How Inventory Software With Scanners Can Make Stock-take Efficient and Easy

Why is Inventory Management Important?

Inventory management is crucial for a business to, well, stay in business! In the F&B industry in particular, restaurant and bar operators use inventory management to know the exact amount of supplies they have on hand and estimate the quantities they need to reorder. By doing this, businesses can prevent supply shortages, over-purchasing, and food waste. Inventory tracking also helps catch stock loss from theft, supply fraud, spoilage, and pest infestations.

Poor inventory management can undermine every effort to increase sales and harm a company from within. But done right, it can save a company money, and done really well, can help profits grow.

Why Manual Inventory Management is a Chore

Managing inventory manually involves communicating with suppliers by email and phone, counting stocks by hand, and writing everything down on paper.

Manual processes carry the risk of human error. Business owners typically rely on employees to count stocks; the more people engaged, the higher the likelihood of inaccurate stock counts. In addition to the labor required, inventory management by hand takes a great deal of time. This is another disadvantage.

Simple spreadsheets like Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel are a step up from a clipboard and pen. Spreadsheets are simple to use and inexpensive to boot, and this is what makes them ideal for small enterprises with small inventories and relatively uncomplicated operations.

On the flip side, spreadsheets are difficult to audit and update, and are also susceptible to error. Furthermore, they are difficult to scale and cannot be updated in real time. Compared to modern inventory management solutions, they are grossly limited in their capabilities.

Modern inventory management solutions, particularly those that are cloud based, make almost all these problems go away. They make inventory management quicker, more efficient, and cost-effective. Let's take a closer look at how they do this.

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The Modern Inventory Management System Broken Down

Modern inventory management systems are hardware and software suites that together automate, and thereby simplify, the stock-taking process. A sophisticated inventory system facilitates frictionless data capture and recording. These inventory management programs have pre-installed data entry templates that shorten the time needed to calculate inventory levels.

Hosted on remote servers, cloud-based inventory management systems allow users to monitor stock levels in real time, identify items that need reordering, and even prompt reorders, anywhere and anytime. Bar and restaurant owners can simply check product data on their mobiles via an inventory app, and monitor inventory levels on the fly. Inventory management software can even forecast sales, identifying hot-sellers and slow-movers by reviewing historical sales data.

Inventory Management Hardware

Inventory management systems consist of several hardware components.

A handheld device, such as a tablet or smartphone, is the most crucial piece of hardware required to take stock on an inventory management app. Of course, inventory management apps can also be used on laptops and desktops.

Barcodes, barcode scanners and readers, printers, Wifi / Bluetooth / mobile broadband devices, as well as wires are additional hardware components.

Barcodes are essentially vertical black and white lines made up of 8 to 12 characters (numeric or alphanumeric) that contain product details. A QR code, on the other hand, is a complexly-patterned two-dimensional barcode. Compared to one-dimensional (1D) barcodes, QR codes can store far more information about a product.

Inventory management begins with a barcode on a product being scanned so that the product's details, like its price and quantity, are entered into the system. When an inventory management system is integrated with a point of sale or POS system, the POS system continually updates the stock list as products sell.

Inventory Management Software

Inventory software running on desktops and mobiles process the barcode data decrypted by barcode scanners. This product information is then presented to the user in simple text form.

Inventory management apps are the user-friendly face of inventory software. They are easy to download and can function without an internet or browser connection. A slow mobile connection does not affect the app's offline functionality. This makes it possible for users to access stored inventory data anytime.

Moreover, many inventory mobile apps allow a mobile device to double as barcode scanner, eliminating the need for a separate barcode reader altogether.

Benefits of an Automated Inventory Management System

1. Automated technology that monitors stocks in real time helps F&B businesses avoid embarrassing situations where they are unable to supply popular menu items due to a lack of essential ingredients.

2. Every business needs to keep a lid on its expenses in order to be profitable. Over-purchasing and resultant resource wastage, and inflated costs can be controlled with reliable inventory management and supply chain management systems. The difference between expected and actual consumption of food and drink can be minimized with efficient inventory and supply chain management.

3. Companies will be able to balance demand and supply using a sound inventory management strategy. Bar and restaurant owners can ensure that waste is minimized and only fresh ingredients are utilized by maintaining an optimum supply. It's critical for operations to understand when and in what quantity to reorder. When stock levels hit a predetermined threshold, inventory systems automatically generate purchase orders, making order management frictionless and highly efficient.

4. Modern inventory software offers crucial sales information and helps businesses understand the dynamics of demand and supply. By allowing them to correctly predict sales patterns, it helps bars and restaurants make better business decisions. Inventory Management solutions help reduce inventory carrying costs by calculating the inventory turnover rate, and recommending the right quantity of stocks to be purchased.

5. Sophisticated inventory solutions document recipes and maintain a thorough inventory checklist. This ensures consistent food quality and makes sure there is little resource wastage.

How to Select the Right Inventory Management System

• It's best to compile a list of operational issues and desired outcomes for stock-taking. Everything, from lower storage costs and precise inventory management, to speedy operations, easy scalability, and higher earnings, should be included in this list.
• When reviewing different inventory management solutions, first and foremost, identifyinventory software features that are absolutely essential to your company. For instance, some inventory programs support batch tracking; this could be a feature you don't need. A company must make sure the technology it selects meets its unique needs.
• If a company needs different teams to use its system, it must select a cloud-based solution that can update automatically and in real time and so that every stakeholder can access data whenever they need to, wherever they are located.
• A company that retails through multiple sales channels will need an inventory management system that can support these vectors. The system should accommodate popular e-comm and delivery platforms without any trouble.
• Most cloud based inventory solutions offer links with other crucial service providers, including logistics and shipping services. Make sure your system offers it too.
• Critical functionalities may range widely in price. Additionally, the majority of suppliers offer a variety of support and training resources, some of which are free, while others cost extra. Weight different price tags carefully, factoring in what is offered and at what cost, before you make a final decision.