Advice on inventory management software/tools

[SmithsCo]

Hello,

My husband and I have been running our business for close to 2 years now. We've grown extremely much in a short time span and it's becoming increasingly difficult to stay on top of inventory planning etc. This is especially problematic on Amazon -- we have around 200 products, most of them with at least 2-3 variations, and we don't seem to be able to accurately forecast sales data to plan inventory etc. Also, even when we are able to plan a bit in advance and send, say, 2-3 months' worth of inventory of a single SKU, sales for the SKU suddenly jump and we need to send another few thousand units within 1-2 weeks.

And the cycle keeps repeating itself basically -- the more stock we send to FBA centres, the more stock Amazon wants from us so it's never quuuite enough.

Of course, some products are seasonal, thus even if demand increases at any point, it tends to drop again a little once peak season has passed.

Anyway, we'd like some recommendations for tools/software that deal with inventory management, planning, forecasting etc and that integrates with Amazon. Ideally, something that can generate reports showing stock levels and maybe plans for 2 weeks, 1 month, 6 months etc based on previous sales data, season and our replenishment lead times. You get the drift.

I'd really like to be able to log in to a dashboard that tells me exactly how many units of a SKU we should send in the next 2 weeks, 1 month etc, what's more urgent (e.g. maybe stock for a SKU is low but replenishing isn't as urgent for this SKU compared to other better selling ones), how much stock to send for seasonal SKUs for upcoming peak seasons etc.

Any suggestions please?

Thank you,
Hannah & Alex

 

[LPB 123]

What software are you currently using for stock control? Most order / inventory management systems have reorder levels which you can set per SKU so you know when to reorder.

The forecasting element should be available on the higher end systems but can't advise on these are we just use a simple stock control system.

 

[antropy]

I'd really like to be able to log in to a dashboard that tells me exactly how many units of a SKU we should send in the next 2 weeks, 1 month etc, what's more urgent (e.g. maybe stock for a SKU is low but replenishing isn't as urgent for this SKU compared to other better selling ones), how much stock to send for seasonal SKUs for upcoming peak seasons etc.

Any suggestions please?

Depending on what budget you have available it might work out much better for you to have something custom developed by a freelancer or agency.

Paul.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

First off, it is good to have an accounts system that can manage stock management - this will allow you to have a greater view on the finances of your business.

Re forecasting, unless you have thousands/tens of... to invest in this, there aren't many options.

Understanding the sales patterns will help you plan further ahead, but will never be 100% accurate. Many years ago, as a stock merchandiser for an electrical retailer I created a spreadsheet that estimated sales based on turnover forecasts (i.e. how much stock of various items are needed for us to hit budget) and allowing for promotional variances, however, you still need base data to start those calculations, which you do have.

Before investing in bespoke development or expensive apps, write everything down and use your experience, but keep notes on variances, spike/dips, even the weather (if it affects your products).

The more data, the more you can forecast, however, in retail, you are the best judge of things.

 

[Nicola78]

I am using dashboard for inventory management and delimiti for document automation. Dashboard allows users to customize the information that is shown on their dashboard screen. You can try it.
Good Luck!

 

[Lawson@CBF]

Give Mintsoft a look. It will help you with your processing and inventory management.

 

[Martin Global]

As stated above, Mintsoft could solve your problems. It has quite fancy data on your inventory traffic. As an alternative I'd also suggest Ongoing. It's similar to Mintsoft but is bit more focused on inventory management. It has some sweet integration with shipping systems.

 

[jamesstag]

I use Despatch Cloud personally, they handle the inventory management, fulfilment and even multiple different courier integrations which has been pretty handy with the recent mail strikes

 

[EcomAlistair]

Our ecommerce automation agency works a lot with Katana (technically it's an MRP, but with solid inventory management and direct connection to Amazon). If you are producing any of your goods - it'd be a no-brainer. If you are not, it still covers the requirements of an inventory system. It has integrations into Xero and Quickbooks.

The other alternative as Paul (@antropy) mentioned is to develop your own. I agree this is a solid option. I would encourage you to consider a tool like Airtable.com – which provides 'pre-built blocks' to build with vs the 'sand and cement' of traditional code. The added bonus of Airtable is that it can be used for other applications in your business (todos, CRM etc).

A tool like Airtable is preferable when your business logic doesn't quite fit with an off the shelf SaaS such as Katana.

Would be happy to discuss any of the above further.