Choosing Proper Inventory Management Software

By Author: johnsmith1
Total Articles: 13
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If you are researching for software that will allow you to properly manage your inventory and stock then pay attention to some of these key points. Looking for an effective inventory management solution can be minefield. This is because many systems claim to manage this process, and although they all do it to varying degrees, some offer a better deal then others.

You see, it’s not hard to have a description only inventory, infact it’s easy and a lot of small business software does it. They do it because it is easy and then you can sell the solution as a inventory management system. The truth is this is done a lot in Australia and New Zealand and the truth is it’s not very effective. If you do decide to purchase a system like this what it won’t tell you is current stock levels, what’s on order and much more. That’s why the first step in research is deciding internally what your needs are. As more requirements are tacked onto the equation then the software you need will be more advanced. Typical requirements include current stock levels, serial number tracking, website shopping cart integration and landed cost. ...
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I will expand on the landed cost requirement as it recently came up in a demonstration with a potential client. They are a big importer of concert equipment into New Zealand. However there current system was purely a point of sale system, thus it allowed them to ring up stock but it never gave them the information such as how much that stock cost them. Lack of management reporting is another significant error in current businesses however I will leave that for another article.

Consider this, the stock they were selling did not only cost them the price they paid to the manufacturer in Europe. No, in actual fact they had to then pay for it to leave the manufacturer on a truck to go to the nearest port. From there the goods would be loaded into separate shipping containers and shipped into Auckland, New Zealand. From there they would be on a truck again until they reached the warehouse just outside Auckland. Adding up all these three shipping methods was a significant cost, and one they were not adding to their goods. It was allowing them a false sense of security when they discounted goods to make a sale. What they were actually doing is discounting the goods to below their landed cost price. Now that is not such a greataccounting software!

The landed cost price is the price paid for the goods plus the additional shipping, customs, handling, and courier prices. Systems that have proper stock control manage this like a breeze and compute all the figures for you. It’s literally as easy as entering in the data and it will even compute how you want it split, for example by weight, quantity, cost. Systems that do not have this leave you selling items below your cost and severely hurting your bottom line. Ouch!

So next time you are researching your inventory management accounting softwaremake sure it does all the things you need it to do. Then you will not only have saved a lot of time, but you will also be running a more successful business.