March 2022 - Cin7

The Cin7 quick reference guide to inventory management

Posted on March 30, 2022 | by chrisqureshi | Leave a Comment

In today’s economy, small to medium sized businesses are competing with global conglomerates. Efficient inventory and order management is one way for solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, and small business managers to level the playing field and grow their brand.

Inventory management functionality is what fast-growing businesses need to stay competitive. This article is your definitive guide to inventory management to scale your business efficiently and effectively.

What is inventory management?

Inventory management is the process of ordering, storing, using, and selling business inventory. It is a system that tracks raw materials, components, and finished products to ensure enough supplies are on hand to meet the purchasing demands of the customer.

Inventory management is measured as inventory turnover. It reflects how often your products are sold within a specified time period. A measure of business health is maintaining adequate inventory turnover where your business does not have more products than sells – or excess inventory. Poor inventory turnover leads to deadstock or unsold stock/product.

Retail inventory management

Retail is a general term used to describe businesses selling physical products to consumers. Although not exclusive to retail, inventory management plays a more critical role in this industry over others.

There are a growing number of ways to sell products including the following:

Offline. A company uses a physical brick-and-mortar location to sell its products.
Online. A company sells its products over the internet using an ecommerce website or marketplace.
Multichannel. This employs multiple ways a company sells to its customers including an online store or marketplace or a physical location. Increasingly, companies also use social media sites to sell products. With multichannel selling, each channel operates independently of each other.
Omnichannel. This way of selling creates a unified, integrated experience for customers across all offline and online channels. Where multichannel selling operates independently, omnichannel is focused on a seamless experience for the customer.

Wholesale distributors sell products to other businesses rather than individual consumers. This form of selling is referred to as business-to-business (B2B) or B2B ecommerce. B2B selling can include any of the above methods.

Regardless of how a company chooses to sell its products, inventory must be managed. However, inventory management is different depending on the constraints of how products are sold.

Importance of inventory management

Good inventory management is an essential part of running a successful retail business. It provides a seamless customer experience, maximizes profits, and improves cash flow. A company’s inventory management system should optimize fulfillment and avoid shrinkage and waste. Without an effective system in place to manage inventory, retailers risk running out of products during peak demands from their customers.

Good inventory management includes the following:

Enterprise resource planning (ERP). ERP software manages key business operations including human resources, accounting, procurement, warehousing, production, marketing, and sales. ERP systems optimized for inventory management help maintain optimal levels of stock by combining the inventory needs of staff, customers, and suppliers.
Proper warehouse management. The barcode system, first-in-first-out (FIFO), and last-in-first-out (LIFO) techniques offer a clear picture of present and past inventory available with the company and optimize warehouse functions.
Managed sales operations. Sales is a continuous process that depends on manufacturers for goods or services. Efficient inventory management minimizes the risks of unavailability of raw materials needed in manufacturing.
Customer experience. Understanding the customer buying journey mitigates risks associated with insufficient stock to fulfill orders.
Shrinkage avoidance. Shrinkage results in inventory loss attributed to employee and customer theft, administrative or cashier error, vendor fraud, damage, and spoiling.
Cash flow. Inventory levels are key to maintaining a good cash flow that ensures all aspects of the business run smoothly. Excess inventory ties up cash in products that could rather be spent on operations including salaries and other fixed costs.
Fulfillment. Product availability is essential for fulfilling orders quickly. A good inventory system delineates where products are along the supply chain.

Types of inventory management

There are numerous types of inventory management systems. Which is best for your organization depends on budget, cost, utility, and accessibility.

Barcode inventory management

The barcode system is an automated and simplified way to manage inventory. A unique number or barcode is assigned to each product. Data points assigned to that number can include information about the supplier, the product, and the inventory or stock. When a product is sold, the barcode is scanned and inventory adjusted automatically. Additionally, management can find key inventory metrics by scanning the barcode to bring up the item on a computer database.

Continuous/perpetual inventory management

A continuous or perpetual system manages inventory in real time, recording changes in inventory at the time of the transaction. It uses radio frequency identification (RFID) to passively identify tagged objects (inventory) for tracking along a supply chain.

Periodic inventory management

This is a manual process used to determine the inventory at a particular time point such as end-of-day or year’s end. This form of inventory management is most time-consuming as it involves physically counting the products on the shelves. Periodic inventory management is used primarily for inventory valuation and accounting purposes.

Inventory management process

Below is the step-by-step method to improve an organization’s inventory management system.

1. Determine the loopholes

Identify actual stock on hand and the inventory requirements for the goods sold to determine if gaps exist between demand and supply, and reasons for those gaps.

2. Analyze spending patterns and consumer demand

Market demand forecasting helps organizations estimate production quantity to determine what is needed to maintain adequate inventory.

3. Evaluate the cost involved

Cost of goods sold includes different expenses like warehousing, maintenance, bulk discounts, transport, and supply chain costs. Each of these needs to be well analyzed.

4. Identify the extent of process automation

It is not possible for each organization to completely automate the inventory management process. However, it’s important to identify those particular areas where automation is possible.

5. Inspect supplier’s performance and practices

The supply chain is critical for maintaining adequate inventory. Identifying any holes in the supply chain or supplier’s performance is necessary. And, if needed, identify additional or alternative suppliers.

6. Classify inventories into various categories

Products must be segregated into categories based on the product type, maintenance cost, customer class, or profit margin.

7. Set objectives for all inventory categories

Set benchmark objectives and goals to efficiently track and manage the performance of all inventory categories. This can identify any issues within each of the categories.

8. Prioritize the areas of improvement

Analyzing goals and objectives allows companies to prioritize improvement needs. Improvement prioritization should be based on the impact of problems identified. Implement a hierarchy to address those areas.

9. Take advice from experts

Designing a proper inventory management system cannot be overemphasized. Employing consultants or experts will ensure the inventory management system meets the company’s needs and stays within their desired budget.

10. Frame suitable inventory management policy

The final step in implementing a good inventory management strategy is consistent and timely evaluation to determine what changes and improvements are necessary to add value and create an improved customer experience. These changes can be based on a number of factors, most notably supply and demand.

Choosing an inventory management system

Which inventory management system is right for your business depends on a number of factors. Here are just a few things to keep in mind.

Timing

There are various signs you have outgrown a standard inventory system including inventory errors and constant over stocking. When you find you’re spending more time on manual, operational tasks than growth, it is likely time to automate your inventory process.

Features

Prepare a list of “must-haves” for your inventory management system. Do you ship orders or use digital packing? Does your company process both wholesale and retail orders? Are you manufacturing your products? All of these affect which type of inventory management system is best for your company.

Support

Customer support is essential for set-up as well as troubleshooting should things go wrong. Support includes phone, chat, and/or email contact. Consider support hours – is the support team available when you need support?

Ease of use

Determine your staffing needs and the technical prowess of your staff. Will the inventory management system meet those needs and ability levels? The system you choose needs to be easy to use as well as transferable between departments.

Integrations

Prepare a list of must-have integrations, e.g., ecommerce platform, accounting, shipping, marketplace, POS, 3PL, etc. It’s essential that the new inventory system integrates directly without requiring additional applications, middleware providers, or software managed by third parties.

Development

Your inventory management system will manage a critical part of your business. Finding innovation-driven software using the latest technology is vital.

Ready for even more in-depth inventory management coaching? Download our complete guide on inventory management here.

Cin7’s inventory management solution for multichannel selling

Cin7 was built with modern businesses in mind. Its inventory and order management software offers a cloud-based solution that integrates all your sales channels into a single platform. Cin7 provides advanced automation processes to create seamless transactions centered around a positive customer experience.

Ditch the spreadsheets and stop manual data entry. Reach new markets with Cin7’s inventory and order management system.

Book your demo now.

The #1 secret to becoming a thriving product seller: Hire a Cin7 expert

Posted on March 24, 2022 | by chrisqureshi | Leave a Comment

When Covid-19 struck, companies all over the world felt the blow. Some went under, and some survived. But among these, there was another subset – companies that thrived.

What was their secret?

In late 2021, Cin7 conducted a comprehensive study of over 4,000 etailers and retailers to discover what successful companies did different: a deep dive into the tactics that high-performing product sellers used to increase sales performance during the 2020-21 economic collapse.

One of the standout findings: companies that had hired technology consultants and certified experts to help with implementation and tech stack support tended to experience much more profitability, often up to 50 percent or more.

This finding confirmed something we knew well internally: Cin7 experts help product sellers thrive, even in difficult times. Inspired by this, we’ve just launched an expert directory to make finding the right consultant quick and easy. Any product seller that wants to achieve more can now easily browse through the directory and connect with the expert that best suits their needs. Custom filters within the directory narrow searches by service, budget, inventory solution, location, and scale.

Cin7 experts are specialized partners who are committed to providing resources to help brands, retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers with a wide range of business needs. Experts can handle anything from data migration, technical training, ecommerce, process development and automation, financial planning – and much more besides.

Whenever a product seller needs financial planning, help implementing a new inventory and order management solution, or assistance integrating it with their accounting software, a 3PL, or online marketplace, they can find the perfect people to help instantly, in the Cin7 expert directory.

Since the inventory and order automation needs of product sellers are often quite different, our Cin7 expert directory gives product sellers hundreds of options to find just the right kind of expert, coach, accountant, or software integrator. There are three different types of Cin7 experts you can find – and many have super powers in more than one area.

1. Agency experts

These experts are magnificent at giving best-in-class advice on the latest and most successful ecommerce and multichannel selling and customer loyalty strategies. Customers whose businesses have reached the point where they can no longer rely on inefficient, manual record keeping and inventory management benefit from a consultant who has studied the various inventory and order management software solutions on the market and can make recommendations based on what sort of business you’re running. Cin7 agency experts are able to administer multiple SaaS products and specialize in system audits, inventory system implementations or migrations, custom integration development, system administration, and technical training for staff and managers. Agency experts can reduce a customer’s dependence on redundant processes and help them to get the most out of their technology investments.

2. System / Cloud integration experts

These certified experts specialize in helping product sellers worldwide manage their inventory, sales, order fulfillment and warehousing. These experts provide their clients superior automation and have incredibly deep expertise at solving the most common and complex software setup, configuration, integration, and optimization problems. Their clients gain superior efficiency and unrivaled capabilities to delight customers and outmaneuver their competitors. These integration experts are a treasure chest of wisdom and experience the product seller can easily tap into to select the best inventory management solution from the top three solutions in the market: Cin7, DEAR, and Cin7 Orderhive. What’s more, cloud integration experts have the experience and knowledge to quickly bring together into one system all of the disparate software programs and sales channels that product sellers need to thrive.

3. Virtual CFO / Accounting experts

Want to make more money? Be more profitable? To sell more effectively? These experts are exactly what you need. They have advised hundreds of product sellers and coached them from low performing businesses into many of the most profitable and successful product sellers. Cin7 business owners who need professional advice to help them decide which investments to make, how to efficiently manage inventory, and run successful businesses need to look no further than the Cin7 expert directory for the top virtual CFOs and accounting experts anywhere.

Since most product sellers are in need of help to organize their technology stack, we’ve included advice to business owners who are looking for a consultant in this area. However, these steps to evaluating technology specialists can be applied to any of the experts described above.

You can learn a lot from how product sellers have engaged with experts by reading about their collaborations in our customer stories. Here are some general tips based on their experience with experts on making the right choice when it comes to hiring an expert coach:

1. Find a Cin7 agency expert, coach or consultant

If you aren’t tech-savvy, you need to enlist help from an experienced professional who can help you navigate the many costly traps and exciting opportunities of selling in today’s multichannel marketplace. While there is a cost associated with bringing someone on, consider that you’re already running your own experiments every day with your digital advertising, product designs, and shipping. If your coach prevents even one mistake, this will easily cover more than a full year of engagement fees.

2. Ask a Cin7 cloud /systems integrator to review your tech stack and IT team

Request they perform a “tech audit,” and provide a detailed assessment of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis) of your current approach. Ask them to explain how the current technology will support or hinder your vision for your ecommerce, B2B, and D2C sales channels. This clarity will help you execute a sound overall strategy instead of ad hoc tactics.

3. Hire an in-house technical/IT person to work with your experts to implement the changes that will deliver super-sized outcomes for your business

Your tech coach can help you craft a perfect job description. You could even ask them to help you interview, shape the compensation, and pick the right candidate. Your tech coach can give you the blueprint for an ideal tech stack, but you still need a team to build and run it. You’ll need to combine talents of your own team and your tech coach’s expertise to achieve the greatest, sustainable success.

Pick an expert with experience building great tech stacks for the sales channels you are targeting. Just because a coach has a list of successful D2C sales channel references, it does not mean they will be of any help to you if you need to open up B2B sales channels with self-service options.

Here’s an extensive list of projects that a Cin7 Expert can help with:

New system implementations
Inventory system migrations
Training for staff & managers
System audits & changes
Workflow design & automations
Custom integration development
Technology roadmap creation
Accounting and bookkeeping
Outsourced system administration
International expansion
Strategic financial advice
CFO and controller outsourcing
Ecommerce audit & growth
Marketing strategy & execution

Are you an expert yourself? To join the Cin7 expert network of professional service providers who enjoy exposure to over 8,000 potential global customers, follow this link and one of our Partner Managers will reach out to you. If you’re a retailer and you’re looking for a certified expert, choose the applicable project criteria in the Cin7 expert directory.

21 inventory software features wholesale sellers should look for

Posted on March 23, 2022 | by chrisqureshi | Leave a Comment

Wholesale commerce is all about large volume and big profits, but as with all business, can come with the risk of big losses. Changes in consumer preferences, supply chain operating factors, and increasingly aggressive competition make it necessary for wholesalers to stay on top of their game.

Integrating software to organize their success should be the first thing that any wholesaler thinks of. The challenge is that there are many wholesaling software solutions with similar features available on the market. So how do you choose the ideal software that helps you manage and scale your wholesaling business?

To answer this question, experts at Cin7 have curated an extensive list of 21 must-have wholesale management software features. This 21-point list will help you make the right decision for your business so let’s get started.

Our experts have divided these 21 aspects into seven categories to keep things simple for you:

Inventory management
Order management
Warehouse management
Order fulfillment
Reports and forecasting
Documentation management
Third-party integrations

Inventory management

In this section, we will cover wholesale selling features that will help you manage your inventory in a smarter and more efficient way.

#1 Inventory control

Any software you adopt should enable you to maintain the quantity of inventory you deem necessary and provide you with real-time stock visibility. It should help you meet customer demand at all times with minimum inventory holding costs and mitigate any delays in order fulfillment.

Make sure the solution automates processes like reordering and stock taking to help eliminate the risks associated with decision-making. In a nutshell, it should help you control your inventory flow in the most financially and business-wise manner.

#2 Inventory tracking

This feature revolves around providing you with real-time visibility of your inventory throughout your organization and across partner organizations. Every step needs to be tracked from when you purchase stock from your vendor, pick-up by your logistics partner to customer delivery.

You should be aware of the five Ws (who, when, where, why) and H (how) at all times, as it is instrumental in helping you make the right decisions. Also, you should be able to get details in terms of all batches and lots since this information will help trace any recalls.

#3 Barcode support

It is inevitable that you will require a full-scale barcoding solution that allows you to generate barcodes for all stored items. This includes items that are temporarily waiting to have barcodes printed for order pickup, packaging, stock transfers, and cross-docking.

The software either needs to provide in-built barcode generation capabilities or support it via a third party integration. However, it is preferable to have it built in natively as barcoding will be an integral part of your operations with many company-specific references like SKUs.

#4 Product bundling

As a wholesaler, you may need to sell products in bundles, but this complicates the accounting and other operational aspects. Your inventory management solution should support product bundling (also known as inventory kitting) so that you can sell confidently.

The platform should allow you to combine prices, select product combinations, and calculate margins and taxes. It should be able to consider your current stock levels, how long stock has been sitting in the warehouse, expiration dates of perishable goods, and offer compatible products for upselling/cross-selling.

Order management

In this section, we will learn about the features that will help you manage wholesale orders.

#5 Automating order processing

Automating order processing with the help of robust EDI solutions has become a bare minimum feature for wholesale selling as customers today expect instant confirmation and other post-order communications. Your software should natively integrate through EDI with all your selling channels and facilitate a two-way transfer of information so that your customers are aware of stock availability and make purchases hassle-free.

Customers should also have visibility into shipping fees, terms, and conditions, along with your return policy, making the entire order processing experience coordinate with the customer journey, and your business model.

Real-time inputs for all orders saves valuable time spent on order processing and boosts your organization’s productivity. This would also streamline their workflow management while enhancing the customer experience.

#6 Managing order history

As a wholesaler, order history management becomes essential from two perspectives: firstly, it aids in demand forecasting and secondly, it helps you increase the average lifetime value of a customer resulting in repeat business.

Ideally, your solution should go far beyond merely allowing you to manage order history. It should help make sense out of purchase decisions and generate insights that help you shape future strategies and campaigns. It should be a valuable addition to your client relationship management and overall personalization efforts.

#7 Shipment tracking

The wholesale sector has recently adopted digitization as a part of its business strategy, and shipment tracking has become a standard demand for wholesaling businesses giving clients important shipping updates.

This could be in the form of dashboards and self-service portals where your customers can access the latest updates regarding their shipment and directly communicate with shippers. It should also provide you with the shipping status of the goods sold and detailed information regarding any delays.

Warehouse management

Here are ways that a warehouse management module can improve internal logistics.

#8 Managing inventory location and available storage space

Your software should provide you with both the real-time location of any item and its historical storage data. This will help you make decisions involving stock transfers like changing the location of inventory with respect to the consumption patterns and making space for incoming shipments.

This will help you direct your warehouse staff regarding pickups and material handling while also ensuring that your storage space is utilized optimally. It should also help you with storage space allocation and insights regarding the availability of space based on incoming inventory. Also, you should keep in mind that keeping track of inventory location will require you to use barcoding solutions and perform inventory counts periodically.

#9 Internal and external stock transfer

As a wholesaler, stock transfers are part and parcel of your business. Therefore, this is an important feature as it will allow you to perform internal and external stock transfers with accuracy and efficiency. It should allow you to print barcode labels for individual stock items, pallets, and entire consignments to help coordinate with internal and external stakeholders.

The solution should also help streamline accounting and record-keeping with templates that capture all vital information like the person in charge at both ends, details regarding transferred items, schedule, and cost of the entire process. It should also facilitate a reverse supply chain in case the goods are unfit for use. The goal is to keep stock levels accurate despite inventory movement.

#10 Generating pickup and packaging slips

Pickup slips enable your staff to swiftly find and fetch ready-to-ship products from their respective locations in your storage facility. Depending on your requirements, a warehouse management system should support various picking systems such as batch picking, cluster picking, wave picking, zone picking, and hybrid picking.

Packaging slips need to support specific requirements like adding special handling instructions and product bundling instructions alongside regular customer details. You may be required to provide additional documents like the bill of lading (BOL.) Its format should be in line with the expectations of your shippers and provide them with all the required information upfront.

Order fulfillment

Order fulfillment for wholesalers differs significantly from retail sellers. We’ve targeted these specific functionalities for the wholesale sector.

#11 Sharing order details with the customer

This is one of the important wholesale order fulfillment features that will allow you to send an order confirmation email with order status and other details. You will also need to integrate your wholesaling software with an email marketing platform in order to send and revert to transactional emails requiring data from within your organization.

Other email communications include delays in order fulfillment, shipping, order cancellation, returns, or refund processing. You should also check out the information-sharing capabilities across multiple channels.

#12 Customer self-service portal

Many software providers offer a customer self-service portal. It can be a great addition to your customer experience enhancement efforts and significantly reduce the workload for your customer service team. Customers can refer to the portal to answer questions that the customer service team would otherwise need to reply to manually. Customers can access shipment or product return status directly in the portal or VIA automated emails that serve the same purpose.

You can also look for additional features like a FAQ zone, community forums, and guides that will help serve your customers’ needs. It will also give you a chance to understand their content needs better and optimize accordingly.

#13 Returns processing

Statistically, 30% of online orders are returned, and hence, returns processing is an undesirable yet significant part of your operations. As we discussed earlier, a self-service portal comes in handy, but you will need other features too. Make sure your solution can print return labels, helping to automate return merchandise processing.

Because you’ve chosen a warehouse management solution that connects bi-directionally to your accounting software, you will also benefit from the visibility of the returning inventory and control of its costs. Also, you can choose to store the returning goods at a local fulfillment center and redirect them for resale if the items are fit for use. Automated returns processing will also let you know about the issues faced by your customers and even come up with educational material in case you find that returns are caused due to a lack of product knowledge.

Reports and forecasting

Here’s a list of business intelligence oriented features you should look for when considering wholesale inventory management software.

#14 Report building

Accessing data insights from your solution’s reporting capabilities should be a priority when considering software. It should pull real-time data in easy-to-understand formats so that you can make business decisions without investing too much time. It should be able to identify any irregularities in your processes and point out the exact reason behind any lag in the functioning of your organization.

The solution should have reports to empower each of your business functions, including purchasing, warehousing, inventory management, inbound and outbound shipping, demand forecasting, and manpower planning. Thus, the software should keep you well informed and provide you with crucial real-time inputs to keep your wholesale business running at optimal levels of efficiency.

#15 Demand forecasting

Demand forecasting is the process of estimating the market demand for your products during a given time period with accurate details such as the volume, demand centers, trends, and reasons such as festivals, holidays, and customer affinity.

These reports will help you implement a lean operating model where market conditions dictate action, and value is delivered at each node in the supply chain. Also, you can minimize inventory holding levels and make timely purchasing decisions. This, in turn, saves you from facing stock-outs or missing sales due to the unavailability of products.

#16 Capacity planning and estimation

As a wholesaler, you will need to understand the availability of your staff and their ability to complete work against business requirements. Reporting should also include availability of the assets and tools required for them to do their jobs, such as the material handling trolleys and trays used to transfer items.

The reporting should give you more accuracy around work delegation and estimated time for completion of tasks. The system uses inputs to determine how many employees are present, what assets are available for use (trolleys, trays), and the execution strategy to be employed (e.g., batch pickup, wave pickup, hybrid pickup combined with LIFO/FIFO). The result of the final computation is reflected in the pickup/packaging slips. This feature saves your team from having to make last-minute adjustments. You will also get an idea regarding the right number of resources required to run your organization and reduce attrition levels.

#17 Financial and accounting reports generation

Reports like inventory audits, inventory reconciliation, ABC analysis, inventory evaluation, inventory shrinkage, and inventory holding costs are among the basic requirements you should have in mind. Your software should also provide you with the accounting data that can be directly fed to your accounting system to eliminate work duplication and reduce any manual errors.

These reporting capabilities will help you understand your organization’s financial health so you can make timely adjustments to maintain your profitability. Reports like inventory turn days, inventory turnover ratio, fill rate, average spend per customer, and repeat order rate help you connect with the financial aspect of your operations.

#18 Sales quoting

Your wholesale inventory management software should help you with building sales quotes as it contains all the required data, including product availability, fulfillment lead time, discount grids, and payment terms.

This can be especially useful when considering the nature of bulk orders as there are many push and pull factors that contribute to a sale. Having a bird’s eye view of the pricing factors regarding the sale size can provide you with the much-needed leverage when considering special discounts, offers and each sales representatives’ performance.

Documentation management

As a wholesaler, it is important to maintain a documented track record of your operations. You will also need to be able to transfer documents within and outside your organization.

#19 Built-in EDI

EDI technology allows you to transfer business documents across multiple verticals in a standardized format so your employees can coordinate orders and collaborate effectively. EDI technology optimizes and automates the workflows across departments and even beyond your organization without compromising your business interests.

Having a solution with built-in EDI connections will help you reduce costs and increase your staff’s productivity as the software bears a significant portion of their administrative workload. Built-in EDI will help reduce errors, aid in the auditing process, and secure your organizational data.

Third-party integrations

Lastly, we will have a quick look over the third-party application integrations that are necessary for the smooth running of your wholesaling business.

#20 B2B ecommerce marketplaces

It goes without saying that your wholesale inventory software should support integration with all leading marketplaces, including Amazon Seller, Etsy, eBay, AliExpress, and other leading platforms. A complete multichannel selling suite will help scale your business without any operational bottlenecks.

Wholesale inventory software plays an important role in pulling data from a single catalog and making products available according to the platform-native fields and functionalities. However, you need to look out for cases where your shipper and marketplace platform don’t display full interoperability. For example, one of the shippers may not support product bundling while the marketplace may support it. In such cases, your software should be able to fulfill the gap by coordinating with the shipper and ensuring that your products are delivered as per the displayed offer within due time.

#21 Third-party logistics companies

3PL integration is a must-have feature as it provides the required visibility into goods in transit and shipped orders. It allows you to pull data from your 3PL provider’s portal to your portal and website so that your customers and employees can track shipments.

This feature enables you to display carrier charges in real-time so that your customers can make a choice depending on their budget and preferences. Thus, this feature allows you to streamline your backend processes to a great extent.

Summing up

Towards the end of this list, we can say that a lot of these features are interlinked and hence the ideal solution for your brand needs to have most of them in order to provide you with an excellent user experience. On top of these functionalities, we would like to advise you to look for excellent customer support since every solution will have a learning curve and you must be able to access help in a timely fashion for a successful transition. If you have any queries regarding the selection of an ideal wholesale software solution for your small business, get in touch with Cin7 experts today!

Top Five Key Lessons for Automating Your Inventory and Financials

Posted on March 17, 2022 | by chrisqureshi | Leave a Comment

Learn the top five ways product companies and ecommerce specialists can automate their inventory and financials with Catching Clouds: An Acuity Company.

The Top Five Key Lessons for Automating Your Inventory and Financials:

Done right, automation actually makes good people even better
To get financial fundamentals right, give them to someone else
You need an expert who knows tech as well as accounting
Look for an expert with a proven track record
Every product seller needs to be on a cloud inventory solution

Not many people start a business because they dream of doing accounting.

But Acuity is an exception — and it exists because most business owners don’t just want to avoid accounting: they’re also pretty bad at it. Acuity, on the other hand, is really good.

Acuity is a specialist provider of outsourced cloud accounting services to eCommerce businesses in the United States. They work with businesses that are selling on Amazon, Ebay, Shopify, BigCommerce, Commerce House, Wayfair, Magento, and many more platforms.

In addition, Acuity has worked with QuickBooks Online and Xero for years. For a while, their eCommerce practice only worked with Xero, but it is now also adding QBO to the mix.

Scott Scharf is chief technology officer and eCommerce practice lead for Acuity. He co-founded his accounting practice Catching Clouds with his wife Patti Scharf, before merging with Acuity in 2021.
“The thing about what we do is, we’re really consistent,” says Scott. “We provide the daily, weekly, and monthly bookkeeping, accounting and controller-level work for eCommerce sellers.”

Automation and 3PLs are the way of the future — and they help your best people do more

Acuity says increasing the level of automation in your company isn’t about having fewer employees. It’s about giving yourself, and your employees, something better to do.

“When we automate accounting, we’re not doing it to remove the person — employee, spouse, whoever — was doing the bookkeeping,” Scott says. “The idea is that you’ve got a trusted person, so put them in a more trusted position.”

The same logic applies to product companies and 3PLs “Having a 3PL means your people can have higher-level tasks. You want those people who might otherwise be in your warehouse managing stock through a cloud inventory tool, negotiating purchasing, expanding your supply chain,” Scott adds. “They’re good employees. They care. You want them at a higher level.”

There will always be manual processes that need doing, and that software will struggle to automate, Scott says. What’s more, the supply chain crisis has changed the game. Where it might have once made sense to have your own warehouse, for many product sellers, it’s simply not worth it. Instead, smart sellers will automate what humans cannot do well, leaving them free to excel in other areas of the business.

“Don’t make smart humans do data entry. Let smart humans do smart human things, and make decisions based on data,” Scott says. “The more you leverage technology and people in the right places, at higher-level positions, the more profitable you’re going to be.”

Every product seller should implement cloud inventory solutions

The first app that Scott recommends for product sellers is, of course, online inventory management. Depending on the company’s ambitions and requirements, he recommends:

Cin7 for multichannel sellers with complex requirements and high growth ambitions
DEAR Systems for sellers who do their own manufacturing or Bill of Materials product assembly
Cin7 Orderhive for pure eCommerce sellers

“I recommend that every product seller, of any size, implement cloud inventory solutions,” Scott says.

Connecting cloud inventory software to other best-of-breed software — like Shopify for eCommerce selling, ShipBob for third-party logistics, or ShipStation for shipping — lets you set and meet customer expectations in the same way a brand like Amazon does. It means a small brand can have the same capabilities as the biggest eCommerce companies in the world, with the added benefit of the personalized service that only smaller companies can truly provide.

“Amazon has set the expectation that customers can get their package in one to three days,” Scott says. “Now everyone can live up to that new standard.”

To get financial fundamentals right, give them to someone else

Getting the accounting right is vital to any product business’ success. Without good numbers, a business can’t know if it’s profitable. That’s where Scott and his team come in. Acuity makes it possible for smaller businesses to have the same accounting clout as a big player. The solution is simple: they take accounting right out of their clients hands.

“I’ve talked to a couple thousand sellers in the last 10 years, and none of them went into business to do accounting or bookkeeping, or to pay bills, sales tax, or income tax,” Scott says. “They’ve got a bigger ‘why.’ And that’s why financials are one of the first things they look at outsourcing.”

Once Acuity takes over the accounting, things get done properly by a team of experts who know how to navigate the byzantine pathways of international eCommerce selling and U.S. tax compliance requirements. To do this, their outsourced eCommerce offering has a team of specialist CPAs, along with a managed services team who can take care of the technical side.

“We’re able to support clients at all kinds of levels, but the main thing is always the same — we take over the financials, move them into the cloud, and we do it right. We update the chart of accounts, reconcile everything correctly, post income properly, post COGS properly per channel, and make sure everything flows together,” Scott says.

According to Scott, modern eCommerce accounting is as much about getting technology right as it is about compliance, reports, and projections.

“Having an accounting advisor that can translate, provide insight and accurate cash flow projections helps a business manage cash better and be more successful,” Scott says.

But without the right approach to tech, business leaders can find themselves lost in a confusing world of half-implemented, half-working apps.

“What some people do, when they don’t understand tech, is they just load an app and then another app and then another app. None of them connect, and all of a sudden they now have to enter data in three apps to accomplish something instead of putting it together,” Scott says.

This can put business owners right off implementing a modern software stack, but nothing could be worse. All they need to get it right is a good advisor.

“If you’re running an eCommerce business, you want an eCommerce accountant that already understands the space and has worked with dozens, if not hundreds of eCommerce companies. You have to go to the right people for the right tech advice — and then you want to leverage it, so you can expand and enhance and build automations so everything flows well,” Scott says.

About Catching Clouds: an Acuity Company

Acuity is an outsourced cloud accounting service provider, specializing in eCommerce. They offer accounting with Xero and QuickBooks Online, and support Cin7, DEAR Systems, and leading eCommerce, 3PL, and shipping solutions

About Cin7 Experts

Cin7 Experts experienced with DEAR are an essential part of the Cin7 inventory management community. No matter what kind of product business you’re running, where you’re located, or what you’re trying to achieve, there’s a Cin7 Expert on DEAR who can help you achieve your ambition while saving your money and time.

How the latest inventory software can streamline ecommerce selling

Posted on March 16, 2022 | by chrisqureshi | Leave a Comment

Ecommerce is fiercely competitive and the competition has only increased due to the pandemic. Retailers must adapt accordingly and keep pace with changing market conditions. As an ecommerce business owner, you are required to handle multiple jobs simultaneously and you are often pulled in many directions. Learn more about inventory software for ecommerce in this article.

Those directions could include stocking the hottest products or fulfilling orders across multiple channels. That does not even take into account the marketing and customer service efforts.

So, how do you build your customer base and keep your current customers happy? The answer is ecommerce automation.

The technology that is available today provides you with lots of ecommerce automation options to address your business requirements. The concept is simple – using software to convert manual operations into automated workflows.

Technology can accomplish a broad set of operational tasks without human intervention. Sending emails to different customers, generating support tickets, and fulfilling orders are examples.

Not only does ecommerce automation save time, it also saves money. Automation gives your business team back time to focus on customer service, innovation, and creativity.

Now, let’s have a look at how technology can help your ecommerce business run more smoothly and profitably:

1. Automated and centralized inventory management for multichannel ecommerce

A cloud-based, multichannel inventory management system (IMS) lets brands optimize the supply chain and avoid losses due to stock-outs. AN IMS helps manage business inventory flow through a single dashboard with real-time access to sales and stock movement data.

An inventory management system enables you to list your products across multiple ecommerce platforms and brick-and-mortar locations and process orders through a centralized hub that updates your accounting software.

Take out the manual factors from inventory management, and minimize the possibility of human error.

Here are some key value-adds that an IMS would bring:

Reduce understocking & overstocking
Reduce headcount for daily operations
Avoid shipping errors & returns
Accurate inventory forecast and planning
Increase order fulfillment rate
Detailed inventory and sales reports
Reduce hits to overhead because of human error
Real-time updates to your accounting program

2. Zero effort sales recognition and accounting automation

One of the big benefits of digital businesses is not needing the large sales team of yesteryear. A small sales team can make operations effective through automated procedures and assessment tools like a CRM.

CRMs help manage tasks like adding new leads, call scheduling, contact information, and users can allocate follow-ups transparently and quickly. CRMs also help prevent two people approaching the same lead.

Most importantly, sales teams can keep records of call specifics and outcomes, which can be useful in future follow-ups. Hubspot, Zoho, and Salesforce are some of the most popular CRMs to try out.

Accounting and sales must coexist harmoniously and share inputs to bookkeeping. There are several accounting solutions to choose from, just make sure it will integrate with your inventory and order management software.

3. AI-enabled customer service desk increases brand loyalty

Customer service is a critical aspect of your business and directly impacts customer loyalty and brand image. There are several customer service platforms to choose from that should allow you to automate repetitive tasks. Chatbots, for instance, are still the most common way to do so.

Chatbots are programs that help to automate customer interactions by responding to a set of specified conditions, events, and question triggers. Product-focused chatbot interactions are increasing in popularity.

As per a Facebook poll, more than half of customers said they were more likely to shop with a company that allows them to communicate via chat.

Customers want to find the information they need in a matter of seconds with a click. Chatbots solve for that. Plus, various solutions can be used to integrate chatbots into ecommerce websites and social media accounts with minimum development expenditures.

Chatbots are an integral part of a company’s customer service strategy – Octane, MobileMonkey, and Bostify are some of the most common chatbots for ecommerce. Chatfuel is another shareware option and is one of the finest ecommerce chatbot services.

4. Technology driven and seamless payment options

Customers want personalization and seamless ecommerce experiences. According to Business Insider, global customers will make 1.1 trillion cashless payments by 2024 by acquiring products and services using a mix of mobile, web, and linked devices.

Passive authentication like face and touch ID has become more popular as technology advances because your credentials are already loaded into your ewallet and ready to pay. This is made possible by services like AmazonPay, ApplePay, GooglePay, Paytm, PhonePe, PayPal, and similar services.

5. Transition to a multichannel experience

Your customers expect your products to be available across the spectrum of selling channels they have to choose from. Web stores, physical stores, social media, and online marketplaces are all part of multichannel retailing. Today, single-click buy on ecommerce sites, a social media presence, brand awareness, and overall lifestyle affinity all play a role in purchasing behavior.

The main objective of multichannel selling is to make sure that marketing techniques enable clients to convert via each type of sales channel. With the proper automation technology at hand and a multichannel strategy, your brand can offer a seamless customer experience.

Walmart’s “order-by-text and chat services” was one example of how brands can leverage technology as part of their multichannel strategy. The service let customers place orders with a text message and offered same-day delivery.

The service is no longer offered, but it paved the way for other ecommerce brands to provide something exceptional to their customers.

6. Integrate social commerce into ecommerce strategy

Most businesses use social media platforms for advertising. It helps customers purchase by leveraging social media’s convenience, usability, and reach.

Facebook Marketplace was mainly created in 2018 to compete with Amazon, Google Shopping, and Etsy. Instagram adopted product tags in 2016 to help users recognize the products and prices they see in adverts.

With the integration of BigCommerce and Shopify in 2017, customers would go to a web page to make a purchase.

Pinterest has a similar appearance to Instagram, added buyable pins to select brands in 2015, and their user numbers rose in 2016. A shopping cart was also introduced to help buy from multiple merchants simultaneously.

Conclusion on inventory software for ecommerce

Working in the ecommerce space requires dealing with competitors and meeting customer expectations and demands. Current technology solutions can automate mundane tasks and streamline operations.

Choosing an Inventory Management Software (IMS) like Cin7 increases operational efficiency and overall productivity for all kinds of retailers and wholesalers. Get your inventory software for ecommerce today!