5 Apps Every Small Business Needs To Manage Sales And Inventory App

Small business is no cake walk

As much as owning a small business sounds fashionable these days, managing it is no less than a herculean task. Right from stock purchase to production and marketing items to sales, it becomes difficult to handle all single-handedly. Do not let 20-second Instagram reels trick you, it is a lot of work behind the scenes. So, the challenge in front of business owners is Inventory Management , handling manufacturing, sales, customers' orders with a limited budget. And especially when the business is new, it is not economic to hire several helping hands. No worries, let cloud based apps work for you.

Everything just a click away

App store is full of inventory app that claim to handle all your business troubles for you. After some research, we have picked five most user friendly and free inventory management system. These will help you keep track of stock levels, place purchase order and take sales order accordingly. They are available on ios android and are free for upto certain use.

1. Evernote- A simple inventory solution

Small businesses love this mobile app. The key features include taking notes and task management. It helps business owners in organizing their work and mostly inventory management.

How Evernote controls stock levels?

The app allows users to take as many as 100,000 notes in form of texts, audio and pictures. Here, the user can make separate notebooks for say supplies, orders and products. For better Restaurant Inventory management, they can even click a picture of the product/s and write its description. The best part comes now- following all the notes, click on a Sync' button. Now all the separate notebooks are synced to each other. This means after a sale, when you update sales notebook, it will automatically update stock levels in the inventory section.

Why is it best for inventory tracking?

The very reason it can sync all the notebooks and auto-updates them help business owners keep track of inventory. This way it helps inventory managers to check the supply chain and place purchase orders accordingly. Now you can control inventory from your iPhone or iPad in just a click. It offers a free plan that allows users to upgrade to a premium account with per month plans. It also lets users access and edit data across multiple machines. Evernote also allows users to share selected files with others.

How it helps manage your sales?

Just like how it does your inventory management. When you update your sales notebook, it lets you know customers' demand. Or what products are in top preference in the market. So now, business owners can order the inventory that is in most demand.

2. Google Drive- Most versatile solution for small businesses

This is one of the most versatile web solutions available till date. Versatile because you name the problem and Google Drive will offer you the remarkable solution. Google Docs allow business owners to prepare proposals, reports and notes. Google Sheets enables you to draft spreadsheets for recording stock levels, purchase sales and budgets. Google Slides allow sales teams to prepare the presentation for their clients. Here Google Drawings can be used to add color to your presentation in the form of pictures and tables.

Keep track of stock and costs

Inventory management is significant in making future business plans. Apart from warehouse management, real-time stock tracking helps you cater to customers' needs and cut down unnecessary costs. Spreadsheets are the most ideal for inventory management and Google Sheets offers you one.
List all the products, dates, and supplies on the Google Sheet. With every sales purchase, just update the sheet. Sounds too tedious and boring?

3. With Dropbox, keep track of inventory, purchase & sales

If you are a business owner then an unorganized iPad or a laptop on your work table is inevitable. And an unorganized system can impact your productivity. Dropbox can be of great help here. It is a mobile app that enables you to save all types of files and sync them to your system. Whether it's your top inventory control record on Excel or Presentation on PowerPoint, you can save it all in Dropbox.

Multi channel solution

One of the key features is auto-updating the file. The uploaded file on Dropbox reflects the changes, when the original file on desktop folder or hard drive is edited. This helps to keep the dataranging from business inventory to sales purchase and budget, up-to-date. The latest data is a key factor in making business decisions like number purchase order to be placed per month .

Small business' savior

In case of malware or deletion by mistake, Dropbox can be a real savior. Its synchronizing feature helps you access the file across multiple devices. And since all the content is in the cloud, desktop mishaps down at earth won't be a problem. Be it an old purchase order or inventory bills, you can have it all anytime, anywhere. It is not hi-fi, but a user-friendly app available on both-- App Store and Play sSore. Small business with low budgets can heave a sigh of relief as it offers free space up to a certain level.

4. Slack- Communicate to control inventory in real time

Slack is a messaging application that allows team members to communicate in real time. Running business smoothly is not possible without effective communication and management software . Slack not only allows humans interaction, but also cloud based applications. It's free plan allows 10 integrations while paid allows over 800. Standard plans start from $6 per month .

Use it with quickbooks online and Zoho inventory

For instance, Slack can be used with cloud based solutions like Quickbooks online or Zoho inventory for effective management. Similarly, when an order is received, there are software that can send the alert to Quickbooks within 10 minutes. Quickbooks online does the order fulfillment with current stock level and it gets shipped out from the warehouse. The integrations enable to update the inventory levels. While Slack notifies the purchase sale and current stock level to the different departments.

5. Square lines up your inventory in real time

Square offers you a comprehensive inventory tracking and is one of the best inventory management system . Based on purchase sales and Square invoices, it updates the stock levels , monitors sales orders leading to an efficient warehouse management . It offers a variety of features from categorizing products to setting stock alerts. These key features make square user friendly for small businesses.

Key features include creating inventory categories

Square lets you categorize products making it more user friendly. For instance, if you own a restaurant, you can add products like buns, tortillas and use separate colors for them. This adds to the user experience and easy , quick identification. You can then play with variation option and enter SKU, pricing or low stock alert. Further, you can manage stock and add current inventory and returns, thefts. This can give you the update stock level in your warehouse.

Set low stock alerts -

Square offers you to track inventory. Set your low stock level. Once the inventory hits the number, it will raise the alarm. And the inventory manager can place purchase order accordingly.

Why these 5 management apps?

One of the biggest challenges small businesses face is fund crunch. Factoring in the same, we listed some economic solutions for better inventory and sales management. Most importantly these applications are user friendly, available on ios android and ideal for small businesses. While some are self-sufficient, others are more effective when integrated with smart cloud based solutions.

How to choose best inventory management software ?

Simple, it depends on the nature of your business, quantum of sales order you are receiving per month. Check your supply chain, kind of inventory items and if you have multi warehouse. Decide how much you are willing to spend per month. Most of them have free trial as well. Factor in these points and then select the best inventory management software .