Basics Of BigCommerce Inventory Management Software And Integration

BigCommerce is a ‘hosted’ e-commerce solution that enables company owners to create an online marketplace and sell their goods on the internet. Hosted just means it runs on its own servers, meaning you don’t need to buy web hosting or install something on your computer to use it. You can create and run your shop from anywhere as long as you have access to a web browser and the internet. It’s a ‘software as a service’ (SaaS) app, which means you don’t buy the software outright and only pay a subscription charge to use it.

The product includes a variety of customized models to assist you in designing your online store; you can use it to sell either physical or digital goods; and there are several resources included to assist you in marketing your store.

BigCommerce inventory management is a solution that is fully integrated with BigCommerce and centralises and syncs inventory availability with the BigCommerce web store, offering unified inventory monitoring, order management and delivery, and business management.

What Is Inventory Management?

Inventory management, as part of the supply chain, involves tackling issues such as monitoring and managing orders — both from vendors and consumers — maintaining stock storage, controlling the amount of product for sale, and order fulfilment. Naturally, the exact inventory management definition for your business can vary depending on the types of items you offer and the networks by which you sell them. 

SMBs or small-to-medium businesses frequently use Excel, Google Sheets, or other manual tools to keep track of inventory databases and make buying decisions. Inventory control processes in these systems go beyond simple reordering and stock tracking to include anything from the end-to-end output and market management to lead time and demand forecasting to metrics, reports, and even accounting.

Common Problems with eCommerce Inventory Management

Without inventory management, retailers face a slew of challenges that raise overhead and slow down growth. Here are some of the common problems that businesses and brands encounter with or without an eCommerce Inventory Management Solution.

Understock And Overstock

When demand is unlikely to be met, the company is said to be understocked. This occurs when the reorder point is too low, the lead-time is too long, or orders are unexpectedly higher than we ‘reasonably anticipate.’

If you know it can take up to two months to source a product and you only have two months left in stock, it may be time to order more frequently. Similarly, products that are selling quickly and have a limited supply which need to be ordered. Understock represents an abnormally high inventory turnover ratio in terms of inventory turnover.

Overstock happens when a commodity is stored in storage in amounts much greater than what is needed. Overstock can be determined by comparing historical sales trends to current stock on hand. This idea is similar to inventory turns or inventory turnover, but it is described as a more actionable type of data.

Incorrect stock levels

Human error during cycle counts, manual inventory control and monitoring, cancelled orders that are not properly restocked, consumer returns, mismanaged backorders, and other factors all contribute to inaccurate stock.

Inventory management in BigCommerce helps to prevent situations where the website shows a dozen available units of a common product when there are only eight available.

Worse, a vendor order is incorrectly entered, causing your site to list a product as “out of stock” with backorders pending despite having cases of the product in your warehouse.

Lack Of Inventory Management System

Inventory management becomes exponentially more complex if you do not have an integrated warehouse management system. Without a centralised structure, you have no way of learning easily and accurately:

• The quantity of a commodity that you currently have on hand
• The quantity to be ordered to reach par standards
• How par levels adjust in response to sales
• Forecasting for upcoming campaigns and seasons
• Ongoing overhead expenses

This is most popular in smaller eCommerce businesses that use a manual inventory monitoring process, such as spreadsheets or paper-documented inventory. While this method can work for a startup with a limited inventory, it is far from scalable.

For BigCommerce inventory management, you’ll need a more integrated and automated solution that makes use of the platform’s native features.

If you want to know more about BigCommerce inventory management, click here.

Why Is BigCommerce Inventory Management Necessary?

Multi-channel commerce is one of the biggest inventory cost drivers in recent times. Consumers want easier ways to buy goods everywhere they go, as a result, brands are forced to sell across various outlets. Additional stock must be kept on hand as new platforms are introduced. Over the last five years, the number of warehouses has increased, and the number of days inventory outstanding has increased by more than 8%.

Despite an increase in inventory, almost half of small businesses do not use an inventory management system. Fortunately, platforms such as BigCommerce provide native functionality that makes inventory management a normal part of doing business. There are also applications and third-party warehouse management tools that integrate with platforms such as BigCommerce.

Inventory Management Automation for BigCommerce

BigCommerce relies heavily on automation since it interacts with a variety of applications for your online company. You have full leverage over your BigCommerce inventory with an unlimited number of distribution outlets and warehouses. Know what you have in stock and where it is at all times.

Here are some ways why automation is valuable for your Inventory Management With BigCommerce:

• Sync inventory in real-time to eliminate overselling and backorders.
• Forecast demand and control end-to-end buying to ensure you have the right stock in the right place at the right time. 
• Use rules to automate routine tasks such as setting stock per channel, routing to warehouses, and more. 
• Accurately monitor and manage inventory in a single warehouse, multiple warehouses, or at a 3PL. Simple inventory availability synchronisation across all channels
• Simplify drop shipments with preferred vendor pre-sets by-product and the ability to provide specific packaging guidance to drop-shippers.
• Use barcodes in conjunction with Acctivate to achieve near-perfect inventory accuracy and to expedite shipments out the door.
• Kitting, traceability, multi-currency, matrix inventory, capture weight, multiple units of measure, and the most advanced landed cost capabilities in the market can add powerful capabilities to your company.