Your eCommerce store is growing daily, reaching more people, and the number and variety of your products are increasing, right? You might have been good with Excel for a while, but managing inventory probably has become more challenging 🤯 for you, and you're looking for a successful inventory management app. Awesome! So, what features should you be looking for in the app you will purchase? Let’s explore the must-have features of an inventory management app and how to choose the best-fitting solution for your eCommerce business.

What is an Inventory Management App?

Investopedia defines inventory management as ordering, storing, using, and selling a company's inventory. 📦 An inventory management app is the software that completes these tasks and improves the efficiency of the inventory management process. These apps enable businesses to track, manage, and optimize inventory levels. From tracking stock levels and orders to forecasting demand and creating purchase orders, these apps play a crucial role in almost every part of the inventory management process. Let’s refresh our memories about why they are essential for your eCommerce business.

The Importance of Inventory Management in eCommerce

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According to Demandsage’s report, there are 4.80 million live online stores in Shopify as of January 2024, and you are one of the  1.75 million Shopify merchants who own these stores. Accordingly, you're aware that competition is fierce, and customers can quickly change their decisions when they can't access the products they want when they want them. Therefore, managing the inventory process quickly, efficiently, and without errors is necessary. But how?

With Excel? Time-consuming and Inadequate. 📉

💻 Excel requires manual data entry, updates, and calculations, leading to time-consuming processes and potential errors.

⏰ Lack of real-time updates in Excel can result in out of stock, overselling, and inaccurate reporting.

🚫 Difficulty in tracking individual actions and changes made by team members can lead to confusion and errors.

🧶 As your Shopify store grows, managing inventory in Excel becomes increasingly complex and inefficient.

📊 Excel lacks functional analytics capabilities and efficient collaboration tools, hindering data-driven decision-making and team collaboration.

With Inventory Management Tool? Efficient and Profitable. 📈

Inventory management apps offer several advantages over Excel, making your store more efficient and profitable. It’s important for your eCommerce store because:

⚙️ Inventory management tools automate data entry, updates, calculations, and stock tracking processes. This automation reduces manual work, minimizes errors, and saves time. It also can handle a large volume of products, sales, and data, without becoming complex or inefficient like Excel.

🔄 Unlike Excel, which lacks real-time updates, inventory management software provides accurate and up-to-date information on stock levels, sales, and order fulfillment. This real-time visibility helps prevent out of stock and overstock, ensuring accurate reporting.

🔍 Inventory management tools offer detailed tracking of inventory movements, individual actions, and changes made by team members. This level of tracking enhances accountability, reduces confusion, and improves accuracy in inventory management. Besides, you can make integrations with the eCommerce platform you use.

📊 Inventory management tools have robust analytics capabilities, providing valuable insights into sales trends, inventory performance, and customer behavior. These insights empower data-driven decision-making, leading to more profitable strategies.

👉 Interested in learning more about inventory management apps? Schedule a free demo today and explore Fabrikatör in detail! 📆✨

📌 Excel is an alternative, but it has many limitations and would only benefit stores new in the eCommerce market with few products and low sales levels. You need a more comprehensive solution for your growing store's growing needs.

📌 By transitioning from Excel to an inventory management app, you're not just overcoming the limitations of Excel but also setting your eCommerce store up for efficient operations, improved profitability, and sustainable growth. ✨ Now, let’s briefly talk about who needs an inventory management app for their inventory management needs.

Who Needs a Comprehensive Inventory Management App? 🤔

A comprehensive inventory management app can be beneficial for any business selling online, offline, or both products. Here are some key stakeholders who stand to gain from using such a solution:

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) Shops

DTC owners who use eCommerce platforms like Shopify should send the orders fast and save time because customers want to use their products right away. In this case, Excel isn't the best fit for DTC store owners due to its limitations in keeping up with real-time updates and automation.

Independent Entrepreneurs and Startups

New businesses and solo entrepreneurs prioritize cost saving and creating new customers at first to grow their business. They can benefit from cost savings and resource optimization by ditching Excel for specialized inventory tools. With these tools, they can efficiently track inventory, contributing to increased sales, grow their businesses, and create new customers with efficient operation.

Companies with a Wide Range of Products

Businesses handling diverse products and grappling with complex data should leave Excel behind because Excel crashes frequently and struggles to handle large volumes of data effectively. Such data can only be managed with a functional inventory management app. They offer a centralized system to effectively manage various products, overcoming Excel's limitations.

Logistics and Supply Chain Managers

Logistics and supply chain professionals should transition from Excel to specialized inventory tools. They need visualization and real-time data to manage their operations effectively. These tools streamline their operations and help decision-making in the supply chain.

📌 Do you want success in eCommerce? Then, you should use an inventory management app. ⭐ Well, but which features are must-haves for an effective inventory process?

Key Features of Effective Inventory Management Apps

Now, let's delve into the six indispensable features of Fabrikatör that make it a must-have for businesses:

🔮 Demand Forecasting

Which eCommerce owner doesn’t want to make long-term sales plans? With sales forecasting, you can make long-term plans that bring several benefits, such as minimizing out of stock, maintaining balanced stock levels, and preparing for demand fluctuations.

As it is labor-heavy with Excel and unreliable, some inventory management apps like Fabrikatör use advanced algorithms to predict market trends and customer demand, helping businesses optimize inventory levels and reduce out of stock issues.

📦 Purchase Orders

As an eCommerce owner, you need an automated and adaptable purchase order process with automated workflows, real-time tracking, and streamlined communication with suppliers. This system saves time, reduces mistakes, and keeps track of orders in real time. It includes other costs and ensures accurate pricing and timely payments. This means less manual work, fewer errors, and faster deliveries.

Automated workflows ensure that orders are processed quickly and correctly, while real-time tracking lets owners see where orders are at any moment. This also helps manage inventory levels better, avoiding out of stock or excess stock. Plus, streamlined communication with suppliers improves relationships and ensures efficient collaboration. Overall, automated purchase orders make the buying process faster, more accurate, and more efficient for eCommerce businesses.

🔄 Replenishment

Restocking manually is an activity that consumes a significant amount of time. Besides, it’s not easy to calculate incoming purchase orders while restocking. Here comes replenishment, which automates restocking based on demand and supply data, preventing stockouts and optimizing inventory levels. In addition to that, with fast and automatized restocking, an eCommerce store can save time, improve customer satisfaction, and maximize sales opportunities by ensuring you always have the right amount of inventory on hand.

📊 Analytics

Analytics tools provide real-time visibility into inventory performance, sales trends, and operational metrics, empowering businesses to make data-driven decisions. Analytics and reports are essential features in an inventory management app. They provide valuable insights into inventory performance, sales trends, and supplier relationships. With customizable reports and real-time data visualization, businesses can make informed decisions, optimize stock levels, and improve operational efficiency. These features are crucial for strategic planning, identifying opportunities, and staying competitive in the eCommerce market.

💸 Backorders

By accepting backorders, you can keep selling when your store is unexpectedly out of stock. How? By accepting backorders, businesses can fulfill orders when the product is back in stock, ensuring customers get what they want without waiting for the product to become available again. In this way, they keep earning profit and turn out of stock into profit. This feature enhances customer satisfaction, reduces stock issues, and boosts revenue opportunities for eCommerce businesses.

You might think you could just use a standalone backorder app instead of an inventory management app. But beware! What makes a successful inventory management app with a solid backorder feature stand out is its capability to align inventory operations and smoothly integrate with your current systems and processes.

📌 For more detail, you can read Ultimate Guide: Backorder & Preorders.

✨ Nice to Have Features

It's highly unlikely for a single app to effectively cover all operations of your business, as each focuses on different aspects. Therefore, wouldn't it be great if the inventory management app you chose provided some integrations in the eCommerce space that you might need? Here are some examples:

• Shiphero: Shiphero seamlessly integrates with inventory management, optimizing warehouse operations for efficient fulfillment.
• Klaviyo: Klaviyo enhances customer engagement by enabling personalized email campaigns based on behavior and purchase history, fostering loyalty and driving sales.

Even if integrations aren't your top priority initially, these can become important after your purchase. So, it's worth paying attention to them from the start. 🔍

❓Is there an inventory management app where you can find all these must-have features? Yes! You can reach all with Fabrikatör!

Achieve All Your Inventory Goals with Fabrikatör! ✨

With Fabrikatör, businesses can achieve comprehensive inventory management that optimizes operations, improves efficiency, and drives profitability. 🚀 Fabrikatör offers all the must-have features for your eCommerce store’s success: demand forecasting, purchase orders, replenishment, analytics, backorders, freight planning, and more!

Fabrikatör's comprehensive features empower businesses to optimize inventory operations, improve efficiency, and drive profitability. Whether you're a Shopify DTC store owner, wholesaler, manufacturer, or entrepreneur, Fabrikatör offers a tailored solution to elevate your inventory management strategy and achieve success in today's competitive market. ✨

💸 Ready to unlock the full potential of your inventory management? Explore Fabrikatör today and experience the difference firsthand.