Choosing an Inventory System

Inventory system software are numerous in this day and age, which is a testament to their importance in everyday business. Operating a product based sales model without an inventory system is business suicide, and most small businesses start with very simple inventory management, be it a paper-based system, spreadsheets or even a home built database system.

Owners of Small Business startups can seldom afford to pay for even a simple inventory system, and even a very basic spreadsheet package can cost several hundreds of pounds or dollars to have developed, or, if you are creating it yourself, the time involved doing so is valuable time that should be spent working on building the business.

Too many small businesses will try to make do without adequate inventory management but all too often this can create unforeseen problems further down the business life cycle, like losing track of product inventory, problems locating inventory and even being taken advantage of by unscrupulous customers returning re-labled goods that may not even have been an original sale, a not uncommon scenario, as several of our Inventory System clients have encountered, though, happily, our software caught these discrepancies.

Another factor that puts off too many small business owners in purchasing business software tools is the question of suitability to their organisation.
Does it do everything you need it to do?
Is there ability to upgrade if and when you expand your business?
Is there integration across the organisation's departments?

Not every Inventory System will do what you require, but many will be developed with an end user market in mind, so it's a matter of finding the right system for your industry needs. When you have several inventory systems to compare, you can utilize the 80/20 rule if you wish to conserve costs, that being if a business tool performs at least 80% of the functions you require and costs 20% of one which does 110% of what you need (the 10% being extra bells and whistles), then a reasonable choice would be the less expensive system.

That being said, starting with the right foot first can be the best attitude to business tool selection, and those small business owners who are willing to invest in an inventory management system that meets every one of their requirements at a reasonable cost can alleviate their inventory worries from the outset, freeing up time and manpower resources.

Upgradeablity for expansion of the business is also a major concern with many small business owners who think ahead and plan for tomorrow through action today, so every business owner must bear in mind that an Inventory System that meets their requirements today might not be suitable in a year or two year's time. Switching inventory management systems can be huge organisational nightmare and if the system you pick for today's climate is not expandable for tomorrow, then the process of searching and comparing will only add to the burden of business process changes.

In order for an integrated system to perform adequately across an organisation, each department must be able to access the relevant information they require to operate, with real time, live updating across all departments so the organisation operates as a unified whole. An integrated Inventory System must be able to provide more than just inventory control, but other business management features should be incorporated, like sales order and invoice generation, goods inwards and goods outwards and other features like contact management and accounting or integration with your chosen accounting package.

Choose an inventory system to suit your business.

Inventory Management

So was looking at good keywords and phrases, and, although we are on the first page of MSN if you search stock control software, or system, Inventory software is more elusive, with a fourth of fifth page result.

Now I checked with the Overture keyword checker and Inventory as a keyword search is much more prevalent than stock control.

So now I'm thinking I should optimise our keywords on the site and any further links with the keyword Inventory.

To further enforce this, I shall look for sites about Inventory Management that will reciprocate links, as I only did this for sites found under Stock Control before now.

Other things to do, make portals to our main site, each portal consisting of one page with a targeted keyphrase prevalent in that page, with each page targeted with a different keyword/s or phrase.

Meanwhile, if you need FREE but functional stock control software, try Rightcontrol Lite

Toodles

Stock Control Software - MSN says we EXIST!

So came into work on Tuesday and did the usual Link popularity checker, to find in great shock and surprise that our links on MSN had tumbled from over 70 to 10!

I verified this with the search and yes, we only had 10 links present on MSN!

Then I did a test on MSN.co.uk searching for "Stock Control Software", and lo and behold, we popped in 3rd place on the first page!

That was a much nicer surprise and so I replicated the search on MSN.com and we arrive at 6th place on the first page. A similar placing occurs when I use the search phrase "stock control system".

So, the way I see it, all the hard work finding free links and vetting quality relevant links has raised our profile from no-where to 3rd out of over 2 million pages!

This is good for company morale and we high five'd till our hands hurt! :-)

A new strategy for marketing and sales we've been using is the network of software resellers, like Download.com and CNET sister sites, and Share-IT and affiliate sites.

Software resellers which are internet based are great for companies who do not have the advertising and marketing budget of the big players, and for very little cost, you get loads of exposure, although it was a headache to set up, requiring a Bachelor degree in Website Form Completion to use!

Because of our low marketing and advertising budget, we have scoured the Earth for the best way to promote our products in the highly saturated Stock Control system market, and we feel that having the product range that we have, ranging from Home Business to Enterprise scale applications, we are covering as many bases as we can.

Our limited budget makes us much more willing to try new and novel ways to market and advertise, like this Weblog for example, like the articles I write in various Small Business Community Forums.

Did I mention we now offer Rightcontrol Lite, a FREE, simple to use, integrated Business Management System? Now no home business has an excuse not to have stock control software!

Toodle pip!

Stock Control - a saturated keyphrase

Keyphrases and Keywords is the accepted standard of web marketing life, and has become as common as muck. Muck is what some keywords are now, with super high saturation, and super high cost in any search term related advertising.

"Stock Control" and "Inventory Management" are the two key terms I am most interested in (of course - dur!) and these two terms can cost up to 5 GBP on Overture or AdWords.

So, one must think cleverly, and use these phrases in more targeted advertising, with the use of additional search words, such as adding System to either phrase (which is still a very expensive keyphrase). Further, you can add more precise terms, like putting the region you are based, ie "Stock Control System Manchester UK", so you capture your local market too.

A broad phrase is only good if you can afford to give away expensive clicks with no ROI, or willing to settle for a lower position on the advert banner. So effective keyphrasing must be able to reach the top of the advert board and cost less per click.

Some other variants to try are spelling mistakes which throws up a few occasionally, like "stok" or "stokk" etc.

J

Inventory Management - A Saturated Market

Inventory Management Systems and Stock Control software in general is a very highly saturated market, with hundreds of software houses producing sophisticated systems for all types of industry.

This is how the small software house can be a key niche player in the market, by specialising and targeting certain industries, rather than try to be a swiss army knife program.

A solid functional system is the basis of good stock control, with a simply laid out, well designed interface, which eases the learning curve for new users. Then one must look at the target user, to add further precision in the marketplace.

Split the target end user into groups of user level and computer competence, and design for that level of computer literacy. It is reasonable to assume that most people working in the stock warehouse or sales office of a retail or wholesale distribution business are fairly IT literate, and know their way around a keyboard and mouse, but even then, one should design and cater for the lowest level of competency.

Information Technology should be ubiquitous, much as the mobile cellphone is becoming, and so this simple phrase should be the motto running in the heads of all software engineers. Make it easy to use, so that every one can use it.

So the Rightcontrol Stock Control Business Management software was designed with low IT literacy in mind, although many functions are for the more experienced computer user, the daily tasks of stock purchase, entry, sales, despatching and invoicing are made to be simple to use, and with lowered times of competency by design.

Reason? We saw that many office users, salespeople, warehouse staff and other operational job roles, did not require or have to use IT equipment, any more than a cursory check of email and the web. So their user experience was limited to email programs, browsers and, usually, games. So when introducing a new Stock Control system, it had to be logical and easy to learn & use.

Also, by initially targeting specific industry niches, it benefitted our target customer by recognising and meeting those needs of that particular industry, so new customers could find all they need straight out of the box, and take control of their inventory problems.

Although we have changed our off-the-shelf package, it is still aimed at the retail or wholsale distributor, taking sales over the phone, email or web, with the occasional walk in customer. The system is set up in such a way that the goods out/despatch is central to operation, so, unlike an EPOS system, it is based on the gereration of a Sales Order, or a Pro-Forma invoice, rather than scan out operation at a till like a supermarket, though we also have scan out capability for faster sales order generation.

For more information on Stock Control and Business Management software, visit http://www.losoftware.co.uk

J