How Inventory Software Can Help in Real-Time Stock Management for eCommerce

With multiple orders coming from different sales channels, at the same time, it is difficult for a business to fulfill all eCommerce orders.

And the only solution is to always have enough stock in your warehouse. But while operating from different locations, it is difficult to know how much stock you have in which warehouse or anticipate the customer’s demand.

Inventory software with real-time tracking capabilities will help you know how fast your products are moving in the supply chain. Real-time updating capability provides accurate inventory levels for your warehouse and sales channels.

So, let’s understand how inventory software can help you with real-time stock management system, and meeting your customers’ growing demands.

What is eCommerce Inventory Management Software?

How Inventory Software Can Help in Real Time Stock Management for eCommerce

eCommerce Inventory Management Software allows businesses to manage and track their stock in terms of quantity, price, location, sales history, and other related information. The main objective of using inventory software is to efficiently source, store & sell stock and maximize profitability.

In the eCommerce industry, real-time stock management is critical for successfully running a business. Real-time information improves visibility into the supply chain so that businesses can align with market demand and maintain stock accordingly. Moreover, insights on real-time stock levels enable businesses to function smoothly across multiple sales channels.

How Inventory Software Can Help in Real Time Stock Management for eCommerce?

The inventory software comes with features like inventory tracking, forecasting, reporting, automatic inventory updating, and more that help you in managing your stock in real-time. Moreover, it also allows eCommerce businesses to integrate multiple warehouse locations which helps them know how much stock is available at each location.

Let’s understand how these features work in detail.

Inventory Tracking

Regular inventory tracking is not sufficient for any eCommerce company, you need to make it real-time inventory tracking. You need to trace which product and in what quantity is being ordered, replaced, or returned in real-time. Along with this, you must have real-time information about the inventory across different eCommerce channels. This can be done through product serial numbers or unique barcode scanning.

Automated Inventory Updating

Your business will receive orders for multiple products, from multiple sales channels like your own online store, and other eCommerce marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart, etc. In this scenario, if you are manually updating your inventory, there are chances that you won’t get the real inventory count.

So, to know the accurate inventory level with every coming order, you need auto inventory updating. This feature automatically updates the stock levels in your inventory system whenever there are any changes in terms of order dispatch, return, or replacement.

Inventory Forecasting

Real-time stock management is not only restricted to updating real-time inventory levels. It also includes analyzing products that are currently in demand to avoid understock situations. With accurate demand forecasting based on real-time information, eCommerce businesses can decide how much stock they need to store at every warehouse.

Moreover, this helps them stay prepared for demand surges during the festive time and know when to reorder.

Integrating Multiple Warehouse Locations

Inventory software offers accurate and real-time visibility into your overall stock as well as what you have at each warehouse. By integrating multiple warehouse locations with the inventory software, eCommerce businesses can analyze real-time data and store the required amount of inventory at each location. This will further reduce shipping costs and even speed up deliveries for customers. Moreover, you can also get real-time insights into which item is running out of stock at which warehouse, and reorder accordingly.

Reporting Using the Current Data

The reporting capabilities of any inventory software can generate instant reports that will help you understand customer behavior, most-selling products, and the products that have reached the set quantity threshold. For instance, you can have reports to find the products that have reached their minimum inventory levels. Accordingly, you can place reorders to maintain your safety stock.

Interesting Facts

– 70% of people shopping online would search for a product elsewhere, if it is unavailable, rather than waiting for it to come in stock again.
– 23% of business leaders lack accurate visibility into their supply chain
– During the pandemic in 2020, the value of inventory distortion was $568.7 Billion for out-of-stock and $176.7 Billion for overstock among grocery retailers & mass merchants.

Why eCommerce Should Focus on Real-Time Stock Management?

Real-time stock management can benefit an eCommerce business in maintaining required inventory levels, reducing human errors, improving warehouse management, and avoiding overstock situations. In fact, eCommerce businesses can also eliminate inefficiencies in their supply chain using real-time inventory data.

Let’s explore the benefits of inventory software in terms of real-time stock management.

Maintain Accurate Inventory Levels

The software will update you in real-time regarding the whole inventory count, along with the stock available at each level, like different warehouses and sales channels. To be more precise, eCommerce businesses can also get real-time information about the inventory that is on the warehouse floor, in the kitting & assembly stage, ready to ship, etc. With real-time data, businesses can make strategic decisions related to reordering.

Minimize Errors

With real-time information, businesses can accurately respond to customers’ needs, like notifying them when you are back in stock or updating them in real-time about the number of items left. However, if done manually, there are chances of incorrect reporting in terms of inventory count, and you might end up losing a few sales opportunities.

Better Warehouse Management

Storing your inventory smartly to make order processing, packaging, and shipment smoother is a major part of stock management. With the software, you can track when and how much inventory is coming to a warehouse. This data will help you organize warehouse shelves for new stock and eventually reduce clutter. Further, it will also help the workforce at your warehouse to identify, separate, and arrange stock by category, making your inventory more accessible.

Plan Better for Your eCommerce Business

To meet the fluctuating market demand, eCommerce businesses can effectively use real-time data to optimize their inventory levels. This will help you maintain a safe stock and ensure that you never run out of stock, but also don’t end up tying too much capital in your inventory. All this would help you plan and use your resources strategically while meeting customer demand.

Avoid Stock Overselling

Overselling is one of the major challenges in the eCommerce industry. It arises when businesses are not able to predict the market demand and end up going out of stock. However, in this case, the software can help you maintain a stock buffer that will help you avoid such situations. Once you set the buffer stock quantity, the software will automatically display zero units on the sales channel.

Efficiently Manage Your Ecommerce Supply Chain

Inventory software offers you insights into the supply chain. With real-time tracking, you can know how much time every product is taking to move across different stages of the supply chain. These stages include production, warehouse receiving, dispatching, and more. Using this data, businesses can identify inefficiencies in their supply chain and improve logistics operations.

Case Study

About Hilditch & Key
Hilditch & Key is a London based shirt making company that was started in 1899 by Charles F. Hilditch & W. Graham Key. Today, they have a good presence in London’s Jermyn Street and Paris’ Rue de Rivoli along with an eCommerce channel.

Challenges in Stock Management
However, the company faced two major inventory related challenges:
– Frequent out of stock situations
– Management of multiple sales channels

The main reason behind going out of stock was that their online store did not reflect the accurate stock in hand. As a result, they were getting online orders for shirts, pants, and ties that were not there in their warehouse.

Impact of Implementing Inventory Software with Real-Time Capabilities
As a solution to their stock problems, their IT manager, Scott Hale started looking for cloud-based inventory software to help them improve their inventory control. Implementing the inventory helped Hilditch & Key with:

– Reducing Costs
– Tracking & Updating Inventory in Real-time
– Gain a Better Visibility Over their Stocks
– Resolved Understocking Issues
– Save 35 hours of work every week
– Reduce 15% of Administration Costs

Conclusion

eCommerce companies can efficiently manage their stocks by implementing inventory software. It would help them gain more visibility on their overall stock levels and fulfill online orders on time.