Are you always running out of stock on certain items? Are you often overstocked on others? Do you have adequate visibility of inventory across all your warehouse locations? Do you have trouble adapting to seasonal fluctuations in customer demand? If these inventory-related issues sound all-too-familiar, there’s a relatively easy way to streamline your operations. The solution lies in implementing a robust WMS software inventory management system to restore order to your supply chain processes.
In this guide, we’ll be looking at:
- The definition of inventory management software
- How WMS software can improve your inventory management
- Integrating your inventory management and WMS software for operational growth
- Why choosing the right inventory management system is critical to your warehouse operations
- Answers to some of the most frequently asked questions
What Is Warehouse and Inventory Management Software?
Warehouse and inventory management is the process involved in ordering, receiving, allocating, and forecasting stock. Inventory can include anything from product components and raw materials to finished goods and fresh produce. Historical sales data and seasonality trends forecast demand for particular products.
Ecommerce inventory management software is designed to optimize these processes across your fulfillment network and internal warehouse locations.
What Is the Difference Between Warehouse and Inventory Management Softwares?
While warehouse management and inventory management share some commonalities, the two concepts are different. Warehouse management refers to activities involved in managing stock and warehouse employees. It also involves picking and packing process, loading, dispatching, and returning. It looks at these operations collectively from a high-level point of view within a warehouse.
Warehouse management software is built to optimize warehouse operations to ensure that all processes move at peak efficiency. It tracks the location and movement of stock in the warehouse.
Inventory management software optimizes the processes involved in the movement of specific products processed by the warehouse. It focuses on the status of inventory and its overall levels across all warehouse locations.
How WMS Software Can Improve Your Inventory Management
Here’s how warehouse and inventory management software can optimize your inventory management operations.
Track Inventory
WMS software inventory management systems typically record product specifics such as the size, color, weight, lot, case, and the serial number of an item. Since the software stores this information, users can pinpoint the precise location of goods within the specific warehouse, regardless of location.
For instance, inventory management systems can tell you whether the stock in question is designated for reserve or picking, the picking sequence, and the bin number. It can also track details like the location of the loading dock door and how fast warehouse workers pick and pack the items.
Provide Inventory Overviews
Cloud WMS software for inventory management is integrated with Point-of-Sale (POS) data. That way, organizations get stock-level information in real-time, avoiding the impact stock-outs have on customer experience.
Maintain Inventory Levels
One of the dilemmas warehouses face is how much inventory to keep in hand at any given point. Carry too much, and a business’ capital gets tied up in stock that’s not being sold. There’s also the not-so-small issue of the costs incurred to manage and store that inventory, particularly goods with a short shelf life.
Carry too little, and the business faces the real risk of stock-outs, which would mean not meeting the existing customer demand. Warehouse and inventory management software can help with effective demand forecasting and demand planning to ensure that the optimum stock amount is kept on hand.
Reduce Aged Inventory and Deadstock
WMS software inventory management systems allow organizations to sort inventory by date. That way, they know which orders came first and can confirm the quantity on hand to determine how much of it they need to sell.
Knowing the stock is going out of date soon, particularly for perishables, means they can sell off aged inventory before it turns into deadstock, resulting in irrecoverable losses.
Provide Better Customer Service
A significant part of customer satisfaction involves giving customers what they want when they want it. With inventory and management software, businesses can maintain the required levels of popular stock items and even get automatic alerts when running low. Having highly sought-after products in stock all year round can convert one-time buyers into lifelong customers.
Integrating Your Inventory Management and WMS Software for Operational Growth
Organizations need real-time access to order status and inventory information in today’s cut-throat business landscape. Automating warehouse and inventory processes will prove worthwhile as your business scales up.
The best WMS software for inventory management allows you to track products by serial or lot number, regardless of their warehouse location. The result is a significant reduction in handling costs and increased cash flow.
Choosing the Right WMS Software Inventory Management System
Warehouse management software provides visibility into all stock housed within a single warehouse. Inventory management systems offer visibility into stock across the organization’s warehouses regardless of location.
Using both systems concurrently is the key to optimizing inventory and reaping the benefits that come with increased process efficiencies and reduced costs. That’s why picking the right solution is integral to your supply chain success.
Logiwa’s integrated inventory management system is designed to help businesses launch and grow their DTC fulfillment operations. With our cloud-based solution, you can manage high-volume fulfillment operations across multiple locations and scale up as your requirements change.
Get a demo today to find out how you can use Logiwa’s WMS software management system to convert your order fulfillment excellence into a competitive advantage.
FAQs
What is WMS in inventory management?
WMS is short for Warehouse Management System. It’s a software solution that gives organizations visibility into their entire supply chain, inventory, and associated fulfillment operations. Cloud WMS software for inventory management doesn’t just track stock in one warehouse location; it tracks storage and movement across all sites.
Which is the best software for warehouse management?
When choosing the best warehouse and inventory management software, you first need to figure out your inventory management problems. In most cases, they’ll revolve around the lack of end-to-end visibility of inventory across all your company’s warehouse locations.
Logiwa’s cloud WMS inventory software has out-of-the-box functionality to optimize critical supply chain processes and provide end-to-end stock visibility across all warehouse locations.
What software is used in warehouses?
As warehouses get smarter, so do warehouse management and WMS software inventory management systems. They provide real-time tracking and visibility of stock movement. That way, you’ll always know the inventory status at any given time or location and optimize the quantities on hand to ensure you don’t end up under or overstocking.
