Commerce is always evolving as influenced by technology and trends at large. Against this backdrop, you should know that there has been a massive shift from brick-and-mortar transactions to online/digital transactions.
This is a result of several factors with the global pandemic of the year 2020 being a prime example. It played a huge role in significantly increasing the number of online transactions. To see the number backing up this claim, you can check: https://unctad.org/.
One of the implications is that there are more online vendors, and they need software solutions that advance their course. On this note, this article discusses how e-commerce inventory management software is a must-have for these people. Read on to see why this is the case.
How ECommerce Inventory Management Software Empowers Online Vendors
Online vendors leave room for errors when they refuse to digitize certain operations.
Inventory management software solutions take care of some of the core operations of vendors in the online space. Some of the several ways it empowers such people are discussed below:
Real-Time Stock Monitoring
This software solution is designed to be well aware of the products that you have in stock. As a result, subtractions are made anytime products are sold to clients and it automatically calculates what is left. In the same vein, additions are made when more stock is gotten.
The point is that you do not need to manually count what you have available and even what you have sold. It saves you the trouble of manual monitoring because of its automated real-time stock monitoring. Furthermore, this eliminates the possibility of human errors as it is possible to miscount, no matter how slim the chances are.
Protects Against Over-Selling
Being a good online vendor is not just about selling good products. There are other things that matter as well and one such is always coming off as integrity-driven to your clients.
Well, certain inventory errors are capable of painting the wrong picture. One such is when you oversell. What this simply means is that you take more orders than you can meet.
This can be accidental as a result of inventory issues. The use of E-commerce Inventory Management Software ensures that such does not happen. As a result, your integrity as a vendor, especially when it comes to taking and supplying orders remains intact.
Time-Saving
Time is money and this is something well-known in the business world. For example, it was the major highlight of the assembly line that made it possible to build cars in less than two hours. It took no fewer than 12 hours to build the same car prior to the invention of the assembly line.
The use of e-commerce inventory management software solutions offers that assembly line advantage in several ways. For example, you can be alerted when you are close to running out of stock.
This is something that is more appreciated by vendors that sell so many products and may not be able to closely monitor every one of them. Some software solutions even do better by directly contacting the supplier.
Insightful Data Analysis
Some vendors think that data gathering, and analysis is boring. Well, you should defer considering how it can help make very informed business decisions.
It turns out that e-commerce inventory management software solutions can help with data gathering and analysis for making better business decisions. For example, some options have features that allow vendors to know the best-selling and worst-selling products.
Such information puts vendors in a better position to know where to invest their capital. This is instead of wasting money on low-performing products.
Intelligent prediction for peak sale season is another way some of these solutions help. The prediction is not a gamble but is informed by previous experiences. Overall, this reduces the chances of not living up to clients’ expectations during peak seasons.
Scalability
Some online vendors who use these software solutions have become forces to reckon with. However, many of them started small and were still using them at that phase.
This is possible because this software solution is highly scalable. For example, while a vendor who has a single warehouse facility can use it, one who has multiple warehouses in various locations can still use the same software.
Centralized Monitoring & Management
The increase in online transactions has also led to the increase in online marketplaces that allow for these transactions to happen. As a result, it is not unusual to see a vendor selling on several online marketplaces. For example, imagine that a vendor buys/sells various fashion products on all of the following online marketplaces:
- Amazon
- eBay
- Walmart Marketplace
- AliExpress
- Alibaba
- Poshmark
- Zalando
The vendor in question needs a software solution that allows for centralized monitoring and management of all that happens on these various online marketplaces. This is a possibility with Ecommerce Inventory Management Software solutions.
By the way, some online marketplaces are niche-focused, as opposed to some that are into almost everything. You can click here for more on niche-focused online marketplaces.
Conclusion
E-commerce inventory management software is one that online vendors should consider a must-have. This is for reasons including the ones discussed here. However, it is equally important that the right software solution is opted for as some offer more/less than others.
