An effective inventory management system is invaluable to any retail business. Inventory levels are constantly changing each day due to sales, receipt of purchase orders, stock transfer, stock write-offs and stock takes. An inventory management system is software designed to track products, inventory orders, and fulfilment both to and from customers as well as with suppliers.

One central eCommerce, POS and inventory management solution helps avoid inventory shortages and streamline the stock order management process. There are several components to an inventory management system:

• Order management: Easily fulfil in-store and online orders.
• Inventory control: Effectively manage stock levels to avoid under and overstocking.
• Multi-store and channel: Keep stock levels in sync after every sale across all stores and channels.
• Reporting and insights: Understand product performance and sales data to help make smarter data-driven re-ordering decisions.
• Purchase order generation: Receive low stock level alerts based on custom re-order points and automate supplier purchase orders.

• Inventory levels: Track your stock levels across all locations
• Real-time syncing: Stock levels instantly update after every sale across all channels.
• Demand forecasting: Helps you understand how well your stock is selling and plan ahead for peak periods. Analytics help you understand product performance across stores, brands, categories and more, so you can confidently place orders and reduce the risk of under and overstocking.
• POS integration: Synchronisation with Point of Sale (POS) systems is vital. Stock levels are automatically updated after every sale, eliminating the need for manual counts.
• Stock replenishment: Ability to place supplier purchase orders and transfer stock.

• Inventory turnover rate: The number of times inventory is sold and replaced within a period of time.
• Lead time: The time between a low stock alert being trigger, to a purchase order being placed and the products being received.
• Days to sell: How many days did it take to sell an item once it was received. An important figure when forecasting the demand for a product.
• Stockouts: The number of times a product is out of stock. A useful figure when adjusting re-order point levels. Re-order points may need increasing to avoid stockouts which lead to customer dissatisfaction.
• Average order value: The average revenue generated from a purchase order.

The main types of inventory management are days sales of inventory (DSI), just-in-time management (JIT), materials requirement planning (MRP) and economic order quantity (EOQ). Each inventory management type used depends on the type of business you operate.

A multi-store inventory management system makes it easy to transfer stock from one store to another via a stock transfer request, or a back order where an order has been taken in one store and needs to be fulfilled and shipped to the customer from another.

Stock transfers are useful if a store isn’t selling inventory as well as another. A stock transfer can be made instead of placing a new purchase order with the supplier. Multi-store stock analysis reports help you compare stock performance across multiple stores.

Read our blog, The importance of an integrated inventory management system on how it can help reduce human errors and scale your business.

A Multi-channel inventory Management system enables retailers to manage their multi-store, eCommerce and marketplace inventory using one inventory management system. Inventory management is at the heart of operations so it’s crucial stock levels are in sync and correct across all channels.

Relying on multiple inventory management systems for different channels often leads to out of stock purchases; a deterrent and frustration for customers, and makes management of stock a manual, error prone, and time consuming process for staff. A multi-channel inventory management system instantly updates stock levels across all channels after every sale, enabling retailers to seamlessly sell anywhere, anytime.