5 Best Inventory Management Software for Small Business
Don’t sleep on inventory management for small business. Take advantage of this helpful software and learn which suits your company.
Hey, small business owners. If you have inventory (restaurants, ecommerce businesses, and medical practices, we’re looking at you), you need an inventory system for small business. Inventory management software is like having a business superhero sidekick – an essential small business tool that helps you stay on top of stock and keep track of costs, purchasing, and more. Plus, it takes some of the admin work away from you and your employees. It’s a win–win.
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Back to Basics: Simple Inventory Software
So, how do you know which software to choose? We’re here to help with a list of our top inventory management software options organized by five industries.
#1
MarketMan
Best for: Restaurants
G2 rating: 4.5/5
If you have a restaurant, MarketMan is the go-to inventory management for your small business. If you own one restaurant or a few around town, this is a great inventory system for managing back-of-house. With MarketMan, cost transparency is the key. Users can see recipe costs down to the smallest ingredients.
Pros
- It offers reporting and analytics, from basic to robust (depending on your plan), that help you reduce the cost of goods sold, understand which menu items are the most or least profitable, see all costs of ingredients, and calculate profit margins.
- MarketMan integrates seamlessly with reporting, accounting, and POS software.
- Your menu list can be broken down into ingredients, instructions, portions, images, and more to help train new employees or keep as a reference.
- When you make purchases or receive food and equipment deliveries, take a photo of the invoice, and MarketMan will update your system with the number of items received – no manual entry is required.
- MarketMan has automatic ordering.
- When inventory of an item is low, MarketMan will notify you that it’s time to replenish stock. You can even organize inventory sheets according to how stock is organized on shelves.
Cons
- There is no free plan and no free trial.
- G2 reviews note that MarketMan’s customer support could use improvement and that it’s slow to respond to bug improvements or system glitches. This could be a make or break for busy restaurants.
- Though you can set up automatic ordering through MarketMan, you’ll have to use another service to submit payments to vendors.
Pricing
Three plans, from $179 to $399 per location per month, include a range of capabilities. There is also a one-time setup fee of $500. The higher price might be mitigated when you write off business expenses, but talk to your accountant.
#2
Square for Retail
Best for: Small retail business
G2 rating: 4.4/5
Square for Retail is a great tool for young retail businesses that don’t have a ton of inventory yet or have basic inventory management needs. This all-in-one solution makes managing sales and inventory easy with Square POS. It’s a simple inventory software perfect for small retail businesses with a physical space.
Pros
- Try out Square for Retail with a free 30-day trial of the Plus plan. Then, you can pick which plan works best for your business.
- Square for Retail works seamlessly with the Square POS, so there’s a seamless transition between your physical shop and online space.
- Set minimums for the amount of stock so that when something runs low, you’ll be alerted.
- Square for Retail sends automatic purchase orders to your vendors.
- You can use the barcode scanner for in-person tracking of items.
- Sync inventory across various sales channels makes it easier to account for things like contactless delivery, curbside pickup, or online shipping.
Cons
- Some G2 reviews note that Square for Retail’s inventory management software integrations with other ecommerce platforms could be easier. So, if you’re not using Square’s ecommerce site, keep this potential issue in mind.
- Square for Retail requires an internet connection, which could be problematic if your connection is disrupted.
- Because Square is a POS platform first, it doesn’t have as robust an inventory system as others on this list, so we’ve included it as a sound starter system for businesses.
Pricing
There are three plans: Free, which includes basic inventory tools; Plus ($60/month per location), which includes advanced inventory tools, reporting, and unlimited team management; and Premium, which includes other Square tools, like Payroll, Loyalty, and Marketing. You’ll need to contact the sales team to get a quote for the Premium plan.
#3
inFlow Inventory
Best for: B2B
G2 rating: 4.1/5
If you’re a B2B company that sells products to other businesses, you need inventory management for small business that can keep up with bulk orders, stock levels, and prices. Not only that, but the stock you want to share might change from client to client. inFlow Inventory can do all that and more and is an excellent option for B2B companies.
Pros
- Create different portals, or showrooms, for different customers, customizing each one to your clients’ needs. Each showroom has a public link that you can share with clients and you can add your own branding for a cohesive experience.
- Every showroom has the ability to use customized pricing specific to each customer. For example, you could offer discounted pricing to a repeat customer and regular pricing to another – all of it is private to that customer.
- No ecommerce site is needed for inFlow. You can receive payment directly through the B2B portal by using inFlow Pay.
- Real-time inventory control that records when you receive or fulfill orders. You can even track inventory across multiple locations and set separate reorder notifications for each one.
- Test the business inventory software with a 14-day free trial for the Small Business pricing plan.
Cons
- Some G2 reviews note that the reporting tools aren’t easy to customize.
- inFlow supports many ecommerce, shipping, and accounting integrations, but your pricing plan limits the number. Each additional integration is an extra cost.
- The lowest pricing plan does not give you access to the B2B showroom, so you must sign up for one of the higher plans.
Pricing
There are four pricing plans: Entrepreneur ($110/month), Small Business ($279/month), Mid-Size ($549/month), and Enterprise ($1,319/month). Each pricing tier gives you access to a different number of users, integrations, sales orders, and more.
#4
Zoho Inventory
Best for: ecommerce
G2 rating: 4.4/5
Zoho is an all-in-one service that includes inventory management for small business and customer relationship management, finance, IT, HR, marketing, and even its own operating system. So you can have it all with Zoho. That’s why we’ve included it as our pick for ecommerce – because it has a full suite of capabilities you can add on as you acquire more customers and boost ecommerce sales.
Pros
- Integrate Zoho Inventory with your preferred ecommerce platforms, like Shopify, Amazon, or Etsy. You can also use Zoho Commerce.
- Zoho Inventory offers seamless data entry from sales orders and invoices.
- You can group similar items to track and analyze as a group. These show up in Zoho’s inventory reports.
- Enjoy end-to-end identification and tracking for items.
- The system can integrate with 30 shipping carriers, and you can set up status notifications upon shipping to customers.
- Automatic reorder notifications when stock gets low.
- All invoices, sales orders, item details, and more get automatically entered into Zoho Books for easy accounting.
- There is a free plan (with limited capabilities).
Cons
- Some G2 reviews note that the inventory system’s reporting capabilities aren’t as robust as they’d like, so they have to add on Zoho Analytics.
- You’ll have to switch to Zoho Books if you have another accounting software.
- There is no offline mode, meaning an Internet connection is necessary.
Pricing
Zoho Inventory offers the most pricing plans on our list, making it a great choice for growing ecommerce businesses. There is a free plan, Standard ($59/month), Professional ($99/month), Premium ($159/month), Elite ($239/month), and Ultimate ($329). The plan tiers range from 50 to 25,000 orders, labels, and tracking per month, with higher-priced plans allowing for more warehouses, users, and features.
#5
ArbiMed
Best for: Healthcare
Capterra rating: 4.3/5
Healthcare businesses require seemingly infinite amounts of inventory for patient procedures. For medical clinics, it’s essential to use an inventory system for small business that makes your busy workday more manageable, and that’s where ArbiMed comes in. It includes inventory features unique to the healthcare industry.
Pros
- ArbiMed allows product tracking by serial and lot numbers; you’ll always see expiration dates.
- Enjoy streamlined ordering from manufacturing distributors with reduced manual entry.
- Utilize robust reporting that includes stock costs, cost-to-profit ratios, profits by doctor and supplier, detailed cost reports, and more.
- Keep tabs on the full life cycle of your inventory, from who purchased what and why.
- You can set up reordering levels to ensure you always have the right stock.
- ArbiMed is HIPAA compliant and also includes user permission management.
- There are many integrations available.
Cons
- Some Capterra reviews note that the ArbiMed interface isn’t user-friendly when setting up new patient orders or making changes.
- Reviewers also note that the software can be glitchy when updates are released.
- Reviewers note that the reporting feature isn’t as customizable as they would like.
Pricing
Pricing is unavailable on ArbiMed’s website, so you must contact a sales rep to get specific pricing for your business needs. However, Capterra reviews are overwhelmingly high regarding ArbiMed’s “value for money.”
How to Choose the Best Inventory Management System
There is a lot of business inventory software to choose from, so how do you know which one is right for your company? It all comes down to your specific industry (hint: that’s why we’ve organized this list by industry). For example, do you need customer portals for your B2B business with special pricing? Do you have a medical practice that needs to be HIPAA-compliant? Do you have a brick-and-mortar store that also has an online shop?
Other things to keep in mind are price, reporting capabilities, stock notifications, and user-friendliness. It’s essential to keep your specific needs in mind so you don’t choose an inventory system for a small business with features you don’t need. Make it one that works for your company, so you can spend more time doing what you do best – running your business.
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