Manual Stock Control

[mrsmcy]

We have looked at numerous stock control systems but always end up being told we can't use them - basically we sell personalised goods and have the same products being listed on multiple pages with different personalisation. At the moment when an order comes in we manually deduct it off a stock list on Excel. This is very time consuming at the moment.

We would probably still need to manually input the sales but would like something that could produce sales charts for weekly, monthly, yearly reports on individual products, when products are running low, what stock has been ordered that month etc.

We use Linnworks for our order management and courier but have been told by them on several occasions that it is not possible to use it for our stock control. We have also looked in depth at Bright Pearl and Tradebox but in the end their advisors told us they couldn't do the stock control automatically. So we would like a cheap/free system if we are still manually inputting data.

 

[antropy]

So we would like a cheap/free system

That's the problem. If you were willing to spend some money on this then those companies would probably develop something for you.

 

[mrsmcy]

We would be willing to spend some money but the quotes I had before were £5-10K which isn't feasible for us at the moment.

 

[antropy]

quotes I had before were £5-10K

That sounds pretty high for this sort of thing, even for an established company, but there's no enough info above to fully understand the requirements. Can you explain exactly how the system would need to work?

 

[exom_expert]

And what platform do you use to sell online?

 

[Schnell Solutions]

£5-£10k sounds very steep for a simple stock management system but again, as they say, the devil is always in the detail!

Based on our experience in this field, I can think if four options:

1. Plugins for On-line platform
   • If you are using WordPress or something similar, you can explore the plugin/add-ons route which are fairly in-expensive and work well. They might not get you from A to Z but may automate some of the most tedious tasks....definitely worth a try!
2. Automate Excel using Macros/basic programming
   • Export/Download sales data in CSV/XML from the on-line platform and automate the integration with Excel.
   • Can be outsourced to a contractor.
3. See if any accounting/cloud based stock management apps fits the bill
   • Generally, off-the-shelf software is aimed at a mass market and it always tries to incorporate lots of bells and whistle to cover wide user base. This makes if difficult for users to navigate and use the software if you only want to use certain modules.
   • I guess you need something very simple and you may struggle to find something that works exactly the way you want....worth trying though.
4. Approach a software development company (like us) who can a tailored software that fits your needs
   • Now-a-days, tailored software does not have to be expensive. With lots of Rapid Application Development Platforms, tools, plugins available, a multi-skilled software developer can make use to these technologies and develop a tailored software with minimal capital outlay.
   • Open source technologies like .NET, PHP, MYSQL, etc will keep the software cost low and can be easily used to develop a simple stock control system.

If you want a second opinion on Option 4, we would be happy to have a telephone chat with you. Please PM us with your details and we will get in touch.

Hope this helps!

 

[Adam Shilton]

It would be good to learn a little bit more about what you need and I'll see whether I can help. We do a basic system for £50pcm that will control your stock levels. Google our RapidNAV Starter Pack and you should find the info you need. Send me a direct message if you'd like. Happy to speak in more detail...

 

[SamGilbert]

So far I can't see any reason why we wouldn't be able to help.

Feel free to give us a call today so I can find out more about your requirements, and I can let you know what we can do.

Sam - ChannelGrabber - 0161 711 0239

 

[FittedCommerce]

Hi mrsmcy

I know several customers using Linnworks selling custom goods from printed T-Shirts to customer wall boards.

Please give me a private message or email me charlie@fittedcommerce, I'd love to see if it is possible with you business model.

Or if you want to hear from Linnworks' own mouth then call them and ask for Josh, he will be able to tell you how to use Linnworks for stock control of customised items.

Let me know how you get on

 

[Vadym Gurevych]

I think a relatively simple solution would be based around having a "background" Ecommerce website (in Magento, for example) that would be linked with your Linnworks. So you would manage stock in the back end of the Ecommerce site, then, it would get uploaded to Linnworks or to your sales channels directly. Orders would automatically come through, and so stock would get updated.

It should not cost too much, I'd say £2-3k VERY roughly. Perhaps even less - all depends on the details

 

[Jayser100]

I don't know why you think it's an all-or-nothing situation. I've noticed a lot of people making this mistake on UKBF. The crux of the problem is that people seem to think, if they want a system other than manual input, they need an all-singing, all-dancing system that integrates their bookkeeping, eBay sales and Website sales (and makes the coffee to boot!) etc. There is a middle ground. You can buy a system like Wasp Barcode that will allow you to at least scan your items in / out of software and produce low-stock alerts etc. for an outlay of just a few hundred quid.

Have a look at www.waspbarcode.co.uk

I use their DT10 scanner and Inventory Control software. We use it in a fairly simple fashion - there is a barcode label on every stock bin, and my warehouse operative simply scans items in as he packs them for shipping. At the end of each day he plugs the DT10 into the PC and uploads the modified database to the inventory software on the machine. By entering the amount I pay for each item, I can get an instant stock valuation when I need it, and we can set low inventory alerts for the purposes of ordering. That does for me - I don't feel at this stage that I need to have it integrated with my ecommerce platforms and bookkeeping software. Setting that up would be expensive, time consuming and fraught with danger in terms of technical issues. Oh, and I don't like coffee anyway