Inventory management software is a powerful tool to help ecommerce stores manage inventory and sales across multiple sales channels with ease. With such an abundance of software providers starting your search can be daunting. That’s why we reviewed the best inventory management software for ecommerce businesses to save your company time and money.
There are hundreds of apps for inventory management software. Many of the following systems have been proven to work for many businesses. You can use them to record stock and other items that are stored in a warehouse or any place of storage. In order to run these apps, you will need databases, networks, and hardware that make some of them only affordable for larger businesses.
When you run an ecommerce business, making the right decisions about inventory management software is especially important because it directly impacts your bottom line. This article will take a look at some of the best inventory management software solutions available – and help you decide which one is right for your business.
Inventory management is an activity which needs to be done day in and day out by the e-commerce merchants. This is a tedious activity because all the products to be sold online need to be tracked and mapped for various purposes. These range from filing taxes to product issues etc. There are many platforms available today which have taken care of issues faced by the merchants related to inventory management. If you would like to know about the best software for ecommerce, here we go.
How do you manage ecommerce inventory?
Ecommerce inventory management is the same as a regular order management system in many respects. You order products from your suppliers, track delivery of those products, add received products to your store’s inventory level, and subtract sold products. The difference is ecommerce businesses have to worry about the logistics of actually delivering sold items to their buyers.
The key is to keep your inventory records organized. Some businesses manage to do this manually by tracking expenses, shipments, and stock levels in an Excel spreadsheet or on paper. However, as your business grows, this gets very difficult. If your company sells more than 20 items or does a high volume of sales, we strongly recommend signing up for one of the ecommerce software options we’ve listed above.
QuickBooks Commerce
The QuickBooks Commerce Platform lets commerce brands manage their retail and wholesale operations and applications from a single, central system. Its core capabilities and extensive app ecosystem, provide businesses with the ability to easily automate order workflows, increasing operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. It helps you manage multiple sales channels (including Shopify, Amazon, WooCommerce, Wayfair, and more), fulfillment locations, expedite payments, create private B2B eCommerce experiences for wholesale customers and seamlessly automate the connection between systems across multiple channels.
QuickBooks Commerce was designed for operations, ecommerce and supply chain professionals looking to automate their business, effectively freeing their time from repetitive, low-level tasks that are prone to human error and inefficiency. It allows you to spend more time on building on customer relationships and growing your business.
QuickBooks Commerce is perfect for small and medium businesses, and its Founder plan starts from $39/month.
Pricing
Prices for QuickBooks Commerce start at around $35 per month for the Founder package, which comes with support for 1 user and 10 sales orders per month. You can also get a lite version for $69 per month, small business for $169 per month, and Business for $459 per month. The more you spend, the more features you get, along with access for more users. There are some premium options for those with more advanced needs too, such as Premium and Enterprise plans.
Pros
- Excellent for businesses of all sizes
- Support for multiple sales channels
- Easy to use interface
- Excellent for supply chain professionals
- Good value for money
Cons
- Some issues with software bugs
- Customer support isn’t the best
Zoho Inventory Management
Zoho Inventory Management is one of the best-known tools in the market, designed to help companies increase their sales, expand their business operations and more. Not only does Zoho Inventory help with things like managing your offline and orders, but it can also integrate with other tools in your sales strategy.
You can link Zoho to your Amazon, eBay and Shopify accounts, create purchase orders, manage drop shipments and more, all from within a single application. What’s more, there’s end-to-end tracking for every item in your inventory with serial number features and batch tracking. You can even choose from multiple shipping integrations to make sure that your items get to your customers as quickly as possible.
Zoho inventory even comes with advanced inventory management tools, such as access to accounting software and asset management tools to help you make more informed business decisions. If you’re looking for a complete software solutions for modern business owners, this could be it.
Pricing
There’s a free version of Zoho inventory, but it’s very limited in features. The paid version starts at $49.00, and you can test the functionality out with a free trial to begin with.
Pros
- Integrates with a dedicated CRM
- Excellent for tracking inventory and customer experience
- Integrations with various leading tools
- Workflow tools for human resources and marketing
- Easy to use interface
- Works with Amazon, eBay and Shopify accounts
Cons
- Tutorials aren’t extremely helpful
- Subscriptions are per user, rather than groups
Ordoro: Best for ecommerce
4.5
Starting from $499.00/mo.
- Multichannel selling features and dropshipping capabilities
- Vendor management features for maximum supply chain efficiency
It’s hard to practice good inventory management techniques when you’re juggling multiple sales channels. Fortunately, Ordoro makes multichannel selling easier. With Ordoro, you can create master products within your inventory system, allowing you to update descriptions, images, branding, and more across all (or some of) your sales channels at your discretion.
Ordoro also offers vendor management features that make dropshipping a breeze. For instance, you can assign vendors to specific products in your catalogue. Then, anytime a customer orders those items, Ordoro can automatically send the order to the appropriate vendor, thereby cutting out the middleman (you), maximizing supply chain efficiency and ensuring your customers get their items as quickly as possible.
We also like that Ordoro makes nontraditional inventory management strategy possible. For instance, you can opt to strategically oversell your goods or limit the number of instock items visible to your customers—both of which create the illusion of scarcity and motivate your potential buyers to complete their purchase. Ultimately, this helps you turn a better profit and avoid storing expensive excess inventory.
Cin7: Best ERP solution
Starting from $299.00/mo.
- Enterprise solutions at midsized costs
- One-stop shop for all your business needs
Most enterprise resource planning (or ERP) platforms feature modules for every aspect of your business (like accounting, point of sale, inventory, and shipping)—and they charge you for each module you add to your plan. Those costs add up, making ERP systems outlandishly expensive for all but the largest companies.
Cin7 breaks the mold by offering built-in modules that come standard with your plan. In addition to a fully integrated POS system, Cin7 comes fully loaded with B2B ecommerce features, manufacturing features, and even a payment portal. And that’s all in addition to the barcode scanning, inventory tracking, and order fulfillment features you’d expect from your inventory solution.
Cin7 also offers advanced demand forecasting and multichannel support, including cross-channel syncing every five minutes. This ensures you have a dynamic inventory system that stays up to date, helping you achieve proper inventory management with minimal effort.
The downside? While Cin7 isn’t as expensive as most ERP solutions, it is among the more expensive platforms on our list (starting at $299.00 per month).
Upserve: Best for restaurants
4.2
Starting from $199.00/mo. + $50.00/POS terminal
- Unique platform designed specifically for restaurant inventory
- Stock level, food costs, and inventory quantity tracking
Data as of 01/05/22. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
Upserve provides a dynamic inventory solution for the unique needs of restaurants. Specifically, Upserve offers a greater focus on expiration date tracking and specialty supply chain needs (like refrigerated shipping) than other inventory control software options.
Yes, Upserve is a bit pricey, but it provides everything you could need in one service. You can run your online ordering, POS services, and workforce management—even across multiple locations. Upserve even provides insights and tools that make it easier to run your restaurant.
What’s more, Upserve provides features just for restaurants. For instance, you can use Upserve inventory software to create recipes for the dishes you sell, customizing each recipe with the precise ingredients and amounts needed. Then, when you sell that dish, Upserve can automatically deduct those quantities from your inventory levels for the ingredients used. You can even use this feature to determine pricing for your menu items and identify food waste.
We also like that Upserve comes with a built-in point-of-sale (POS) system—though admittedly, we don’t love that you’re restricted to using (and paying for) Upserve’s unique proprietary POS hardware. Still, if you’re running a restaurant, Upserve is probably the best inventory management software you could hope for.
NetSuite
NetSuite is an all-in-one business solution to help you with inventory management, accounting, and marketing. NetSuite is helpful for businesses of all shapes and sizes.
Think of it as a cloud-based inventory system that brings together the back-office and financial processes on a single dashboard.
NetSuite was acquired by Oracle in 2016, so it has the resources of a billion-dollar company behind it.
Features
- Multilingual support
- Revenue recognition
- Built-in business intelligence
- Retail inventory management
- Over 350 integrations
- Global support
- Kitting
- Forecasting
- Production identification
- Multi-warehouse support
- Integrated POS
- Order management
- Supply chain management
- Fully responsive
- Multi-currency feature available
- Dropshipping option
- Tax compliant
Price
Pricing starts at $99/month. Alternatively, you can sign up for a free Netsuite ERP demo on their website.
ecomdash
Ecomdash is a fairly simple cloud-based, multi-channel inventory management software that offers an interface to manage inventory, orders, and shipments from the same admin panel.
It is the best option for small to mid-sized inventories. You can easily manage multiple inventories using ecomdash.
Feature-wise, again ecomdash is one of the most unique inventory mapping systems. Check out a more in-depth feature list below.
In 2019, ecomdash was acquired by Constant Contact/Endurance International Group (EIG).
Features
- Multichannel inventory management
- Integrations for WooCommerce, Shopify, Amazon, eBay, and more
- Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) management
- Unlimited support
- Order fulfillment with real-time shipping rates and label printing
- Set custom alerts
- Product SKU mapping
- eCommerce API
- Easy product and sales tracking
- Track manufactured items
- Bundles and multipack listing
- Free inventory resources
- Unlimited integrations
Price
You can try this software with a 14-day free trial. Paid plans are slightly more sophisticated.
Their pricing is based on sales per month. For instance, if you have 100 monthly orders, you will have to pay $60 per month. If you have more than 10,000 orders, you’d have to reach out to ecomdash to set up a custom plan. Nevertheless, you can save 20% if you choose annual billing.
What is the best free inventory management software?
Honestly, the best free software depends on your business and your needs. But we have some suggestions: if you’re running an ecommerce business, we think the best free inventory management software is Zoho Inventory. If you’re running a traditional retail business, we think the best free options are Zoho Inventory and inFlow On-Premise. To see more no-cost options, check out our picks for the best free inventory management software.
Conclusion
As consumer-oriented ecommerce continues to grow and flourish, more small businesses are opening their doors to international markets. As the market continues to expand, retailers must be prepared to engage consumers on a global scale—a challenge that includes maintaining accurate inventory management software.
Ecommerce inventory management software is a system that helps ensure that your ecommerce business has a continuous supply of inventory, while also increasing efficiency and eliminating waste.