An Inventory Control System is a tech-oriented management system that streamlines and automates the tracking of inventory items in real time—from the point of acquisition to the point of sale. The system monitors product quantities, sales, orders, and deliveries, making it easier for businesses to plan ahead and minimize the costs associated with overstocking or understocking. This system can make use of barcodes, RFID technology, or other tracking technologies to ensure accuracy, and is often integrated with other systems such as sales or supply chain management to deliver a comprehensive business solution.
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The 10 Best Inventory Control Systems
The 10 best inventory control systems integrate efficient management of stock counts, orders, sales, and deliveries, enabling businesses to reduce costs, increase productivity, and facilitate informed decision-making.
Table of Contents
Welcome to an exclusive rundown of the 10 Best Inventory Control Systems that are currently changing the game in 2022. In an era of boundless digitalization, leveraging top-tier software to manage your stock levels, orders, and deliveries has become an indispensable strategy for businesses of all sizes. Whether you are a small startup or a large scale corporation, efficient inventory control not only prevents wastage and ensures smooth operations, but also optimizes costs and maximizes profits. In this blog post, we will uncover ten top-of-the-line inventory control systems, their unique features, pros and cons, and how they can enhance your supply chain management to the next level.
What Is A Inventory Control System?
Inventory Control System: Our Recommendations
Pick #1
NetSuite
NetSuite, in regards to being an Inventory Control System, is a cloud-based software service that provides businesses with an integrated system for managing their inventories. The NetSuite Inventory Control System offers comprehensive functionalities such as real-time tracking of inventory levels, automated replenishment of stock, and seamless integration with sales and purchase orders. This system also allows users to monitor multiple locations, maintain accurate records for auditing, predict demand, and generate reports. Thus, enabling businesses to balance supply and demand, reduce inventory holding costs, improve customer service, and make informed decision-making.
Real-Time Visibility: NetSuite provides real-time visibility into every part of your business, including inventory. You can see what’s on hand, what’s on order, and where it all is at any given moment. This is particularly useful in dealing with stock shortages, overstocks and reduces the holding costs for businesses.
Efficient Management of Multiple Warehouses: If a company is operating out of multiple locations, NetSuite lets you manage all your warehouses from one place. You can easily track inventory levels, transfer stock between locations and manage cross-location reporting seamlessly.
Streamlined Order Fulfillment: NetSuite's inventory control system can automatically determine the best shipping method based on factors like location, weight and cost, thereby optimizing order fulfillment. It also offers integrated barcoding and mobile RF scanning, reducing manual input errors and increasing efficiency.
Intelligent Demand Planning: NetSuite has a demand planning module that uses sales forecasts to predict future demand. It then generates planned purchase orders to meet that demand, ensuring your supply always meets your needs without tying up too much capital in excess stock.
Support for Multiple Inventory Valuation Methods: NetSuite supports a variety of inventory valuation methods including standard cost, moving average, FIFO, and LIFO. This flexibility gives businesses the ability to select the best valuation method for tax and reporting purposes.,
Limited Customization - NetSuite may not always be flexible enough to meet some specific needs, this could potentially force organizations to alter or adapt their existing workflows to fit within the confines of the system.
User Interface - NetSuite has a complex interface which new users may find difficult to navigate. This could potentially make the task of inventory control quite time-consuming until users familiarize themselves with the system.
Reporting - Although NetSuite provides a variety of detailed reports, customizing these reports can be quite complex and might require an understanding of the underlying database structure.
Integration Difficulties - While NetSuite does offer integrations with some third-party applications, it may have compatibility issues with other software which could limit its functionality or create extra steps to share data.
Performance Issues - NetSuite as an Inventory Control System may experience slowdowns, particularly when running large batch jobs or when accessing the system during peak usage times.
Pick #2
Cin7
Cin7 is a comprehensive, cloud-based Inventory Control System designed to help businesses manage their sales and stocks efficiently. It integrates various sales channels and automates the inventory management process, thereby facilitating real-time visibility of stock levels across all channels. Cin7’s key features include order management, warehouse management, POS system, production and purchasing management, and built-in B2B eCommerce capabilities. It stands out for its ability to synchronize data across multiple platforms, providing accurate insight into sales performance and stock status. This helps businesses optimize their inventory levels, reduce waste, boost productivity, and ultimately improve their bottom line. It is suitable for various industries such as retail, wholesale, manufacturing, and food services.
Comprehensive Integration Capabilities - Cin7 offers integration with a wide variety of retail, online, and marketplace channels, as well as shipping and accounting systems. This allows businesses to automate multiple functions of their operations and streamline inventory management.
Real-Time Inventory Visibility - Cin7 provides real-time tracking of inventory levels, enabling businesses to have immediate access to current stock status. This can help reduce stockouts and overstock situations, and improve order fulfillment accuracy.
Built-in POS System - Cin7 includes a built-in Point of Sale (POS) system that communicates directly with the inventory management system. This means real-time updates to inventory when sales are made, reducing the risk of overselling items that have actually sold out.
Advanced Reporting and Forecasting - Cin7 offers intelligent reporting and forecasting features. This allows businesses to make data-driven decisions, observe trends, and plan for future stock requirements more accurately.
B2B eCommerce Portal - Cin7 includes a B2B eCommerce portal that allows businesses to streamline their wholesale operations and manage their inventory, orders, and customer relationships in a centralized platform.
Limited customization - Despite its vast array of features, Cin7 has limitations when it comes to customization of its tools and reports according to the specific needs of the business.
Complex interface - Cin7 has a steep learning curve especially for non-tech savvy users. Its interface is not intuitive, making it difficult for users to understand and make the most out of its functionalities.
Slow customer support - Cin7 lacks an efficient customer support. Users have often complained about slow response times and lack of immediate assistance on urgent issues.
Difficulty in syncing with other systems - While Cin7 does integrate with many other systems, there are often difficulties and errors in the sync process. This could affect the seamless flow of data and operations.
Trouble with accounting integration - Cin7 users have reported issues when integrating with certain accounting systems, specifically regarding inconsistencies in stock value updates.
Pick #3
Zoho Inventory
Zoho Inventory is a robust, cloud-based inventory control system designed to manage inventory, sales, orders, and deliveries across multiple channels. This system features powerful tools for order fulfillment, inventory tracking, warehouse management, and real-time stock updates, allowing businesses to streamline their supply chain operations. Zoho Inventory integrates seamlessly with popular e-commerce platforms and shipping services, providing businesses with greater efficiency and visibility over their inventory processes. Its reporting and analytics capabilities also help businesses make data-driven decisions for better inventory management.
Zoho Inventory has excellent integration capabilities. It can seamlessly integrate with a variety of systems (like Zoho's own suite of apps, multiple e-commerce platforms, and shipping carriers), making it easy for businesses to manage their inventory on multiple sales channels from a central location.
The software offers granular inventory control. Features such as serial number and batch tracking, variant tracking, item groupings, and reordering rules allow businesses to manage their inventory levels with great precision.
Zoho Inventory provides advanced reporting and analytics. This tool allows businesses to access to inventory performance reports, sales reports, item summary reports, and more.
It includes a powerful order management system. With Zoho Inventory, businesses can manage their orders from quoting to invoicing and everything in between. It also allows for backorder management, sales approvals, and drop shipping.
Zoho Inventory is equipped with vital automation features. These include automatic reordering, which ensures that items never go out of stock, and instant invoice generation to accelerate the order processing.
Limited customization: Although Zoho Inventory is quite flexible, user complaints often focus on the limited customization features. Businesses with specialized needs may find it lacks the adaptability for unique requirements.
The learning curve: Despite offering a well-organized interface, Zoho Inventory can be complex to learn, especially for small businesses without much experience in inventory management software. This might slow down the adoption process and could require additional training resources.
Mobile application limitations: Users often report lackluster performance when using Zoho Inventory's mobile apps. Issues such as slow load times and a lack of full features compared to the desktop version can be detrimental in an inventory control setting where mobility access is key.
Import/export difficulties: Zoho Inventory's import and export capabilities are often criticized. Reports of error messages during these processes are frequent, which can disrupt inventory management and can inconvenience the user.
Limited third-party integrations: Zoho Inventory lacks extensive integration capabilities with third-party apps, especially those not within the Zoho software ecosystem. This could force organizations to rethink their current operations if they rely on software that does not integrate well.
Pick #4
Unleashed
Unleashed is a powerful, cloud-based inventory control system designed to help businesses manage and track their inventory levels efficiently. It offers real-time inventory updates, multi-location stock control, and a suite of detailed reports, providing businesses with the information they need to make informed decisions about their inventory management. By integrating with other business applications such as accounting, e-commerce platforms, and point of sale systems, Unleashed enables a seamless flow of data across all business processes, ensuring accuracy and reducing the risk of human errors. It’s ideal for businesses looking to optimize stock levels, improve inventory handling, and ultimately increase profitability.
Real-Time Inventory Management: Unleashed offers real-time data on inventory levels and stock movements. This makes it easier for businesses to make informed decisions about their inventory, reduce excess holdings, prevent stock-outs, and increase accuracy in forecasting demand.
Seamless Integration: Unleashed can be easily integrated into several other business software systems like eCommerce platforms, Accounting software, and logistic services. This allows for a unified management system and aids in the accurate flow of data across different business functions.
Comprehensive Reporting: Unleashed offers robust reporting tools with capabilities for generating various reports on sales, inventory levels, stock movements, and customer purchasing trends. With these insights, businesses can gain a clear understanding of how their inventory is performing and make strategic decisions.
Multi-Warehouse Management: Unleashed offers features to manage inventory across multiple physical locations and virtual warehouses. This can help businesses that have multiple warehouses or aim to expand into different geographical areas.
Product Kitting: Unleashed provides the feature to bundle multiple products together as a kit, which can then be sold as a single product, hence allows businesses to manage and track these bundled product kits efficiently as separate SKUs.,
Limited Customization - Unleashed, as an Inventory Control System, provides limited customization of its functions and features. This can sometimes limit the user's ability to tailor the software to fit unique and specific business needs.
Integration Issues - Though Unleashed can integrate with other popular tools, it may not fully integrate with certain systems, particularly specialized business applications. This can lead to inefficiencies and a disjointed software ecosystem.
Complexity in Higher Functionality Usage - Unleashed can become quite complex when higher functionalities are used. Handling complex and advanced functions may require technical expertise which might not be available in small businesses or teams without specialized IT support.
Absence of a Physical Counts Feature - Unleashed lacks a dedicated feature to facilitate periodic physical counts. This can complicate inventory management, which is a critical aspect of an inventory control system.
Interface Non-intuitiveness - Some users have reported finding Unleashed's interface to be less intuitive, causing efficiency and ease of use to suffer. For employees unfamiliar with such systems, a steep learning curve might be required to effectively use the system.
Pick #5
Fishbowl
Fishbowl, in regards to being an Inventory Control System, is a unique asset management software, designed for small to mid-sized businesses, to assist in tracking and organizing inventory levels, orders, sales, and shipments. Equipped with inventory control and asset tracking features, Fishbowl allows users to automate multiple processes, such as order fulfillment, manufacturing, purchasing, and more. In addition, it provides real-time updates on inventory levels and integrates with a range of business tools, such as QuickBooks, Amazon, Shopify, etc., streamlining the operations and enhancing efficiency.
Seamless integration with other platforms - Fishbowl integrates easily with numerous eCommerce, shipping, and accounting solutions. This allows users to synchronize their inventory data with platforms such as QuickBooks, Amazon, eBay, or Shopify, making it easier to avoid discrepancies or inaccuracies in stock levels.
Advanced Manufacturing Capability - Users are able to track manufacturing processes, monitor work orders, and make use of bill of materials (BOM) features that help to improve production processes, making Fishbowl a suitable system not just for retailers but manufacturers as well.
Comprehensive Reporting - Fishbowl offers powerful reporting features, providing a complete view of your inventory status with real-time updates. The reports can also be customized, providing insights that help in decision-making and strategic planning.
Automation of inventory management - Fishbowl allows users to establish automatic reorder points for their inventory, reducing the risk of stockouts or overstock. Its automatic data updates also save on time and reduce manual data input.
Barcode scanning - Fishbowl supports the use of barcode scanning which increases the accuracy of tracking inventory while reducing the time taken for stock-taking. It also helps to quickly receive, transfer, and pick items in a warehouse or other location, which improves efficiency.
Lack of Advanced Reporting: Fishbowl does not offer advanced reporting capabilities. This can make it difficult to accurately track inventory and make data-driven business decisions.
Difficulty in integration: While Fishbowl claims to integrate seamlessly with QuickBooks, users have reported difficulties in integrating with other business systems. This can lead to data inconsistencies and efficiency issues.
Software complexity: Users often find Fishbowl to be too complex with a steep learning curve, which leads to difficulty in use especially for small businesses and new users.
Limited scalability: Fishbowl might not be the best fit for larger companies or companies planning for rapid growth, as its features and capabilities might not scale up with business growth.
Unintuitive interface: Some users report that Fishbowl's interface is not user-friendly. This makes navigation and finding specific features challenging leading to frustration and inefficiencies.
Pick #6
SAP Business One
SAP Business One is an integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) software suite designed specifically for small and medium-sized businesses. As an Inventory Control System, it offers robust functionalities that help manage and optimize inventory levels. This includes real-time tracking of goods from procurement to sales, providing detailed visibility into all stages of inventory management such as tracking stock movement, managing production orders, and integrating with purchase and sales module. It’s built to reduce manual labor, eliminate paperwork, and streamline inventory processes, ultimately providing accurate inventory data, improving forecasting capabilities and reducing warehouse storage costs.
Real-Time Data Accuracy - SAP Business One ensures real-time information availability, which is crucial in inventory control. This allows making immediate adjustments or decisions, avoiding inconsistencies in stock quantities, locating specific items, and checking inventory status on-the-go.
Detailed Reporting and Analytics - SAP Business One provides robust reporting and analytics tools that help businesses get important insights on inventory metrics, like inventory turnover. This helps to streamline operations by improving accuracy and enabling businesses to forecast demand more effectively.
Consolidated View - With SAP Business One, businesses can manage multiple warehouses in different locations seamlessly. It provides a centralized system for tracking inventory levels and movements, giving overall clarity and control.
Integration with Other Business Functions - SAP Business One integrates inventory control with other business functions like sales, purchasing, finance, production etc. This system-wide integration reduces inefficiencies, redundancies, and enhances workflow across functions.
Advanced Inventory Optimization - SAP Business One helps in implementing advanced inventory management techniques like JIT (Just-In-Time) and EOQ (Economic Order Quantity), ultimately leading to optimized stock levels, reducing excess inventory holdings, and potential stock-outs, thus lowering overall costs and improving customer satisfaction.
Limited Scalability - While SAP Business One does offer inventory control, it may not be suitable for larger businesses or those experiencing rapid growth. The system's scalability is somewhat limited, and it may struggle to cope with a large increase in volume of inventory items or transactions.
Complexity - SAP Business One has a complex, multi-layered interface that can be difficult to navigate for those without prior experience. This complexity can slow down processes and impact efficiency in inventory control.
Limited Integration with Other Systems - If a business is using other software tools, SAP Business One may not integrate smoothly with them. This could ultimately result in a disjointed system where critical inventory information might not be correctly shared across all relevant platforms.
Lack of Flexibility - SAP Business One lacks the flexibility of customization to meet specific business needs. While it does offer standard inventory control features, a business may find it difficult to adapt the system to suit their particular process requirements.
Requires Significant Training - Learning to use SAP Business One effectively as an inventory control system often requires significant training time. This can lead to delays in implementation and increased costs.
Pick #7
QuickBooks Commerce
QuickBooks Commerce is a robust inventory control system designed to aid businesses in effectively managing their inventory across multiple channels. It centralizes inventory management, enabling businesses to effortlessly track stock levels, manage orders, and carry out warehouse operations in real time. With QuickBooks Commerce, businesses can streamline their supply chain operations, manage orders from multiple sales channels in one place, and utilize detailed reports to gain valuable insights into their inventory performance. Its comprehensive features make it highly suitable not just for retailers, but also for wholesalers and manufacturers looking to simplify their inventory control procedures.
Multi-Channel Synchronization - QuickBooks Commerce allows real-time inventory synchronization across different channels. This feature enables businesses to manage all their sales channels in one place and reduces the risk of overselling.
Rich Reporting Capabilities - QuickBooks Commerce provides detailed reports on sales, inventory levels, and customer behavior, which can help make data-driven decisions.
Seamless Integration with other QuickBooks Services - QuickBooks Commerce integrates seamlessly with QuickBooks Online, reducing the need for manual data entry and minimizing errors associated with it. It also connects with other e-commerce platforms, marketplaces and logistics providers.
Automated Reorder Point Notifications - QuickBooks Commerce can automatically alert you when stock levels reach a predefined threshold. This can save time for businesses and keep products stocked at optimal levels.
B2B eCommerce Platform - It includes a dedicated B2B eCommerce platform that enables businesses to have a personalized, self-service, online ordering system. This can improve customer satisfaction and efficiency in handling bulk orders.
Limited Customization Options - While QuickBooks Commerce provides templates and pre-made options, the scope for customization may not be adequate for businesses needing specific functions relevant to their operations.
Dependency on Internet Connection - QuickBooks Commerce is a cloud-based application, meaning it relies heavily on the availability and quality of an internet connection. Any instability can affect transaction processing and access to live data.
Limited Integrations - QuickBooks Commerce may not integrate well with all third-party applications that a company might be using. This can cause inconveniences and inefficiencies in transferring data or executing functions outside the QuickBooks ecosystem.
Not Ideal for Complex Inventory Management - While QuickBooks Commerce is excellent for small to medium-sized businesses, it may not scale well for larger organizations with complex or large-volume inventory management needs.
Learning Curve - There is a learning curve attached to using QuickBooks Commerce, and it can be quite steep for those not acquainted with the system. Thus, initial productivity can be impacted and significant time investment may be required for staff training.
Pick #8
Vend
Vend is a cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) and inventory management system designed to streamline retail operations. This system allows businesses to manage all stocks effectively with features such as real-time inventory tracking, centralized data management, and automated reordering. It also supports inventory counts, product categorization, and reporting that gives insights into what’s in stock, what’s selling, and what’s not. With Vend, retailers have greater visibility and control over inventory, enabling them to optimize stock levels and reduce costs.
Real-time Inventory Tracking: Vend's live inventory control system enables businesses to maintain accurate, up-to-the-minute data across multiple sales channels and locations, eliminating the chances of overselling.
Comprehensive Reporting: Vend provides detailed inventory reports which include real-time inventory levels, sales history, product performance, including best-selling and low stock items. This can help make more informed decisions about reordering and markdowns.
Centralized Product Catalog: Vend allows businesses to manage all their products in one place, supporting barcodes, variants, composite products and more. This can greatly reduce manual work and potential errors in inventory management.
Efficient Stock Transfers and Orders: With Vend, businesses can easily create stock orders, backorders, and transfer items between their different stores or warehouses. It streamlines these processes and ensures consistent inventory control across locations.
Seamless Integration with E-commerce: Vend integrates seamlessly with various eCommerce platforms, allowing businesses to manage both their online and physical store inventories from a single system. This saves time and makes inventory control more efficient.
Limited reporting capabilities - Compared to some other inventory control systems, Vend's reporting features can be somewhat limited. It might not offer the in-depth data analytics or detailed custom reports that a business needs for thorough inventory analysis.
Limited integrations - Vend does not integrate with all e-commerce or ERP platforms. As a result, if your business uses a platform that Vend doesn't support, you could face significant challenges.
Lack of multi-location features - Vend is not ideal for companies with multiple locations or warehouses, as it does not provide robust tools for managing inventory across various sites.
Hardware dependencies - Vend is dependent on hardware like scanners and registers for its functionality. These can experience technical issues, or may not work seamlessly with the software at all times.
No automatic PO generation - Vend does not include a feature for automatic Purchase Order creation based on stock levels, which can be a drawback for businesses with large-scale or complex inventory needs.
Pick #9
Brightpearl
Brightpearl is a comprehensive cloud-based inventory control system, tailored primarily for retail businesses. The platform provides real-time visibility of inventory, automating processes and operations across multiple channels. By integrating with key sales platforms including Amazon, eBay, and Shopify, Brightpearl streamlines order management, supply chain, and fulfillment operations. Its core functionality includes multichannel inventory management, order processing, sales reporting, customer relationship management (CRM), and accounting. As a result, businesses gain a unified and accurate view of their inventory, leading to improved efficiency, reduced errors, and significant time savings.
Real-time Inventory Management: Brightpearl provides real-time inventory updates across all sales channels. This allows businesses to monitor stock levels in real-time, reducing the risk of overselling and underselling, which can adversely affect customer satisfaction levels.
Integrated Channels: Brightpearl integrates with a wide range of ecommerce platforms, POS systems, marketplaces, and logistic providers. This enables businesses to manage their inventory from multiple channels in a single system, providing a consolidated view of their total inventory.
Automated Inventory Control: Brightpearl automates many aspects of inventory control such as reporting, reorder point calculation, and stock reordering. This helps businesses save time and resources on managing inventory, enabling them to focus more on sales and customer service.
Detailed Analytics and Reporting: Brightpearl produces detailed reports on inventory levels, sales trends, and product performance. This data can be used to make informed decisions about stock management, product pricing, and sales strategy.
Streamlined Fulfillment: Brightpearl enables businesses to streamline their order fulfillment process by automating routine tasks such as picking, packing, and shipping. This can improve warehouse efficiency and reduce the time it takes to fulfill orders, leading to improved customer satisfaction.
Inflexibility with Customization: Brightpearl’s inventory control system lacks ease and flexibility when it comes to advanced customization. While it does provide a range of predefined options, it doesn't fully accommodate the unique needs of every business, limiting the users to reshape the system according to their business protocol.
Complexity in User Interface: Although Brightpearl comes with numerous functionalities, the user interface may be less intuitive and can seem overly complicated for some businesses, especially for people who are not tech-savvy. This steep learning curve can lead to inefficiencies until users become fully accustomed to the platform.
Reporting Limitations: While Brightpearl does offer reporting capabilities, some users find them limited and not highly detailed. This may not serve businesses that require extensive analytics and sophisticated reports, especially regarding inventory trends, forecasting, and movements.
Slow Speed during High Traffic: Some users have reported a noticeable slow down of the system's performance during peak times or under heavy load, which can be detrimental for businesses dealing with large volumes of inventory or in high seasonality industries.
Limited Third-party Integration: Brightpearl's compatibility with software from third-party vendors is limited. This means businesses may have difficulty integrating Brightpearl with other operational platforms they already use, leading to potential operational inefficiencies.
Conclusion
The inventory control systems outlined within this article reflect an array of features and capabilities aiming to provide businesses with greater efficiency, productivity, and economic advantages. All ten platforms offer unique functionalities to meet the specific needs of different types and sizes of businesses. Choosing the best one largely depends on your specific requirements and budget. Regardless of your choice, any of these systems can help you automate your inventory management tasks, minimize human errors, streamline business operations, and ultimately improve your overall ROI. The key is to determine what best aligns with your business goals and operational needs.
FAQs
What is an Inventory Control System?
An Inventory Control System is a system designed to manage and keep track of inventories in a systematic and organized way. It helps in maintaining an accurate record of the goods and services that a company deals with every day, reducing the risk of loss due to theft or negligence and ensuring business efficiency.
Why is an Inventory Control System important?
An inventory control system is essential for maintaining inventory accuracy, preventing overstocking or under-stocking and saving costs. It helps in understanding the demand and supply of the goods, which can assist in making data-driven decisions. Additionally, it increases operational efficiency by automating manual tasks and gives real-time insights into the inventory levels.
How does an Inventory Control System work?
At its core, an Inventory Control System works by tracking two main aspects of each product quantity and location. Whenever a new product comes in, it is cataloged into the system with a unique identifier and its quantity and location are updated. Similarly, every time a product leaves inventory, its quantity is decreased in the system, helping maintain real-time accuracy.
What features should a good Inventory Control System have?
A good Inventory Control System should have features like real-time tracking, order management, data reporting, barcode scanning, automatic reordering, integration with sales and accounting systems among others. Moreover, it should provide alerts when inventory is low and should support multichannel selling.
Can an Inventory Control System help in improving customer satisfaction?
Yes, an Inventory Control System can greatly help in improving customer satisfaction. By ensuring accurate inventory levels, businesses can avoid situations like overselling or underselling. This also enables faster order fulfillment, thereby improving customer service. Furthermore, the ability to track inventory in real time means businesses can provide their customers with accurate and timely updates about their orders.