A Comprehensive Guide to Small Business Inventory Management Systems

It’s a success story many small business owners dream of having. Farm Fresh Clothing Co., an online retailer of clothing made from organic cotton, quickly grew to $3 million in sales after signing on with Stitch Labs, a Cloud-based inventory management system. Managing your business inventory is essential for success. After all, if you don’t have the items in stock, you run a high risk of losing the sale to your closest competitor.

Migration to the Cloud has given small businesses like Farm Fresh Clothing Co. the ability to compete with much larger retailers. Using Stitch Labs’ Cloud-based system, this e-tailer receives real-time information on inventory status when an order is placed, including how many shirts are in stock, how many are being shipped, to let them know at first glance if enough items are in stock to fulfill the order. These solutions can be accessed using mobile devices, whether a business owner is on the showroom floor or at his vacation home on the beach. But for most small businesses, the process of finding and implementing a Cloud-based inventory systems can seem daunting at first. For that reason, we’ve compiled a comprehensive how-to guide for small businesses interested in adding an inventory management system to their current suite of Cloud-based solutions. Hopefully through this guide, businesses will understand why they need inventory management and how it can impact their business’s bottom line.

What Does Inventory Management Provide?

Unless your business only sells one item at a time, chances are you’re keeping track of your inventory. You may be doing this through chicken scratches on scraps of paper or by using an Excel spreadsheet, but either way, you’re likely constantly aware of how many items you have in stock at any given time.

As your business grows, these manual methods of keeping track of your inventory will likely become cumbersome and error-prone. It’s easy to forget to write an item down when things get busy and assume you have more items in stock than you currently  have. Too many mistakes and you’ll begin seeing negative online reviews for your business-reviews that will linger out there for many years to come. Over time, you may find these errors put you out of business completely.

An inventory management system reduces risk of errors by automating the process. When an item is purchased on your site, that item is automatically removed from your inventory, updating your site so that when an item is temporarily out of stock, customers can no longer order that item. Businesses can also receive notifications when inventory is running low on a particular item, prompting them to order more. With inventory tracking, you’ll also be able to conduct regular inventory tracking to spot any inventory losses early on.

Cloud Solutions Save Money

Many businesses today are opting for Cloud-based solutions, rather than purchasing and installing software on each device. This helps them save money, while removing the headache of troubleshooting problems and ensuring data remains secure. For an affordable monthly fee, small businesses can set up a Cloud-based inventory system that is fully managed by a highly-skilled team employed by the software firm.

Because a Cloud-based inventory system is accessible from anywhere, business owners are always aware of their own inventory levels. Staff are no longer required to spend hours logging information about products and business owners will have inventory level information at their fingertips, saving time that can be put toward bringing in more business.

What is the Best Solution?

Each business will have its own specific needs when it comes to inventory solutions. It’s important to choose an inventory system that addresses your own specific business needs, as well as one that integrates well with your existing environment. If you already have accounting software in place, the inventory system you choose should specifically mention integration with that system in order to further improve your business’s efficiency.

Here are a few options for businesses of varying needs:

• StitchLabs features integration with accounting systems, payment systems, and e-Commerce platforms, including PayPal, Amazon, Shopify, QuickBooks, and more. This integration provides a seamless experience for many small businesses, providing an all-in-one solution that saves time and makes things easier for workers. For businesses just starting out, the app features a starter edition for only $25 per month, which includes three user accounts and integration with one sales channel. More robust plans start at $45 per month.
• Intuit’s SOS Inventory is a great solution for those using QuickBooks Online for their accounting functions. The tight integration with the Cloud-based version of QuickBooks means items entered in the inventory system will automatically be updated in QuickBooks to avoid the need to double-enter information. The app comes with a 30-day free trial, with plans starting at $29.95 per month.
• For businesses that prefer to run on iPads, Inventory Tracker is a highly-rated app that runs directly on a business’s iPad. Because it’s an app, it lacks many of the integration features that a full Cloud solution has, but at only $4.99, it might be a great solution for start-ups.

Because many of these software options provide free trial editions, you can try out each inventory management system to see which works best for your needs. For many small businesses, though, failure to implement an inventory management system can slow processes down and introduce the possibility of errors, which can cost businesses far more in the long run than any inventory management solution will.

Cell Phone Comparison Review: Samsung, HTC, Nokia and iPhone

No-contract cell phone plans are common, but not widely talked about among business owners. Most of the time, you hear about the major carrier brands because they provide an “all you can eat” unlimited type plan and that appeals to the busy owner. However, those plans come with a hitch - you get a lower cost of entry, but overall higher cost.

In this cell phone comparison review, I take a fast look at six smartphones: Three from Boost Mobile, two from new kid on the block, Aio Wireless (owned by not-so-new-kid, AT&T) and one from Ting.

[From left to right: Samsung S4 from Ting; Samsung S3, HTC One, LG Optimus 7 from Boost Mobile; Nokia 720 Windows Phone and iPhone 5 from Aio Wireless.]

Four of the phones included in this cell phone comparison review are Android-based smartphones. Although they are running nearly the same operating system (OS), they are far from the same. Manufacturers decide to build their hardware for a specific version, let’s say Android 3.0, and then create an interface or skin that is unique to that particular device. The look and feel is mostly the same, but not entirely.

What May Not Be Obvious

In the no-contract cell phone world, you purchase your phone for cash. There is no subsidy from a major carrier here. There’s no long term contract (as the name implies) and usually no penalties if you decide to move to another plan or provider, depending on the phone. You pay on a month-to-month basis, and sometimes prepaying several months to a year ahead gets you a greater discount. Some of the no-contract providers have special offers, on a certain phone, that helps reduce the cost.

On the surface, all smartphones are relatively the same. Each of them is a powerful little computer that can do some or all of the tasks you might do on a laptop. In fact, I have used a Bluetooth keyboard with several of these to type out a document in Evernote as well as on the mobile version of Microsoft Word. I have built simple spreadsheets and recorded presentations.

As you can see in the image below, I have put the HTC One SV on a tablet stand along with a Kensington Bluetooth keyboard. The tablet stand is called the iSlider from Rain Design. I use it with a variety of mobile devices and find it works well and travels well. Some days, this is all I have in my bag. Sure, the screen is small, but it backs up to the cloud and I pull it up on my laptop when I’m back on my main machine.

Now, to the cell phone and service reviews.

Samsung S4

I wrote a review of Ting with the S3 and the company also sent me the S4 to review. Hands-down, this is the fastest, most powerful smartphone I have used and you can even hook your S4 and view it on a television.  I love their “Savings Calculator” to help consumers and business owners pick the options that work best.

I currently pay about $15/month for my base plan which includes 100 minutes, 100 Mb of data, and 100 texts ($3 for each option, then $6 for phone/line cost). Hard to beat. Loads of phones to choose from, including used ones and the ability to bring your own, if your existing phone works on Sprint.

Boost Mobile sent me test devices for the next three phones (pictured: white, red and black, in order). While the devices are awesome, it is the plan that really stands out. They offer what they call “shrinking payments” which allows you to reduce your bill by paying on time. You can get your bill down to $40/month for a pretty good unlimited plan.

Samsung S3

While this loaner is not mine, I have and use the S3 daily. I use the voice recorder constantly for dictating posts, but also love the powerful speaker capability on this phone. There’s a little sound “boost” option while in speakerphone mode that helps in noisy situations.

The S3 is not much different than the S4. Since I use both nearly every day (my wife owns an S4 that I mess with regularly), I only see small differences. As above, the S4 is faster. If I were purchasing another today, I would opt for the S3 because you get most of the goodness in a lower cost phone.

HTC One SV

A sweet, little phone that fits really nice in your hand. It has a slight velvet feel that gives it some grip. It is an Android-powered phone, but HTC has its own skin or theme that makes using it vary a bit from other Android phones and takes only a few minutes to get used to.

LG Optimus F7

Elegant and fast, I found this phone to offer the strongest and fastest data connection with better than average performance downloading files. That could be Sprint, but my Ting phone is on Sprint as well and the F7 was much faster.

Without getting too technical, I think LG has some advantages under the hood that Samsung hasn’t cracked yet on the data access part.

Nokia Lumia 620 Windows Phone

Okay, full disclaimer: You have to love Windows 8 to love this phone. If you have been using another operating system, it will take a bit of learning to adapt to this interface. However, it did have some neat features that neither Android nor Apple had.

You can point your phone at a nearby street or neighborhood and it will display all the area businesses at a glance. You can then click through to see more about that business. The overall interface is slick, but it just takes a bit of getting used to. Other than that, it works like any other smartphone.

Apple iPhone 5

One of the downsides to some of the no-contract cell phone plan providers is they don’t get the newest phones first - those go to the major carriers with more subsidy dollars to spend. However, hats off to Aio for coming out of the gate with great new phones.

At the time they sent me the media loaner, the iPhone 5 was the newest phone from Apple. Of course, this is a powerful iPhone and you’re either a fan or you’re not. But you really cannot go wrong with an Apple product.

Aio Wireless phones are very affordable and the smartphone plans start at $55/month. They have a ‘bring your own phone’ option too, if you have an eligible existing phone that will work with one of their SIM cards.

No contract plans are not for everyone, but for those who don’t mind paying upfront for their phone, it is a great option. You can save a bundle on the monthly costs and justify moving from most major carrier contract plans.

What provider/plan are you currently using?

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