All kinds of organizations may automate inventory procedures using inventory management software, which also helps them run more profitably. If your company has inventory, inventory management software may enhance customer satisfaction, operational effectiveness, and overall profitability regardless of the industry in which it operates. Forbes Advisor evaluated and selected the top 10 inventory management software options based on factors including pricing and functionality.

 


What Is Inventory Management Software?

 

Keeping track of supplies and goods coming in and leaving out is part of inventory management. Additionally, inventory management software automates the process of tracking, reordering, and updating inventory. It is compatible with pertinent operation systems, including accounting software and point-of-sale systems. In this manner, it may simplify every procedure linked to stock.

 

Using the best inventory management software, you can precisely monitor your company's current inventory levels to determine your needs and take the appropriate action to guarantee that you can service client requests without keeping excessive stock of any item.

 

Benefits of Inventory Management Software

 

Software for inventory management is a necessary tool for every company that relies on inventories. Retailers, online merchants, manufacturers, and companies that employ tools and equipment to perform services fall under this category. Companies usually cite increased revenue, more efficient operations, and better customer support as the main advantages of good inventory management. Granular optimization of inventory processes is necessary to accomplish these objectives, though. Software for inventory management then does its magic there.

 

For instance, precise stock tracking, purchasing and receiving, on-time delivery, and real-time inventory sync with sales platforms are all necessary for efficiency and excellent customer service. Software that manages inventories reliably is essential for each of these operational elements. Similarly, reducing losses from ineffective storage, shrinking, and mistakes in receipt contributes to increased earnings. Finding these problems requires inventory management software, which makes a business more lucrative when combined with other operational enhancements.

 

How To Choose Inventory Management Software

 

The top suppliers of inventory management software have a range of features, extras, and pricing options. However, these are the main things to consider when selecting one for your company.

 

Crucial Elements:

You require a platform that benefits your particular line of business. However, in general, essential characteristics consist of:

Barcode scanning and digital labeling: Using the software, you may use barcode scanners to track inventories and apply barcodes to products.

Integrated inventory control: You can centrally control inventories from several company sites.

Real-time inventory tracking: It lets you monitor the supplies and goods moving through your supply chain and enables you to know when to order more.

Low-stock alerts: Whenever your stocks are low, it automatically notifies you.

Automated reordering: When your product inventory reaches a certain point, you may set the program to generate and submit purchase orders to replenish automatically.

Reporting: Detailed information on your sales, client behavior, purchase trends, and business success will be sent to you.

 

Commercial Procedures:

 

Keeping track of perishable inventory, such as food and cosmetics, is different from keeping track of nonperishable inventory, like clothes. Select software that fits your business's demands and operations and has functionality particular to your sector to maximize productivity. Think about the fulfillment procedures that most describe your company—the main tasks you perform in inventory management.

Is it a feature for completing orders or a way to track shipments made on behalf of customers? Then, to streamline the entire process and lower the number of lost or missing orders, you'll need a system with shipping features or add-ons.

 

Integrations of Software:

 

Integrations with e-commerce platforms, retail point-of-sale (POS) systems, vendors, shippers, 3PL services, and accounting systems must be smooth for any organization to manage inventory effectively. When evaluating inventory systems, choose ones with open APIs for almost universal connection or built-in connectors to your platforms.

 

The ability to scale:

 

Make expansion plans. Moving data from outdated inventory software to a new system might completely halt operations. Similarly, in our tech-driven era, inventory-driven company models undergo rapid transformation. Your internal fulfillment business may proliferate overnight, requiring the utilization of several warehouses, dropship vendors, and third-party fulfillment partners. The secret to continuous expansion is software that scales via feature additions or plan improvements as needed.

 

How Much Does Software for Inventory Management Cost?

 

Platforms for managing inventories come at different prices. Some service providers charge hundreds or thousands of dollars monthly, while others provide free versions. But remember that freedom comes with constraints. Additionally, some software offers free trials to demonstrate how it functions, so you may upgrade to the premium versions when you decide they meet your objectives as a business.

 

They frequently have many price levels with differing features and functionality, such as the number of customization choices, users or warehouses, and shop locations you'll receive. Thus, anticipate that the more expensive plans will accommodate large sales volumes or offer sophisticated automation, analytics, or integration.

 

With other applications, you would have to personalize your subscription. You may customize your bundle to only pay for what your firm needs. Additionally, you'll need to pay monthly or annually to use the inventory management features because they're usually cloud-based. A few providers additionally lower the first year's membership fee and give discounts for yearly payments.

The prices of the inventory management software that we looked at are as follows:

  • Cin7: Monthly starting with $325
  • Ordoro: Free; monthly payments range from $59 to $149
  • inFlow: $89 to $439 when paid yearly
  • Katana: $99 to $599 monthly with yearly billing
  • Zoho Inventory: Free; annual billing of $59 to $329 per month
  • Shortly: Free; yearly billing of $29 to $59 per month
  • Monday.com: No cost; $8 to $16 monthly per person when invoiced yearly

Monday.com also offers a per-quote plan for businesses. It would help if you also got quotations from ShipBob Merchant Plus, Fishbowl Inventory, and Extensiv. However, remember that ShipBob Merchant Plus requires a minimum of 3,500 monthly orders, and Extensiv starts at $1,000.

 

Techniques:

 

Software for inventory management does far more than keep track of the locations and quantities of products in a warehouse or retail outlet. Most inventory systems provide a simplified business management solution that synchronizes real-time inventory data with buying, fulfillment, and sales activities.

 

Costing:

When determining pricing, we considered the affordability of a service's lowest and highest price levels and whether it provides a free trial. Here, businesses that charge upfront are rated higher than those that ask for quotes from prospective clients. Ten percent of our weighted score came from here.

 

Features:

We first assessed the essential features that most firms utilize, such as barcodes, packaging and counting slips, components and assembly monitoring, low-stock alerts, and thorough stock reporting, before choosing the top inventory management software choices for 2023. Next, we looked at features broken down by price tier, time-saving automation like dropshipping and purchase orders, and specialized inventory solutions for manufacturers, retailers, multichannel sellers, and B2B wholesalers.

 

Independent Evaluations:

We looked up evaluations from actual consumers to find out what they thought of each software company. To present the most accurate picture of reality and minimize bias, we ranked both the total customer score (looking for those that were 3.5 and higher out of 5) and the number of reviews for these scores (looking for providers that had at least 300 reviews on each third-party website we researched). Ten percent of the overall score came from them.

 

Professional Evaluation:

To make a final judgment regarding each software supplier, our team of experts examined four critical criteria using third-party websites, including Capterra, G2, and Trustpilot.

 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

 

Which inventory management program is the best?

Some of the top options for inventory management software for expanding companies include Cin7, Katana, Ordoro, inFlow, and Zoho Inventory. However, the ideal choice for your company will rely on your needs, financial situation, and sector.

What does software for inventory management do?

Inventory management software facilitates tracking stock levels in retail and warehouse storage spaces, identification of storage sites, synchronization of inventory levels with sales platforms, and effective handling of sales and distribution for enterprises of all kinds. With capabilities like automated purchasing and receiving and sales-based forecasting, the top inventory management software systems also assist organizations in making informed purchase decisions.

What kinds of software are there for inventory management?

Businesses that rely on inventory have a wide range of different demands regarding inventory tracking. Manufacturing inventory management systems, e-commerce and multichannel online inventory systems, retail store inventory systems with point-of-sale (POS) sales features, restaurant inventory software, and asset tracking systems for service-based businesses are examples of specific-purpose inventory management software.

Which method of inventory management is the most effective?

Using software designed expressly to calculate inventory and automate the numerous operations involved in inventory management is the most efficient method to keep track of inventory. It would help if you had it to make using spreadsheets less complicated and prone to human mistakes.

How can inventory control be made better?

You may enhance your inventory management by assigning numerous responsibilities to management software and combining it with other pertinent software. Next, train your workforce to use automation tools for every task.

How is an inventory management system put into practice?

It begins with placing the essential items, including emphasizing the locations of your stocks and establishing protocols for inventory identification and labeling. Users must also be taught how to set up an inventory management system. Software vendors may assist you with this instruction through live demos, videos, tutorials, and guidelines. For instance, Zoho Inventory provides a complimentary two-hour training session on how to use the program.