Category: Ecommerce

SKULabs Optimizes Inventory Management in Real Time

Posted on by Alex E

The Challenge of Multi-Channel Inventory Management

Selling on multiple platforms, like Shopify, Amazon, eBay, and others, can be highly profitable, but also introduces some unique challenges. Each platform has its own inventory system, and without the right tools, keeping them all synchronized manually, avoiding overselling, and ensuring a seamless customer experience can be a logistical nightmare. Sure, you could spend your whole day tracking spreadsheets, signing in to each store, and updating inventory by hand. You might even finish with some spare time left to worry if anything has changed since you first started…but is this really the best option?

Tracking real time inventory with spreadsheets is a bit baroque, no?

“Trochees, what are trochees?”

George Frideric Handel

Where SKULabs takes the stage

With the pace of online ecommerce growing faster by the day, seconds are what can make the difference between another successful sale or a cancelled order. Inventory changes need to be quick, efficient, and automatic, no matter how many orders or sales channels you are managing.

While SKULabs offers a wide array of features, our biggest focus is providing solutions as a multi-channel inventory management tool. We help ensure inventory remains accurate across multiple stores and sales channels with real time inventory updates and customizable stock rule strategies, reducing your risk of overselling and giving you more control over how you sell. This essentially automates what would normally require the cost and effort from a full time position! Instead of being overwhelmed with managing stock from your individual sales channels, each store works in concert with one another to help your entire business perform better overall.

Real time updates reduce the odds of overselling

Having real time data on inventory levels is the key to making best informed decisions and avoiding discrepancies across sales channels. Every order placed is reflected upon inventory levels within SKULabs and the stock advertised on your channels. When an item is sold on Shopify, your stock in Ebay will be adjusted. When you’re ready to place a purchase order, you can consider sales from all your channels at once to meet your reordering needs.

Customizable stock rules help you sell faster with better control

Want to hold 5 units back for safety stock, exchanges, or replacements? No problem. Want to advertise inventory for a pre-sale period? Consider it Handel’d. SKULabs offers powerful and fully customizable stock rules that give you complete control and peace of mind over how inventory is tailored to pushed to each of your sales channels. These rules can be applied at both the channel level and the individual listing level, providing you with granular control over your inventory. Here are some ways you can use stock rules to optimize your inventory management:

  • Channel-Level Rules: Set different stock rules for each sales channel. For example, you might want to reserve a certain amount of stock for a specific channel to meet demand or maintain a buffer.
  • Individual Listing Rules: Customize stock rules for individual products. This is useful if you have high-demand products or items with limited availability. Or even for those you want to skip pushing stock for altogether.

SKULabs vs. Manual Inventory Management

Managing inventory across multiple channels manually or with spreadsheets is not only time-consuming but also risky. Errors in stock levels can lead to overselling, missed sales opportunities, and a poor customer experience. SKULabs provides a far better solution by offering:

  • Automation: Real-time updates and stock rules automate much of the inventory management process, reducing the need for manual intervention.
  • Accuracy: With all your inventory in sync, you can be confident that stock levels are accurate across all sales channels.
  • Scalability: As your business grows and you add more sales channels, SKULabs scales with you, providing a unified solution for managing inventory.

Conclusion

Real-time inventory updates from SKULabs offer a comprehensive solution for managing inventory across multiple ecommerce sales channels. By reducing the risk of overselling, providing powerful customization options with stock rules, and automating key processes, SKULabs can help you streamline your inventory management and focus on growing your business. Say goodbye to the headaches and time spent on maintaining inventory across sales channels, and take your inventory management to the next stage. Your customers—and your bottom line—will thank you.

🚀 Connect with SKULabs Today

SKULabs is used as an all-in-one solution or integrated with existing inventory management software across all sizes and all different types of operations to maintain line of sight to all inventory at all times and reduce picking, packing, and fulfillment errors.

  1. Real-time Synchronization: Never over-sell or under-stock again. Our software provides near instant synchronization across all your sales channels.
  2. Quick Setup: With SKULabs, you could be up and running in as little as 30 minutes to 10 working days for a comprehensive setup based on your unique operations.
  3. Top-tier Integration: Whether you’re on Shopify, Amazon FBM/FBA, or any other leading eCommerce platform, we’ve got you covered.
  4. No hidden setup or onboarding fees – Work with our account managers to help you get set up at every step of the way. Free of cost!
  5. Unparalleled customer support – Our top tiered support team is highly praised in our reviews.
  6. 30-day Money-back Guarantee: Confident in our solution, we offer a no-strings-attached, 30-day guarantee. Experience SKULabs and if it’s not the right fit, no worries!

Now is the perfect time to chat with one of our experts today. Schedule a meeting or give us a call at +1 800-243-2986 to learn more about how we can help you get prepared for taking your business to the next level!

Posted in Ecommerce, Inventory Management, Multichannel, Warehouse ManagementTagged , , , , ,

Light Manufacturing Made Easy: Maximizing Efficiency with SKULabs

Posted on by Brad Baecker

In the world of eCommerce, flexibility and efficiency in managing inventory and production processes are crucial. For businesses engaged in light manufacturing, finding an efficient solution that integrates just-in-time kitting and phase based inventory manufacturing can be a game changer. SKULabs offers an innovative approach to light manufacturing through its robust kitting functionality and support for virtual/disconnected warehouses. This guide explores how you can leverage these features to optimize your manufacturing process.

Workers assembling products to be sold on eCommerce

The Power of Kitting in SKULabs

Kitting involves combining multiple items or components into a single product for sale. It’s a common practice in industries like electronics, auto parts, T-shirt manufacturing and appliances, where bundled products are not only popular, but necessary to represent a finished good. SKULabs’ kitting function allows you to create kits that represent all the individual component items that make up a single product, enabling you to manage inventory more efficiently while maintaining accurate stock counts both at the kit level as well as the component items.

Creating Kits in SKULabs

With SKULabs, you can easily create kits by defining a kit as a collection of specific inventory items. This approach allows you to:

  • Simplify Inventory Management: By creating kits, you can track bundled products as a single unit, reducing complexity in inventory tracking. Each kit will have its own SKU and barcode for representation. Inventory levels will be based on the amount of component items on hand that make up a single kit.
  • Ensure Accurate Stock Levels: SKULabs automatically adjusts stock levels for individual components when a kit is sold, ensuring accurate inventory counts and eliminating the logistics of keeping up with the component items. Kits are calculated automatically in the background and advertised as a whole on your sales channel.
  • Facilitate Order Fulfillment: Kits can be seamlessly integrated into your order processing workflow, streamlining fulfillment and reducing errors. This allows you to fulfill a group of items with a single scan of a barcode.

To create a kit, you simply name the Kit, assign a SKU and fill it with component items. SKULabs takes care of the rest, ensuring that each kit is accurately represented in your inventory system.

Virtual/Disconnected Warehouses: A New Approach to Manufacturing

One of the unique features of SKULabs is its support for virtual/disconnected warehouses. This feature allows you to represent different stages of the manufacturing process as separate warehouses, providing greater flexibility and control. Here’s how it works:

Virtual Warehouses?

A virtual warehouse can be used as a digital representation of the different stages of production in an inventory management system. These stages may include intake and housing of raw materials, assembly of products, items sent for quality control, and ultimately advertised inventory to your sales channels. The primary advantage of using virtual warehouses is the ability to track inventory levels and the flow of goods across different stages without the need for spreadsheets or other costly softwares. With the proper setup, virtual warehouses can streamline operations, improve visibility, and boost overall efficiency.

Virtual warehouses in stages 1-3 to represent manufacturing process

Setting Up Disconnected Warehouses

In SKULabs, disconnected warehouses are separate inventory locations not directly tied to a specific eCommerce sales channel. This feature is ideal for representing manufacturing stages, enabling you to track the progress of your products as they move through the production process and know what is on hand. By setting up disconnected warehouses, you can:

  • Define Manufacturing Stages: Create different warehouses to represent stages like “Intake”, “Assembly,” “Quality Control,” or “Packaging.”
  • Track Inventory Movement: Easily move inventory between warehouses to reflect the manufacturing process. This is a simple internal warehouse transfer which gives you granular control on how much stock is moved, and which phase of the process it should represent next.
  • Ensure Product Readiness: Once a product is complete, you can transfer it to your connected warehouse, making it available for sale on your e-commerce platforms.

Integrating Disconnected Warehouses with Kits

The combination of kitting and disconnected warehouses allows you to represent the entire manufacturing process within SKULabs. Here’s a simplified workflow:

  1. Define Kits: Create kits in SKULabs that represent the finished product, specifying all the components needed for assembly.
  2. Set Up Disconnected Warehouses: Create warehouses for each stage of the manufacturing process.
  3. Move Inventory Through Stages: As components are progressing into assembled kits, transfer them from one disconnected warehouse to the next to reflect the manufacturing progress or stages.
  4. Complete the Product: Once the kit is fully assembled and ready for sale, transfer the components to your connected warehouse, making it available for order fulfillment.
  5. Fulfill Orders: With the product in your connected warehouse, you can seamlessly fulfill customer orders and manage inventory levels across your eCommerce sales channels. This method also lets you sell and keep track of your component items individually!

Running Low on component items?

Now that we have simplified the logistics for maintaining accurate inventory levels for your products that are made up of various component items, how do you keep an eye out for that one component item that will keep you from completing these assembled goods? Take advantage of SKULabs’ built in inventory alert system. Right on your SKULabs dashboard, you will maintain visibility of all of the items that have hit or fallen below your assigned threshold of on-hand counts. Not always in front of your app or device? No problem, we can automate these stock alerts to be sent to your desired email address to keep you in-the-know while on-the-go!

Keep it Simple

SKULabs offers a comprehensive solution for light manufacturing by combining kitting functionality with the flexibility of virtual/disconnected warehouses. By utilizing these features, you can efficiently manage the production process, track inventory accurately, and ensure a smooth transition from manufacturing to order fulfillment. Whether you’re a small business or a larger eCommerce operation, SKULabs provides the tools to streamline your light manufacturing process and keep your customers satisfied!

Connect with SKULabs Today

Now is the perfect time to discuss how we can help you get prepared for taking your business to the next level!

Chat with one of our experts today. Schedule a meeting or give us a call at 1800-243-2986 to learn more.

Posted in Ecommerce, Inventory Management, Small Business, Warehouse ManagementTagged

Improving E-Commerce with SKULabs: Merging FBM and FBA SKUs for better inventory management

Posted on by Alex E

In the fast-paced world of e-commerce, managing inventory with precision is crucial for sellers to stay competitive and meet customer demands efficiently. This is particularly true for businesses using Seller Fulfilled Prime as well as Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) and Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM) models to optimize their delivery times and control costs. Traditionally, managing these separate inventory streams has been a complex and time-consuming process. However, SKULabs provides simple but effective features to help sellers: the automatic merging of FBM and FBA SKUs. This functionality helps you easily monitor and manage inventory for the same physical products in one place, even for products sold as both an FBA or FBM listing. Having the tools to keep this process easier allows sellers to focus on other important objectives like operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.

The Challenge of Managing Separate Inventories

The complexity of managing two separate inventories for FBA and FBM is not only time-consuming but also prone to many challenges and inefficiencies; inaccurate stock level reporting per channel, increased operational costs in both fulfillment or stocking decisions, and missed sales opportunities due to stockouts in one channel while surplus exists in another. These challenges can ultimately cause a poor experience for your customers and highlights the need for a more efficient approach to avoiding or overcoming them.

The SKULabs Solution: Simplified inventory with merged FBM and FBA listings

SKULabs helps sellers easily manage products by intelligently and automatically linking FBM and FBA listings for the same products together under the same inventory item. And while FBM and FBA listings are merged, SKULabs still maintains separate stock levels for both FBM and FBA, so we’ll never mistakenly push the stock you keep in your own warehouse to the stock in your FBA warehouse.

This brings several benefits:

Efficient inventory management

By consolidating FBM and FBA SKUs into a single inventory view, sellers can now manage their products more efficiently, ensuring accurate stock levels across all sales channels and fulfillment methods. Being able to accurately monitor stock levels on both methods in a single place easily allows businesses to optimize their fulfillment strategies, FBA inbound processes, and overall operational efficiency.

Better operational efficiency

Automatic merging of SKUs directly impacts operational efficiency. With a unified inventory, businesses can better allocate resources, optimize fulfillment processes, and make informed decisions about restocking and product distribution. This level of efficiency is critical for maintaining customer satisfaction and competitive edge. Moreover, it allows for more strategic planning and resource allocation, focusing efforts where they are most needed.

Data driven insights for growth

The consolidation of inventory data provides valuable insights that can drive strategic business decisions. Sellers can analyze trends across both FBM and FBA channels, identifying best-selling products, seasonal fluctuations, and potential areas for expansion or marketing. This data-driven approach allows for more accurate forecasting and strategic inventory distribution, ensuring that products are positioned to meet demand effectively.

Improved Sales and Customer Satisfaction

One of the most significant benefits of merging FBA and FBM SKUs is the impact on sales and customer satisfaction. With a more accurate view of inventory, sellers can ensure that their products are always available to customers, regardless of the fulfillment method. This reliability can lead to increased sales, as customers are more likely to purchase from a seller who consistently has products in stock. Additionally, the seamless integration of FBM and FBA inventories means faster fulfillment times, contributing to higher customer satisfaction and repeat business. This consistency is key to creating a cohesive brand experience for customers, regardless of where they make their purchases.

Simplifying Complexities for Multichannel Sellers

For sellers operating across multiple platforms, managing separate inventories on each channel and fulfillment method can become exponentially more complicated. The automatic merging of FBM and FBA SKUs is particularly beneficial in these cases because it eliminates the confusion with multiple item inventories and the need to chase down stock levels in separate places. Reducing the complexity on these fronts can immediately lead to better operational alignment and a more cohesive sales strategy across all platforms. 

The Takeaway

Automatically merging of FBM and FBA SKUs in SKULabs is more than just a feature, it’s an effective strategy for optimizing not only how you think about products but also how you manage FBM and FBA inventory overall. As e-commerce continues to evolve, managing operations efficiently becomes increasingly important for maintaining a competitive edge. Having a unified view of accurate inventory in SKULabs across FBM and FBA is just one of the many solutions SKULabs offers to e-commerce sellers.

Connect with SKULabs Today

Now is the perfect time to discuss how we can help you get prepared for taking your business to the next level!

Chat with one of our experts today. Schedule a meeting or give us a call at 1800-243-2986 to learn more.

Posted in Ecommerce, Inventory Management, Multichannel

Small Business to Enterprise: A look at SKULabs and Veeqo

Posted on by Brad Baecker

Finding too many options to manage your eCommerce business’ orders and inventory? Yes, It can be quite challenging when it comes to choosing the right software solution for your online marketplace. Businesses are constantly on the lookout for software solutions that streamline operations, enhance efficiency, and drive growth. Arm yourself with knowing the right questions to ask when interviewing potential solutions. As mentioned in the previous blog, recently acquired software companies can be, but not always, a bit of a red flag. Due diligence is paramount when researching these candidates. Mark the timeline when they were acquired, and then check the user feedback from that date forward to see if you feel it is headed in the right direction or not.

Two standout platforms that have carved a niche in the realm of inventory and order management are SKULabs and Veeqo. Both tools offer features designed to aid businesses in managing their inventory, processing orders, and fulfilling customer demands effectively. This blog delves into a comparison of SKULabs and Veeqo, to illuminate their functionalities, strengths, and how they cater to different business needs.

SKULabs: An Overview
SKULabs is a comprehensive all-in-one inventory, order, and shipping management solution tailored for multi-channel retailers. Its capabilities are designed to help businesses streamline their operations by offering features such as barcode scanning for picking, order verification, batch shipping, and real-time inventory tracking across all sales channels. SKULabs positions itself as a premium solution for small to enterprise sized businesses that require detailed control over their inventory and fulfillment processes. It’s biggest strength is the capability to work with an extremely wide range of various pick pack and ship workflows without limiting you into their own pre-defined process as you will find with many other softwares. Additionally, SKULabs boasts the claim to connecting the most sales channels and shipping providers than any other eCommerce software.

SKULabs Supported Sales Channels

SKULabs Supported Carriers

Key Features:

  • Multi-channel inventory and order management
  • Real-Time Inventory Control & Sync
  • Dedicated Batch Shipping Interface
  • Barcode-based order verification
  • Detailed reporting and analytics
  • Cycle Counts
  • US based support


Veeqo: An Overview
Veeqo, on the other hand, is priced well enough (free) to give it a try to see if their pick, pack and ship methods align with yours. Scanning to pick items will require Veeqo’s dedicated scanner at $495.00 for this functionality. Additionally, In order to get the inventory tracking features, you will need to ship at least 50% of your packages from within Veeqo monthly, or lose the functionality. So, some caveats to overcome, but if you fall in that category it could be a good fit. It stands out for its user-friendly interface and the ability to manage orders from multiple channels in one platform. Both platforms offer Amazon Buy shipping and offer discounted shipping rates.

Veeqo Supported Sales Channels

Veeqo Supported Carriers

Key Features:

  • No monthly cost (as long as you are shipping 50% of your orders through them)
  • Shipping Discounts
  • Order management from multiple channels
  • Direct integrations with major shipping carriers
  • Inventory management can be added on to plan
  • Warehouse management features
  • UK based support


Pricing and Affordability:

SKULabs’ pricing starts at a higher threshold ($299), making it an up front investment for businesses. However, this reflects its extensive feature set and value it offers to larger companies that manage vast inventories and high order volumes with the need for more granular control of their operations.
Veeqo offers a lower starting price point, making it accessible for smaller businesses and scalable as they grow​​​​. You are giving up your shipping volume however which may make it difficult to get negotiated rates down the road.


Ideal Customer:

SKULabs is ideally suited for a broader market from small to enterprise sized businesses that require detailed operational control and efficiency in managing extensive inventories across multiple channels.


Veeqo serves a slightly smaller audience, including start-up businesses looking for growth to mid size operations while seeking to consolidate their order and inventory management processes.


User Experience and Support:

Both platforms provide robust support and training resources, ensuring businesses can maximize the utility of their features. SKULabs is particularly praised for its customer support and comprehensive training materials, making it easier for larger teams to adopt and utilize the platform effectively​​.
Both are designed to be easy to set up and integrate with existing sales channels, which is a plus for businesses at any scale.


Choosing between SKULabs and Veeqo hinges on a business’s specific needs, size, and growth trajectory. As the eCommerce landscape continues to evolve, the choice of inventory and order management software will play a pivotal role in a business’s ability to compete and thrive. Both SKULabs and Veeqo offer robust platforms that can adapt to the changing needs of modern retailers, making them worthy contenders for any business looking to optimize its operations.

Connect with SKULabs Today

Now is the perfect time to discuss how we can help you get prepared for taking your business to the next level!

Chat with one of our experts today. Schedule a meeting or give us a call at 1800-243-2986 to learn more.

Posted in Ecommerce, News & Announcements

Simplifying T-Shirt eCommerce through Virtual Warehousing

Posted on by Brad Baecker

The T-shirt business, like any other eCommerce venture, needs an efficient system to track inventory, monitor production stages, and fulfill orders in an accurate yet timely manner. SKULabs, an all-in-one inventory management and order fulfillment solution, has emerged as an invaluable tool for companies that sell T-shirts via eCommerce by using virtual warehouses to represent different stages of production. No matter what method you use to manufacture, whether it’s plastisol, ink / laser jet, or dye sublimation, there’s no need for costly manufacturing software that can be an overkill both on the wallet and functionality. 

Virtual Warehouses?

A virtual warehouse can be used as a digital representation of the different stages of production in an inventory management system. These stages may include intake and housing of raw materials, printing and production of the shirt, items sent for quality control, and ultimately advertised inventory to your sales channels. The primary advantage of using virtual warehouses is the ability to track inventory levels and the flow of goods across different stages without the need for spreadsheets or other costly softwares. With the proper setup, virtual warehouses can streamline operations, improve visibility, and boost overall efficiency.

Organizing Raw Materials

The journey of a printed T-shirt begins with your raw materials. This can include items such as blank T-shirts, dyes and prints, or actual raw materials such at cotton and threads depending on the level of manufacturing you choose to undertake. By utilizing SKULabs’ virtual warehouse workflow, eCommerce businesses can have a clear and organized view of their raw material inventory. This helps companies to maintain visibility on their production items, know how much they have in stock, where each one of them is in the production line, and even get automated reports when raw materials are running low in stock. This helps you maintain optimal stock levels, reduce waste, and prevent mismatches in quantities needed to create final products.

Tracking the Printing Process

The printing phase is where creativity comes to life as designs, logos, and other graphics are transferred onto the fabric. This process can occur in various locales – within your city, across your state, or even within distinct sections of your warehouse. Regardless of the location, SKULabs empowers eCommerce businesses to monitor the progress of the printing stage with ease. With this tool, companies can keep tabs on the quantity of printed T-shirts, the availability of different colors and sizes, and even gain real-time insights into items at various stages of production. As a result, businesses gain a transparent view of their production timeline, enabling them to better prioritize orders and optimally allocate resources.

Monitoring Quality Control

After the printing stage, T-shirts undergo quality control to ensure that they meet the required standards. With SKULabs’ virtual warehouse feature, eCommerce businesses can track the number of items currently in the quality control stage and ensure that only high-quality products reach the customers. This not only helps in maintaining a positive brand image but also reduces returns and exchanges due to quality issues.

Managing Advertised Inventory

Once the T-shirts pass quality control, they are ready for sale. SKULabs, with an ever evolving product, allows eCommerce businesses to manage their finished products across multiple sales channels with granular control of advertised stock through highly customizable stock rules. By using virtual warehouses in combination with sales channel connected warehouses, businesses can have a unified view of their production cycle as well as their available and advertised stock to avoid overselling or underselling. This helps in meeting customer expectations, reducing cancellations or costly returns, and improving overall customer satisfaction.

Seamless Order Fulfillment

SKULabs delivers a seamless order fulfillment process that can transform the operational landscape for your T-shirt printing business. By navigating its user-friendly interface, companies can easily track the entire order journey from initiation to delivery, ensuring a smooth and efficient workflow. SKULabs’ powerful system automatically updates inventory counts, mitigating the risk of errors and inventory discrepancies. This leads not only to swifter order processing but also to reduced costs related to inventory management and handling. Embracing SKULabs’ highly customizable platform allows eCommerce businesses to heighten customer satisfaction, increase operational efficiency, and ultimately propel sales growth.

Connect with SKULabs Today

Don’t get monkeyed’ out of your hard earned cash by overpaying for processes that you do not need!

Chat with one of our experts today

Schedule a meeting or give us a call at 1800-243-2986 to learn more.

Posted in Ecommerce, Inventory Management, Small Business