Spreadsheets are more than enough when you’re new to the Shopify market with your entry-level apparel store. But after a while, your business starts to expand, the product variety is increasing, and you start to look for other efficient ways of managing your apparel inventory. Thankfully, there are many applications to help you with that. Which one is the most beneficial for your store? This content is exactly about this question. We’ll discover the best inventory management software you can use for your Shopify apparel store together. Let’s start!

Can You Use Excel as an Inventory Management Tool for Your Apparel Business?

Yes, you can use Excel for inventory management, but Excel might not be as effective as you think for your Shopify clothing store. Why?

🌀 Complexity of Inventory and Sales Data

As your business grows, the complexity and volume of data can be overwhelming, making it difficult to manage numerous SKUs, sizes, and colors in Excel.

⏳ Lack of Real-time Updates

You need real-time inventory updates when everything happens so fast in the apparel industry. Excel can’t provide this, so your inventory data is always a step behind. This can lead to overstock or stockout issues, negatively affecting customer satisfaction and decreasing your store’s profit.

🕒 Inventory Planning is Time-Consuming with Excel

Manual data entry in Excel is incredibly time-consuming, especially when you have a wide range of products. Updating stock levels, recording sales, and generating reports takes your valuable time, which could be spent on sales & marketing strategies.

⚠️ Prone to Human-based Errors

Manual data entry also brings the risk of human error. One wrong entry can throw off your entire inventory count, leading to an imbalance in your apparel inventory and potential revenue losses.

When all these limitations of Excel are considered, it’s obvious that it is not the ideal solution for your clothing store. Then, what is? An inventory management solution. But when choosing one, it is important to be careful, as the potential app should have all the essential factors.

Essential Factors to Consider When Choosing an Inventory Planning Software for a Clothing Brand

Here are the must-have features your future inventory management tool should have for an efficient apparel inventory management process:

1️⃣ User-friendly Interface 🖥️

Even though the inventory management apps have so many advanced features and functions, you won’t be able to use them if it is too complex. With an intuitive interface, you can quickly access the needed features, saving time and improving your productivity.

2️⃣ Good Customer Support! 📞

For you and your team to adopt new software and integrate it into your daily inventory processes, you will need to ask questions. Besides, having reliable and responsive customer support is necessary for solving issues quickly. You should be able to reach customer support, whether it's a technical issue or seeking guidance on maximizing the app's capabilities.

3️⃣ Good Value for the Price! 💰

When you buy new software to manage your apparel inventory efficiently, you are also making a financial investment. Therefore, ensuring a balanced input-output relationship is crucial to reveal that you've made the right decision. Paying attention to this balance when selecting a solution is important.

4️⃣ Must-have Features! ✅

Issues like out-of-stock and overstock are common challenges apparel brands face. Therefore, you should use an app that minimizes such problems and supports you with must-have features to deal with them more easily. Because in the apparel industry, everything happens very quickly!

The inventory app you’re going to choose for your clothing inventory should include essential features such as purchase orders that can be prepared in seconds, backorders to keep selling during stockout, automated replenishment to manage inventory better, and demand forecasting to make better sales plans.

📌 Would you like to see how beneficial these features can be for your Shopify store? Try all these features with Fabrikatör for free!

5️⃣ Advanced Reports and Analytics 📊

Getting advanced, detailed, and real-time reports and analytics is one of the most crucial needs for Shopify clothing stores. Through comprehensive analyses, you can assess your current situation and make more realistic plans for the future. This way, you can manage your inventory more easily and profitably, leading to greater earnings.

Which apps are more suitable for Shopify apparel brands when considering all these factors? 🤔

Top Shopify Inventory Management Apps for Apparel Brands

Fabrikatör, Inventory Planning Tool, Designed for Fashion Brands

Fabrikatör is a 5/5-rated Shopify app addressing the specific needs of apparel brands. Seasonality is one of the critical concerns for apparel brands, and Fabrikatör simplifies this challenge with its replenishment and demand planning capabilities. By accurately predicting future demand, you can effectively manage inventory levels and optimize sales opportunities. Another concern for apparel brand is facing out of stock often. Fabrikatör replenish stock automatically and determine the required stock level for your store and minimize the risk of being out of stock. It also offers a solution for unexpected stockout, you can keep earning revenue by accepting backorders and eliminate the drawbacks of stockout. In addition to that, Fabrikatör has seamless integrations with so many essential apps for apparel stores like Klaviyo, enabling you use email marketing strategies . By combining Klaviyo's capabilities with Fabrikatör's user-friendly interface and responsive customer support, your team can effortlessly adopt and maximize the benefits of this app. This software costs between $99 and $199 per month. Learn more now.

📌 It is ideal for growing Shopify apparel brands with an increasing number and variety of products.

Inventory Planner App

4,3/5-rated Inventory Planner software stands out among inventory management apps by offering many advanced features. Its forecasting tool provides more realistic sales plans for your clothing store. However, some users find its interface complex and details in the app overwhelming. So, while it's effective for planning for your apparel brand, it might be challenging for you and your team to adopt the app and benefit from it. The cost of the app starts from $249.99 per month. Learn more.

📌 Ideal for apparel brands with a wide range and high number of products regarding its high price and complex structure.

Stock Sync: Inventory Sync

This 4,7/5-rated Shopify app simplifies inventory management by automating updates and product management across multiple sources. It ensures real-time accuracy, reducing the risk of overselling. However, it's important to consider customer reviews that may highlight occasional customer support problems and syncing issues. The app's pricing ranges from $5 to $25 per month and also offers a free plan. Learn more about the app.

📌 Ideal for new apparel brands in the market looking to explore third-party inventory solutions at an affordable price point.

Trunk ‑ Stock Sync & Bundling

Trunk app with a 4,9/5 rating supports the inventory management process by centralizing stock levels across multiple sales channels, ensuring real-time synchronization. With features like automatic SKU syncing, bundling capabilities, and low stock alerts, Trunk simplifies inventory management for your apparel business. Since the app works with many integrations, stock syncing discrepancies may occasionally occur, according to some users' comments. This app has two plans, and price changes between $35 to $39 per month. Learn more.

📌 Ideal for apparel brands that have stores across multiple platforms.

SKULabs

SKULabs, a 4,9/5 rated Shopify app, is designed to handle various inventory and order management aspects across multiple channels. It provides features such as order picking, barcode scanning, multi-carrier shipping, purchasing, and receiving. Users can benefit from real-time inventory control and synchronization, ensuring accuracy across different sales platforms. It's important to note that some users have faced slow server response times and malfunctioning sync buttons in SKULabs. This has resulted in frustration and wasted time spent troubleshooting with customer support. The pricing ranges from $299 to $1,999 per month. Visit the Shopify app store to learn more.

📌  Ideal for clothing stores that need comprehensive inventory and order management solutions across multiple sales channels.

Choose the Best Shopify Inventory Management App for your Shopify Store!

When it comes to apparel business, you need a solution that minimizes errors and risks while effectively and quickly solving unexpected problems. And there's no other app for that than Fabrikatör! It offers reasonable pricing, advanced features, and effective inventory management. Plus, it's beloved by customers! 💌

With Fabrikatör, managing your Shopify inventory is easy and profitable. How?

• Fully Integrated & Automated Process: Ensure your clothing inventory data is always up-to-date  🔄 with Fabrikatör’s seamless integration with Shopify.
• Accurate Forecasting: Achieve precise demand forecasting 📈 with smart planning.
• Streamlined Purchase Orders: Create purchase orders 📝 quickly and effortlessly.
• Timely Replenishment: Reorder stock at the ideal time ⏰ to maintain optimal levels.
• Backorder Management: Keep sales flowing smoothly 🛒 with backorders, even when items are out of stock.
• In-depth Analytics: Gain valuable insights into your inventory and sales. 📊
• Optimized Freight Planning: Improve your shipping strategy 🚚 and reduce unnecessary costs.

and so much more!

Interested in learning more about Fabrikatör? See it in action! 🚀

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