Small business inventory control software to boost your growth
Choose a small business inventory control software that can scale with your business
Leave the mundane tasks for your inventory control software
Starting off with spreadsheets is a no-brainer, as your go-to system to track stock, customer information, orders, and payments. And why not? After all, spreadsheets are free and they do the trick. However, as your order volumes grow, you may spend more hours each day inputting data when that time could be used for much more impactful endeavors.
Manuals data entry is also quite an error-prone process and these small mistakes can snowball into large issues like suddenly running out of stock when your spreadsheet shows you had plenty left. That’s why the right time to implement an inventory control system is before things get out of hand.
With Katana, you get a real-time overview of your entire inventory. What’s more, your stock levels are automatically updated as new orders come in, raw materials arrive, or new products are manufactured. This way, you always have accurate inventory data when making business decisions.
Easy setup solution that doesn’t break the bank
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions can cost thousands of dollars, not including the expensive hardware requirements. Besides the large upfront cost, these systems can take weeks or even months to set up. And once installed, due to the complexity, the system still requires an in-house IT department to manage and maintain everything.
Katana is a cloud-based system which means you don’t need expensive hardware to run it nor will you need to install anything on your computer. All you need is an internet-enabled device with a web browser. This makes Katana an ideal solution for small businesses that need to get everything running with minimal upfront costs.
As another benefit besides the easy setup and lower costs, with cloud-based systems, you don’t need to worry about maintenance or updates as the service provider manages everything. Allowing you to focus on running your business and not on managing an IT department.
Seamless connection with all your business tools
Katana allows you to integrate your favorite platforms, so you can keep your data synchronized across all your favorite tools. With its native and third-party connections, you can connect with:
- E-commerce platforms
- Accounting tools
- Reporting tools
- Shipping platforms
- Customer relationship management (CRM) platforms
Keeping all your data synced is integral to ensuring your business runs smoothly. You can also use Katana’s open API to set up your own custom workflows.
Small business inventory management software that integrates with your favorite tools for a smooth workflow
Native integrations, codeless templates, and fully customizable API integrations
Katana’s small business inventory control software gives users access to the API, allowing you to create custom workflows and connect your business apps to manage your sales, manufacturing, and accounting all on one platform. Automate data transfers between the services you use to level up efficiency. Take a look at Katana’s API documentation to learn more.
With Katana, we can track products, build recipes for materials, and set reorder points as well. That was one thing that was very difficult to manage — raw material inventory — for example, how many black t-shirts do I need to order? That was the main reason why we selected Katana.”
Lisa Diep
Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Peace Collective
With Katana, we can more effectively see and follow inventory levels, and have recipes and bills of materials (BOMs) for our manufactured products that let us follow the manufacturing status throughout the whole production cycle.”
Richie Duncan
Founder at Kodama
I used to spend around 15 minutes per individual order on admin work, and I would be doing it all – preparing the packing lists, labels, and shipping. Now I do not need to touch any of that. Instead, I can put this time into designing new products and developing the business.”
Thomas Judge
Owner at GJ Motorsports
We needed something more than just a spreadsheet but we didn’t like to pay a crazy amount for a system we wouldn’t fully use. Tracking inventory and what stage it is in has been incredibly helpful. It’s helped our team have a clearer delineation of the order of operations for each product in our catalog.”
Sarah Zinger
Director of Production Logistics at System76
One common method is to use spreadsheets or other manual tracking methods. This can be effective for small businesses with simple inventory needs. However, it can become cumbersome and error-prone as the business grows and the inventory becomes more complex.
Another option is to use inventory software. This type of software can automate many of the tasks associated with managing inventory, including tracking your inventory level, calculating reorder points, using barcode scanners for stocktakes, and generating reports. This can help to improve accuracy, efficiency, and free up time for other tasks.
Inventory management software like Katana has the necessary inventory features for warehouse managers, retail businesses, and manufacturing companies alike to easily keep track of inventory and make sure the orders flow smoothly.
The 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle, is a widely used guideline in the business world and a valuable inventory management tool. It states that roughly 80% of a company’s sales will come from 20% of its products. This principle can be used to help prioritize inventory and focus on the items that are most important to the business.
When using inventory management systems, it becomes a lot easier to keep track of your stock and sales data becomes a lot easier. This then allows you to generate reports that can help you identify which products are selling well and which ones may need to be discontinued.
There are many benefits to using enterprise resource planning software, including better inventory control, increased accuracy, efficiency, and visibility. This type of software can help businesses keep track of their inventory, orders, and other important data.
Besides the basic inventory management features, some inventory systems also come with more advanced features:
- Barcode scanning
- Support for multichannel e-commerce
- Printing of shipping labels
- Support for multiple warehouse inventory tracking
Seamless integration with other business tools
A lot of ERP solutions are sold as a full business suite, though there are options that allow you to piece together your own perfect enterprise resource planning system.
Katana provides seamless integration, so you can connect with your favorite platforms. Katana offers native integrations with QuickBooks Online, Xero, Shopify, and WooCommerce. In addition, there are tons of third-party integrations with the most popular shipping, CRM, and reporting platforms.
It’s a good idea to look at software review sites like PCMag, Capterra, and Merchant Mavericks.
These sites list out different software that can come in handy when managing your operations. These can include:
- A POS system
- Payroll software
- Online payment apps and credit card processing tools
- Different inventory tools
- Some may even list hardware like card readers and barcode scanners
These websites list each product’s pros and cons — including customer comments and ratings, so you can decide which software provides the best features for your exact needs.