Inventory management is a must for businesses. They need to keep track of how much product they have in hand and how much they’ll need. But, it’s not as simple as subtracting the number of orders from stock. There’s a lot you have to take into account.

Excel is the go-to solution for people who are just starting. But, as the business grows it becomes more of a liability than a helpful solution. 43% of small business owners still track their inventory by hand, says a 2017 report. These kinds of manual systems lead to supply chain nightmares.

Inventory management software helps businesses handle their inventory, orders, routings, tracking and a lot more. Now you can make smarter decisions based on accurate information.

In the online world, customers expect a product to be available at every step of the buying process. So, you need to make sure it remains available. A daily overview of your inventory will give you better control and help increase your business intelligence and visibility.

Order management and inventory are important parts of the supply chain process. Doing it well means you have the right quantities at the right time. You’re in control of how much product you have for sale and of your order cycles. This is fundamental if your business is scaling fast.

You need to follow inventory best practices to make sure you don’t have any surprises.

Inventory is a real-time evaluation of revenue your company is generating. If you can’t move a product from inventory, it’s clear your business is struggling to make sales. You have to adjust your operations or you won’t have bottom-line revenue.

Some businesses have to move products much quicker than others due to the shelf-life of the products they sell. Too much inventory will add to expenses and ruined products. Not enough, and you’re at risk of losing potential sales and overall market share.

The best way to order stock that sells is to have inventory management software. It makes calculations for you and is not susceptible to human error.

If your business provides physical products, inventory management is a must. Your goods are recorded and catalogued, whether they're finished products or raw materials. For ecommerce, it’s usually the former. They have products ready to be sold. This also includes parts of a product to be assembled. You need to count the separate parts in relation to the finished product.

You need the right amount of stock on hand at all times. Customers will buy elsewhere if you’re out of stock. When making your inventory order, your supplier may offer a special deal if you order large quantities. But, is it worth it in the end?

If you order too much, it’ll be hard to move. It’s a lot worse if you sell perishable goods.

Some business owners rely on qualitative forecast methods. Past performance and gut-feel to reorder and order inventory. Others, on quantitative methods such as how products performed in the past with accurate data.

Besides a look at how products are performing, inventory management has other benefits for ecommerce:

 Manage order increases without overselling current stock

 Product information is always updated

 Decision makers have control over multi channel order flow

 Improved back-end visibility for inventory management

 Data is synchronized across all platforms in real-time

 Increased visibility improves product organization

 Businesses don’t risk running out of stock

 Improve sales by knowing what you can and can’t sell at any given time

 Inventory is valued and counted to see the company’s profits and losses

There are a lot of solutions for inventory management to integrate with your ecommerce website. All you have to do is to choose which one is a better fit for your business.

Odoo has its own inventory app. You only have to install it, no need for integrations.

The Odoo Inventory app is integrated with other Odoo apps. All your data is synchronised and updated in real-time.

See how to manage Odoo Inventory app