Getting more sales is the dream of every entrepreneur. You create an online store, invest in advertising, and begin to see the fruit of your effort.
The problem starts when you have too many sales. Sometimes, even before. And anyone who has sold anything before knows this. Customers have no mercy.
Wait a minute. Having too many sales is a problem?
As strange as this sounds, it has its explanation. Unlike physical stores, it is impossible for buyers to know how many products an online seller has.
If you go to the supermarket and want to buy a soda, let’s say from a well-known brand that sells black soda with a red and white label, you may find one of the following scenarios: Either you find it, or the supermarket shelf is empty and you buy another soft drink. Something different happens in electronic commerce.
No matter how many products you have in stock, your customer can always press the “buy” button and get you a sale. Imagine now that you go to the supermarket and pay for a product that is not there, with the promise of receiving it. As fantastic as it sounds for our business, it can give you a headache.
Trust me. This picture made me as hungry as you.
The importance of trust
One of the problems with shopping online is that we cannot see each other’s faces. Therefore, to help build that trust between buyers and sellers, the most serious e-commerce platforms have a scoring system. You know which one I mean. You want to say it. It is the famous five-star rating system.
Why am I telling you all this?
Because poor inventory management can lead to delays in deliveries.
Sometimes we get caught up in a flow of delivered and received products for so long that our stock data may be out of date.
To keep it simple, you can end up selling an item that is already out of stock, thinking you had it physically. And that’s how you ruin that bond of trust and lose your customers.
And let me tell you this, for e-commerce, trust is the pillar of its growth.
It only takes one order
You may be thinking, “Hey Brian, I can barely sell. I don’t think that’s going to happen to me.”
That was the first thing I thought of when I decided to sell online. My mistake? Overestimating the purchasing power of my clients. It only took me one order for everything to go to hell.
What should you do then?
Our first recommendation is that you start controlling your stock regularly as soon as possible. That means making sure that the digital data matches the products you have in storage.
We know that it is a tedious task that can lead to errors that makes you lose money. That is why the SFE team wants to recommend you an inventory management solution to make this whole process simpler.
No! Please don’t tell that to the board!
What’s InFlow Inventory?
It’s a web-based inventory and order management software that can solve the problems highlighted above systematically.
With this online tool, you can finally send those green-looking, boxy Excel files into the recycle bin.
This software helps you to easily track stocks, manage orders, invoices, shipping, get reports, create barcodes, and more.
One of the amazing features it has to offer us is the ability to scan the barcodes on our products. This is vital for anyone who wants to manage their inventory efficiently, saving you a lot of money and time.
This inventory management solution will also help you to know from which deposit the products have been delivered. If you have both a digital and physical store, it will allow you to maintain a perfect balance of your stock in both environments.
We consider it a great time-saving tool for anyone who has decided to dedicate themselves to e-commerce.
Inflow Inventory Quick Introduction Video
Available on any device
InFlow Inventory likes to simplify inventory management. Either through Windows, Android, or iPhone, you can run the application on any device.
How much does it cost?
Inflow Inventory offers three plans, each one designed for different business requirements. If this is your first time using an inventory management solution, we recommend that you try the 14-days trial version without having to enter any payment information.
This will allow you to try an excellent tool at no cost. It will also help you understand how the system works so you can decide if it is a good fit for your business.
What’s the best plan for you?
If you have a small business with an average of 100 sales a month, don’t pressure yourself. Go for the light plan. It has everything you need so you can start to see the benefits. It will also allow you to manage the application with a partner of your choice.
But, if you have a business that is already handling 1,000 monthly sales, you should definitely go for the standard plan. It allows the web application to be managed by 5 people and offers unlimited inventory locations.
In addition to providing up to 4 hours of application configuration assistance, compared to 2 hours offered by the light plan.
One of our favorite options is the Plus plan. We think it’s very nice for businesses to be handling up to 10,000 sales orders per month.
Pros and Cons of the Inventory Management Solution
Pros:
- Upon signing up, you’re immediately assigned an inventory consultant who will answer every question you may have with regards to the software.
- The system’s initial setup is really user-friendly and acts very much like an artificial intelligence (AI) system
- Integrate the system with sales order data from your Amazon, Shopify, WooCommerce, or Squarespace store.
- Ability to send orders and inventory data over to Quickbooks Online or Xero.
- Not just the standard inventory software, but powerful enough to be a wholesale distribution software.
- Offers support through online chat, email, and phone callback.
- Provide assistance in configuring the software.
- Their how-to tutorial videos are comprehensive and kept up to date.
Cons:
- It lacks a free plan.
- Their prices are slightly higher than its competition.
- Priority updates are done on the web-based version.
Conclusion: Is this software for you?
If you have a store, you need to manage your inventory. It is a fact. We believe that any business owner looking to succeed in e-commerce needs inventory planning software to keep their customers satisfied, and we have seen that InFlow Inventory has everything that you could possibly need for that.
The only way you can tell if this inventory management solution is for you is to give it a try.
From the SFE team, we hope that your path in the world of entrepreneurship is full of success.
We hope to see you in our next post. Take care, and keep growing on the internet!
