With over four million online stores, Shopify has emerged as one of the most popular eCommerce platforms thanks to its user-friendly interface and customizable features. But here’s the catch. Starting your business here is relatively straightforward, while efficient Shopify inventory management is critical to ensuring its success.
Having a proper framework to track inventory means better product organization and management. It also prevents issues that could adversely impact the Shopify store’s performance. Want to learn about these potential challenges and solutions that inventory management can offer? Keep reading this post.
Today, GenovaWebArt will share insights into Shopify warehouse management, leveraging our track record of over 200 successfully launched online stores on this platform. So, discover the best strategies that’ll streamline your inventory tracking.
Why Are Inventory Management Solutions for Shopify Important?
Shopify inventory management is an indispensable business component involving the supervision of product inflows and outflows. Its proper implementation guarantees that an online store has the right products to meet customer demand while minimizing excess inventory and associated costs. On top of that, inventory management gives insights into the following.
Customer Behavior and Preferences
First of all, effective inventory management implies better knowledge of customer preferences and behavior. By analyzing sales data and customer feedback, businesses can understand which products are popular and adjust their inventory accordingly. It helps ensure the company stocks the right goods and meets consumer demands.
Financial Performance and Overall Profitability
Inventory management also provides critical financial insights into the company’s processes. Businesses can better understand their financial performance and identify areas to reduce expenses and increase profitability by tracking inventory levels and associated costs.
Business Opportunities and New Product Ideas
Another matter proper inventory management can assist with is identifying opportunities for growth and innovation. Companies can devise new product ideas or develop strategies for expanding their offerings by studying customer feedback, behavior, and preferences, backed up by sales data.
Customer Interests and Purchasing Trends
Finally, inventory management provides valuable insights into customer interests and buying trends. Again, it is possible by analyzing sales data. It allows businesses to determine which products are most attractive to customers, ultimately increasing sales and revenue.
Common Challenges of Shopify Inventory Management
While a helpful insight-driven process, Shopify inventory management can be challenging for businesses. When setting up warehouse tracking operations, online store owners may face the following issues:
Limited Tracking Capability
Many businesses struggle with limited tracking capability regarding inventory management. It can lead to inaccurate inventory counts, misplaced products, and difficulty identifying low stock levels.
Restricted Products
Shopify has a lengthy list of prohibited or restricted products. That’s why some businesses may have issues with product handling or storage conditions, making inventory management more challenging. Plus, online store owners may require additional resources or specialized equipment to manage effectively.
POS Issues
Point-of-sale systems can also create challenges for businesses. If a POS system is not integrated with inventory management software, companies will have issues tracking their sales and inventory levels accurately.
Automatic Inventory Replenishment
Another challenge in inventory management that businesses may face is finding a system that automatically creates purchase orders whenever stock is low and suggests order quantities. Such a system must also provide recommendations based on sales trends and customer demand to streamline replenishment.
Some Functionalities’ Unavailability Across Channels
Shopify businesses must often manage inventory across multiple sales channels, such as online platforms like Amazon or Etsy and brick-and-mortar stores. Some inventory management systems may not have the same functionalities on all these channels, making supervising inventory levels and sales data challenging.
Benefits of Using Inventory Management Software for Shopify
Shopify has become such a popular eCommerce platform for a reason. Actually, for several reasons. Here are just a few benefits that businesses can get when setting up inventory management solutions for Shopify:
Product Variations Inventory
Shopify allows businesses to easily manage and track the list of products with different variations, such as sizes or colors. It helps ensure that companies have accurate inventory counts for each variation of their goods.
Bulk Inventory Management
Shopify makes it easy for businesses to update their inventory levels in bulk, saving time and reducing the risk of errors. Companies can effortlessly refresh their warehouse levels for multiple products or variants at once.
Inventory Transfers
Shopify allows online store owners to transfer inventory between locations. It is beneficial for companies with multiple warehouses or physical retail stores.
Inventory History
Shopify keeps a detailed inventory history, making it painless for businesses to track changes in inventory levels over time. It also helps companies to identify trends and make data-driven decisions.
Streamlined Processes
Shopify provides various tools and integrations that help businesses streamline their inventory management processes. For example, companies can set up automatic purchase orders or use third-party apps to manage their inventory.
Avoided Stockouts and Overstocking
With the help of inventory management solutions, store owners can maintain optimal inventory levels by tracking their inventory in real time and generating purchase orders whenever stock levels run low. It ensures that the business avoids stockouts and overstocking.
Saved Time and Resources
Using inventory management solutions for Shopify also helps save time and resources. Owing to these solutions, store owners automate various warehouse tracking processes, including regular audits and data entry, increasing productivity and profitability.
Sell on More Channels
With Shopify, businesses can sell their products through multiple channels, including their online store, social media platforms, and marketplaces like Etsy, eBay, or Amazon. As a result, companies can reach more customers and boost their sales while managing their inventory in one central location.
What Are the Best Ways to Handle Shopify Inventory Management?
Shopify offers several ways to handle inventory within the platform, although businesses may still need to use an appropriate warehouse management solution to optimize this process fully. Here are some ways to set up the best inventory management for Shopify:
Set Rules for Stock Levels
Businesses can set rules for stock levels in Shopify to ensure they always have enough inventory. For example, companies may want to determine a minimum stock level for each product and receive alerts when supply falls below the established amount.
Use the ABC Method
The ABC method is a popular inventory management technique that divides products into three categories, with “A” items being the most significant and “C” items being the least important, based on their sales volume and profitability. In Shopify, businesses can use this approach to prioritize which goods to order more and which to reduce or discontinue.
Use the FIFO Method
The first-in, first-out (FIFO) method is an inventory management strategy that involves selling the oldest inventory first so businesses don’t end up with spoiled and unsellable products. By prioritizing the sale of older stock, store owners can reduce the risk of holding onto goods that may become outdated or expired, reducing waste and maximizing profitability.
Leverage ERP Solutions
Shopify can integrate with enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, which may help businesses manage their inventory more effectively. ERP systems can provide real-time inventory tracking, demand forecasting, and automated purchasing, among other features.
Use Accounting Tools
Accounting tools can be valuable for managing inventory levels and monitoring costs. Shopify integrates with various accounting solutions, such as QuickBooks and Xero, which allow store owners to track inventory, sales, and expenses in real time. By utilizing these tools, businesses can better understand their inventory levels, identify disparities, and make data-driven decisions on purchasing and restocking.
Adopt Demand Forecasting
Adopting demand forecasting is critical to stock management for Shopify. By analyzing historical sales data, trends, and customer behavior, store owners can anticipate future demand and adjust inventory levels accordingly. It also helps to prevent overstocking or understocking and ensures that the store has the right products available when customers need them.
Conduct Regular Audits
Regular inventory audits can verify stock accuracy and prevent stock-outs. By conducting routine physical inventory counts, store owners can identify discrepancies between inventory records and stock levels. It allows them to correct any issues quickly.
Use Barcodes and SKUs
Instead of using apps to keep track of inventory Shopify, businesses can leverage Shopify’s built-in support for barcode and SKU management. This method involves scanning a barcode or SKU when the product is sold, automatically updating the inventory levels.
By leveraging the above tools and techniques, Shopify store owners can ensure they have the right products in stock at the right time while minimizing excess inventory and related costs.
How Can GenovaWebArt Help to Manage Your Shopify Inventory?
GenovaWebArt is a professional Shopify design and development company, delivering successful online stores since 2012. As a reliable vendor, we are knowledgeable about the following matters:
- How to keep track of inventory and sales Shopify
- How to make your store succeed with Shopify product bundles
- How to come up with a custom Shopify theme
- How to build a Shopify app to power your store
- And even more
Having developed and designed over two hundred Shopify stores, we understood how to establish the best inventory management for Shopify. GenovaWebArt experts always suggest our clients start by using barcodes and SKUs. These methods, as a rule, work like clockwork, offering enough functionality to track and manage stock levels.
Nevertheless, our team has profound expertise in leveraging other inventory management methods. We can apply ABC and FIFO techniques and integrate ERP technology into the companies’ processes. Our experience streamlining warehouse management is immense, and here’s an example:
Kit and Kin
Kit & Kin is an online retailer of childcare products and nappies, offering convenient product bundles to suit customer needs. Our team assisted this client in migrating to Shopify Plus and establishing an efficient inventory management process. We considered the various product categories, set the replenishment rules, and suggested using barcodes for managing stock levels effortlessly.
Beyond this project, we have worked on various others. If you’re interested, you may find them in our portfolio. And if you decide to work with us, we offer excellent communication, in-depth experience, and industry-specific expertise.
Conclusion
By now, you understand that effective inventory management is a crucial aspect of running a successful Shopify store. It requires various tools and techniques like demand forecasting, regular audits, barcodes, SKUs, an ABC approach, and a FIFO method to optimize stock levels.
Leveraging these Shopify inventory management best practices can lead to streamlined operations, improved profitability, and enhanced customer experience. If you want to hire Shopify developers to optimize your inventory processes, GenovaWebArt is here to assist you. We’ll leverage our profound expertise to make your warehouse management effortless, so feel free to contact us for a consultation.
