With an effective inventory management solution your business can improve visibility of stock levels.
According to a recent study most businesses rely on manual methods, spreadsheets or third-party software for day-to-day inventory management. The inefficiency, unreliability and limited functionality of these approaches has driven many companies to adopt inventory management software.
Integration with an advanced B2B ecommerce platform solves operational challenges, almost eliminating labor-intensive manual inventory control processes to reduce errors. However, there are a lot of options available. How do you choose a solution that’s right for your business?
Integrating Cloudfy’s business to business (B2B) ecommerce solution with inventory management tools delivers the most accurate view of your inventory. In almost real time you can share your stock levels and lead times and provide alerts for new arrivals.
Your online catalog always includes your most current inventory levels, minimizing ordering for restricted, discontinued or out-of-stock items. Both your customer ordering app and field sales representative app use the same information, so they’re always accurate too. Your customers and salespeople can see your latest inventory information wherever they are.
Reordering is easy and stock-sensitive customers can sign up for back-in-stock alerts and app notifications. You can also send daily, weekly or monthly emails with your current inventory levels for easy reference. Cloudfy can connect to your clients’ databases via cXML integration or using the powerful application programming interface (API).
Table of Contents
What is inventory management software?
Inventory management software automates your stock control processes and streamlines product tracking, reordering and accounting. At any time, you can have an accurate view of your inventory and order fulfillment. It’s a critical part of your day-to-day business operations, so you need a reliable and effective solution.
Most inventory management software is now cloud-based, so you can see real time updates wherever you are. When looking for the best inventory management solution for your business your selection checklist should include:
- high service standards
- strong software management and maintenance
- clear pricing
- inventory tracking and control features
- integrations with key business systems.
Benefits of inventory management software
Inventory visibility
You can see stock locations and movements, so you’ll reduce human error and improve customer satisfaction.
Reliable replenishment
A clear record of your inventory allows you to streamline reordering, so you never run out of key items. You can also minimize excess inventory on your shelves.
Business system integration
Integration with your ecommerce, warehouse, finance and accounting systems reduces duplicate data entries and enables process automation.
Prima vs Cin7: Which inventory management solution is best for my business?
There are plenty of options to choose from and your decision will depend on your business requirements. Here we look at two market leaders: Prima and Cin7.
Prima
Prima is a leading cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution designed for fast-growing businesses. It helps you streamline operations, boost sales, and support sustainable development. It can integrate with other business systems and scale as your business grows. It offers a business intelligence reporting suite, Prima Vantage, with reports, interactive portals and dashboards. Its marketplace includes catalogs from over 65 sellers with millions of stockkeeping units. The customer engagement portal simplifies your customer and prospect data to increase interaction and loyalty.
Cin7
Cin7 is a purpose designed inventory management and point of sale (POS) solution. You can use it to manage costs, optimize stock levels and improve cashflow. It’s suitable for business to business (B2B), consumer (B2C), online and brick-and-mortar businesses. Synchronization with your accounting software helps you keep track of spending. You can integrate it with your ecommerce site, warehouse and logistics management to automate order fulfillment. For larger customers, it includes electronic data interchange integration and links to leading online marketplaces.
Inventory management solution comparisons
Prima is a business-wide management solution with built-in automation designed to enable growth. It supports stock control and planning, warehouse management, product development and order management. You can encourage your customers to adopt online self-service thanks to its simple access to order histories and account information. With powerful tools for gap analysis and sales pipeline reporting you can improve conversion rates and increase customer spending. You can also improve decision making and performance with advanced analytics and reporting features.
Cin7 inventory management integration simplifies your business workflows. You can capture and manage orders from multiple channels. Centralized product management, payment processing, and financial control help to improve efficiency. Seamless connections with electronic data interchange (EDI) and third-party logistics (3PL) providers help you keep everything running smoothly.
Like Prima, Cin7 is a cloud-based solution. Both can provide near real time visibility of your operations. Prima provides a comprehensive solution for fast-growing businesses with complex inventory and sales requirements. Cin7’s core product is ideal for smaller manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers, acting as a hub to connect key business tools. As your business grows, Cin7 Omni helps you simplify real-time communication with suppliers and fulfillment partners to improve efficiency.
Both Prima and Cin7 allow you to synchronize your data to improve accuracy. You can integrate inventory management with online sales, order processing, and financial tracking.
Integrated B2B ecommerce and inventory management with Cloudfy
Given today’s supply chain challenges, your customers and sales teams need an accurate view of your inventory. Cloudfy provides advanced B2B ecommerce features and easy ways to share your stock levels in near real time. Streamlined integration with either Prima or Cin7 inventory management software keeps everyone informed. You can increase conversion rates and optimize cross-selling and up-selling opportunities.
Find out how to simplify, save and scale your business with Cloudfy and inventory management integration. Contact us today.
Frequently Asked Questions
The best solution for your business will depend on your requirements. Your choice depends on whether your priority is real time inventory information or features to support business growth, for example. B2B ecommerce and inventory management integration helps you manage your stock efficiently to support online and offline sales. Whichever solution you choose it should improve your ability to track inventory levels, automate tasks, and streamline order fulfillment. You might also look for tools to optimize warehouse operations, improve demand forecasting, and reduce costs.
B2B inventory management software provides real-time visibility of stock levels, helping you fulfill orders efficiently. You can minimize manual tasks to reduce data entry errors and improve operational performance. Integration with other business systems improves data sharing, collaboration and decision making.
Real-time visibility of your stock levels helps you fulfill orders promptly. Automated inventory tracking reduces over stocking or out of stock ordering so you can maintain your ideal stock levels. Integration with your ecommerce platform and warehouse management systems provides a complete end-to-end process to improve performance.
Yes. In most cases B2B inventory management and ecommerce integrations can handle multiple sales channels. You can sell effectively via your ecommerce site, online marketplaces, mobile apps, and offline channels. With centralized inventory data you can provide consistent customer experiences and keep your sales team up to date.
