The Ultimate Guide To The Best Inventory Apps

How to Choose the Best Inventory App

The answer varies from business to business. Before picking the best inventory management system, it is crucial to factor in size, nature and needs of the business.

It's important to see what does your business demands? Spot your business inventory is undergoing and choose accordingly. For instance, companies with warehouses at multiple locations might be looking for a consolidated approach. So they may go for ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning--one stop to manage stock levels, finance and more. However, this can prove to be expensive for the small companies.

A clearly defined inventory control policy can help you decide what inventory system is best for you. And so can the nature of business. An e-commerce company would want all their data at the back-end platform. And will need a system that integrates accounts and asset tracking and more.

The most important- Check the scale and kind of data your inventory system can store and buy only if it is meeting your business needs. Does sit support easy use of barcode scanner? Also, read the rights reserved policy before choosing the best app.

What Are The Benefits Of Using Inventory Apps?

1. Increased Productivity-

Systematic inventory software can allow you to complete more tasks in a limited time. It will reduce the time it otherwise takes to process sales orders, track inventory, and audit. The inventory management app helps to check the stock levels in warehouses, find vendor information, manage the supply chain. Not only this, this software also help you to connect to payment apps for invoicing

2. Easy Process-
The inventory apps allows you real-time asset tracking, keeping eye on stock levels and associated costs. A clear idea of stock movement will keep you informed on the status of the inventory so you can manage accordingly. This streamlines the entire inventory management into an easy process.

3. Strong Bottom Line-
Inventory tracking gives an insight into what goods are selling most and is in high demand on a per month basis or you can set the time period suitable to you. The inventory managers now have the reports can read the trends. They can place orders accordingly, enabling them to serve customers better. Needless to say, a satisfied customer is an asset for a business.
Similarly, they will also know what stock items are performing poorly and they can make the investment decision in line.

4. Variance-
The inventory management systems keep track of what orders were placed when and what goods were actually received. The business owners can easily know if the goods received are as per the order placed. It becomes easy to track in case the stock received is less than the purchase order. Thus it helps in inventory control.

5. Sorting-
The inventory tracker software keeps records of what goods were purchased on which date. It also has a data of full sales order serial number that shows what goods were sold and when. In case the business uses FIFO approach (First in first out), it will inform on what goods were purchased first and so the staff can sell them first. Similarly, if a business uses LIFO method (Last in first out), the system updates on the goods bought last, and the employees can put them forth for sale.

6. Automated inventory-
A business is dealing with load of inventory on a day-to-day basis. Updating inventory manually after every sales or purchase can be a challenging task. It may increase the chance of errors, resulting in inaccurate records ultimately leading to chaos and poor decisions. The inventory management software is linked to your point sale (POS). So when a barcode scanner reads the sold item, it automatically updates the stock levels. Consequently, producing accurate business inventory data. Now, ditch that pen paper, just a click on your
inventory app and you all have all required informationcosts, stock-levels, all on screen.

Some more benefits of inventory tracker

7. No Understocking!
In times of peak season, no business can afford to go out of stock. The inventory software mobile app tracks stock levels and updates the records in real time. It gives a glimpse of stock is most selling and how much quantity is still left in the warehouses across multiple locations . Set your low stock limit. Once the stock levels fall below your prescribed level, it will notify the business owners. They can now place the order accordingly.

8. Expense tracker
Restricted costs are a sure way of achieving your bottom line target. And for small businesses that already have a limited budget , a tight check on expenses becomes all the more important. Inventory management app facilitates reports of total costs, sales, taxes and real time inventory valuation. This helps to keep track on expenses and incomes. It becomes easier for business owners to spot in case the costs are exceeding.

9. Overall Management
Inventory system leads to an end-to-end management. From helping you to automate uploading invoicing, track stock levels and auto-update price, it does all. With all this data at one place, you can expedite real time tracking and work with pricing information.
Business and tax filing go hand-in-hand. Keeping track of all expenses incurred or lost inventory manually can be a tedious job. Inventory management app can run reports to calculate total taxes, costs. These reports reduce paper work at the time of auditing and filing taxes. You can also cross check stock levels and financial information to be extra sure.

What Are The Features To Look For In An Inventory App?

Before picking the best inventory management software , see if it has the following features-

1. Inventory management
Inventory management includes several different processes to ensure business owners' full inventory control. It includes categorization of products, tracking stock levels, livestock reports, order management, monitoring supply chain and more.


2. Inventory backup, security
Every business, irrespective of its nature, kind or scale, needs some kind of safety for its inventory. Be it assets and stock or data regarding sales , vendors and costs , all needs to be protected and backed-up. The right management app should help you ensure right safety to your warehouse.

3.. Integration-

A must-to-have feature. Your inventory tracker should support other side software or mobile applications, like accounting software or barcode management system. Integration doubles the efficacy on the management software. For instance, your company already has an ERP system. In such a situation, look for the inventory management app that can be easily integrated into it ensure relentless data.

Or say, you are using quickbooks online for managing accounts of your business, then the choose the inventory app that is compatible with quickbooks. As a result, it will automatically update the accounts as per the latest status of the inventory. Doing this manually is a not only a challenging task, but also equally risky. The auto-update feature can prevent some costly human errors. These update accounts can save a lot of time and paper-work during tax season and auditing.

4.. Transfer management-

As business expands, so does the inventory and work. And also recurring inventory transfer requests. Smooth inventory transfer ensures well stocked warehouses across multiple locations and in turn smooth transactions.
Handling transfer requests manually can be quite ambitious and next to possible. So find an inventory management software that is capable of managing transfer requests. The inventory management system capable of transfer management reduces miscommunication. It helps in real time monitoring to ensure transfer is done securely. It should be able to notify in case of any discrepancies.

5. Mobile Support-

With e-commerce gaining speed, warehouses across multiple locations have become common. In such a case it becomes highly challenging to keep track at all of them. So, make sure your inventory software supports smartphone and has a mobile app to track items remotely . It should support both ios android for easy use . The mobile app can give you 24/7 real time access to your warehouses . It reduces paperwork and boost productivity, and real time updates keep you notified on all stock movement.

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Do not forget these features for your mobile app

6. Handling stock returns
Stock returns are inevitable in any business. And especially, if you are dealing in an e-commerce space that is popular for accepting returns, then you may have to deal with several stock returns on a day-to-day basis. Manually keeping track of returned stocks and taking decisions on their future course can be a tough job. Even if one tries to do it, multiple mistakes are guaranteed!

An inventory management software can be a lot of assistance here. The right inventory system will help you confirm and cancel returns. Not only this, it should be able to assign the returned item to the nearest and suitable warehouse and add a pick-up date. It should also record the reason for its return so that in future such problems can be avoided. In addition, it should take care of any refunds.

7. Cloud-based solution
Cloud is the most secured and backed-up space available today. A cloud-based inventory system allows you to access the inventory app from any device iPhone, iPad, or Android, and any place. This helps in improving coordination between the staff, managers, and business owners . It helps you monitor stock levels in real time . What's more is 24/7 access is guaranteed!

Also, in case there is a system malware, you can use the backup file stored in the cloud .
8. Reporting tools-
Real time data regarding products services status , driver and shipment details is crucial for efficient inventory management. The right management inventory app will support integrations with other software and applications for an overall management. Optimised reporting tools can help in smooth and flawless communication, lesser human errors, thereby enhancing productivity.

Some Must-to-have features- Keeping Track of Inventory

1. Inventory tracking and barcoding- Barcoding is a system where every product or package is assigned a unique barcode. These barcodes or QR codes are linked to the inventory software that keeps a track of the entire stock. At the point sale (POS) , the respective product is scanned and the stock is updated accordingly. It helps in real time inventory tracking, asset tracking .

Tracking Expenses

2. Any software you inject into your business system, apart from making day-to-day life easier, should be able to keep a tight check on your costs.
The inventory management software keeps track of costs of products services, carrying charges like transportation and insurance fees. And it becomes easier to spot if there is over-expenses. This cost of goods sold helps in fixing the optimum prices of your product. A calculative price plays an important role in the sales of a restaurant, its profit margins, and overall growth.

Managing Employees

3. When the stock items have barcodes qr codes, it becomes easier to sort them. The simple inventory can now be categorized and placed in the warehouse accordingly. This helps the employees to quickly find the items on a sales order. Also, with barcode scanning, invoicing becomes easier for employees at point of sale, and also saves their time. They can utilize this time in more productive activities.

Conclusion To Inventory App

Every business is different. Each has its own problems. So just buying inventory management software will not fetch you the desired results. Buy the one that caters to your business' needs and challenges. The one that provides a comprehensive solution to your inventory problems, so your investment does not go down in drains.

An efficient sales and inventory app can help you save a thousand dollars or even more and of course many more hours. You can rather use this money and your staff for important purposes that can increase your business' productivity.

So do thorough research, talk to peers, and do whatever it requires before you choose the best inventory management software. There is a free inventory app for iPhones. There are stock and inventory app on Android too that offer free trial . Use those to understand what work for you. Like we say every business has its own challenges. So if you think you need more than what is available in the market, you can even go for a personal inventory app which means you can get your inventory system customized.


Once you have a list of what all needs to be taken care for a perfect warehouse management, order yours! You can go to Zipbartender to know more and build best inventory app for small business .