Looking for real-time inventory visibility? There are lots of inventory management systems that can help you track what you have on hand, the stock you have on order, inventory trends, and the on-time performance of your small business suppliers.
Owners who use them report some big wins. They're spending less time on inventory tasks. They report fewer overages. Plus, they have more insight into how they can bulk order to save on supplier shipping and fulfillment costs.
But which system is right for you? Take a look at some of the best options on the market:
Sellbrite
- Free version includes up to 30 orders per month and syncs inventory every 2 hours
- $29/month package includes up to 100 orders per month and syncs inventory every 15 minutes
- Integrates with most shopping platforms, incuding Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Shopify, and many more
- Prints shipping labels
- Options to ship from multiple warehouses
QuickBooks Commerce
- QB Commerce must be purchased alongside QuickBooks Essentials. Each solution is $50/month, totaling $100/month
- Easily track income and expenses and manage accounts receivable and accounts payable with QB Essentials
- Integrates with fewer shopping platforms than competitors but integrations include Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and Shopify
Katana
- Best for manufacturers
- Schedule production for items with low inventory
- Finished goods inventory is tied into your raw materials inventory, so you can generate purchase orders for raw materials directly from Katana
- $349 package tracks batches and expiration date for perishable items
Zoho One
- Zoho One features 45+ integrated applications, including Zoho Inventory, with pricing that makes it more advantageous than purchasing Zoho solutions piecemeal
- Zoho One's inventory tool covers up to 7,500 orders and 5 warehouses
- Integrates with fewer shopping platforms than Sellbrite but integrations include Shopify, BigCommerce, and Zoho Commerce
- Print shipping labels with every major carrier
Sellbrite
Sellbrite is a best-in-class inventory management tool for small business. It's especially great for doing so across multiple eCommerce platforms, including Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Google Shopping, Shopify, Walmart, and WooCommerce. With it, you can create and manage your listings on these platforms, control your inventory, and fulfill your orders from a single interface.
Both the listings and fulfillment tools are robust and very easy to use. But here, we want to focus on Sellbrite's inventory management capabilities. With Sellbrite, you can set up a single, centralized site to view and manage the stock you have on hand. Sellbrite can also make automatic inventory adjustments based on sales so your stock levels are always accurate.
Free plans are an option for businesses shipping fewer than 30 orders per month. Paid plans, which cap at about $179/month, allow owners to process up to 2,000 orders.
Visit Sellbrite’s site to learn more. Then, sign up for unlimited access for 30 days to find out if Sellbrite is the right choice for your business.
QuickBooks Commerce
Already using QuickBooks for bookkeeping? Their inventory management tool, QuickBooks Commerce, integrates seamlessly to help a small business like yours track and manage inventory, create purchase orders, and manage inventory reorder points.
As with Sellbrite, you can configure QuickBooks Commerce to list products and monitor your inventory across channels. These channels include Shopify, Amazon, Etsy, and Amazon. Plus, with the accounting features of QuickBooks at the ready, you can easily track income and expenses, calculate sales taxes on invoices, and run reports to see the full financial picture of your business.
At this time, you must have a QuickBooks online account to use QuickBooks Commerce.
If you're already a QuickBooks customer, you can start QuickBooks Commerce for about $50/month for the first three months. Follow the link below to see if any discounts are available. If you're new to QuickBooks, you can get set up with both solutions for about $100/month. And again, you can usually get a discount for the first few months.
Visit QuickBooks’s site to take a product tour and chat with the sales team.
Katana
If you need a truly robust system, Katana is a great option.
This manufacturing ERP is a great option for businesses that manufacture their own inventory. With it, you can see all the moving parts of your business and gain insights to make great product decisions.
Katana does much more than the other systems we mention here. Features such as live inventory management, real-time production planning, scheduling, resourcing, task prioritization, and end-to-end traceability really set Katana apart. Still, it takes on many of the same tasks as other systems, including omnichannel order management.
Because of all these features, Katana is priced higher than the other systems we've shared. The complete end-to-end solution is available for around $299/month. Katana also offers a streamlined version for $99/month.
Would you like to start a free 14-day trial? Get started here.
Zoho Inventory
Zoho's inventory management system is a best bet for businesses with complex inventory needs. It pairs well with Amazon, Shopify, eBay, and Etsy to help you stay on top of orders and keep up-to-date on what you have in stock.
An added perk for many, this software pairs perfectly with Zoho Accounting, making reconciliations a breeze. It also connects with other Zoho apps like its CRM tool to help you build better customer profiles.
Zoho Inventory has a great warehouse management feature for small business owners. It allows you to check stock levels, manage inter-warehouse transfers, and generate reports on the spot. And, with end-to-end tracking as a core feature, you can track every item or batch in your inventory to stay on top of movements and have better control over expiration dates.
Ship fewer than 50 orders a month? You might try Zoho's free plan. If you ship more—or want to access the full suite of features—check out their paid plans. These top out at about $240/month for unlimited shipping from up to 15 warehouses.
You can also access Zoho Inventory through Zoho One, Zoho's all-in-one solution for marketing, sales, finance, and operations. Zoho One starts at around $37/month per employee.
Ready to learn more about Zoho Inventory? Get started here.
What's next?
Want to learn about other small business solutions? Let us help you find the right systems. Then, log into your owner’s portal for more articles and advice tailored to your business.
