providing a cloud-based system that brings together back-office and financial processes on a single dashboard.

The software has a wide range of features to ensure smooth functionality and effective tracking, including

• Multilingual support,
• Revenue recognition,
• Retail inventory management,
• Multi-warehouse support,
• Supply chain management, and
• Integrated POS.

Additionally, it provides global support, is fully responsive, and has support for multiple currencies.

Deskera

Deskera, founded in 2008, is the leading cloud software provider across the globe. Deskera Books helps individuals and organisations achieve end-to-end view across their business, manage and optimise business operations and resources, improve operational efficiency and much more. Deskera’s inventory management suite aims at providing and delivering the most relevant and efficient solutions to meet industry-specific requirements and challenges faced by businesses of every scale, every day.

When it comes to inventory management Deskera inventory software can track all your products, services and warehouses all in one place. Deskera offers a number of unique features such as:

• Deskera Inventory helps you manage both Tracked and Non-Tracked products.Tracked products are the Tangible- physical items that have a quantifiable amount like clothes, accessories etc and Non Tracked products are intangible items such as alteration, cleaning or set-up services.
• Unlimited Products. There’s no limit to your online inventory.Choose which you want to keep active and which you want to keep inactive.
• Customizable fields including Barcodes
  Every product and field description can be unique or the same.You can do a lot with product descriptions inclusive of adding Barcodes to each product.
• Deskera’s cloud-based warehouse inventory system allows you to access time critical information, from anywhere in the world.The real time data helps you in better warehouse planning and accurate demand forecasting with real-time data.
• Deskera offers the additional Pick pack ship functionality
• Deskera has the back Order functionality which allows your customers to purchase items even if you don’t have enough inventory and never lose an opportunity to sell.

To put it simply - Deskera ensures that your inventory is in the best of health and reduces extra and unnecessary expenditure.

Fishbowl

Fishbowl is another popular inventory management software that may be a good fit for growing brands and businesses. Its integration with Quickbooks is a useful plus for effective inventory management. Its processes are focussed on the automation of inventory, while it enables users to create and share work orders for a wide range of tasks.

Some key features from Fishbowl include:

• Multi-channel syncing,
• Forecasting,
• A centralised inventory database,
• Help with data exporting and importing,
• Stock history reporting, and
• Inventory costing.

It also helps with shipment integration, multi-warehouse routing, barcode support, making it ideal for emerging businesses and brands who want to grow their businesses and eliminate extra costs.

To sum up

Inventory management helps you keep a watchful eye on your inventory, and crucial for a successful business. These were our top 5 picks for the Best Inventory Management Software for 2020. As is fairly obvious by now, inventory management software assists in significantly reducing the time and effort that goes into basic but essential tracking. It also assists in rectifying inefficiencies by way of sharp analysis. In 2020, if you’re not relying on quality inventory software, your business is certainly losing a significant competitive edge.