SKULabs Optimizes Inventory Management in Real Time

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!

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

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.

How (and Why) to Synchronize Inventory to POS and Online Channels

Synchronize inventory to POS software

Most ecommerce retailers don’t sell their goods exclusively online. Some have dedicated brick and mortar store space that they sell goods in day after day. Others only sell face-to-face on occasions like trade shows and local pickups. In any case, you need a way to keep inventory up to date regardless of how the sale was recorded. That’s why so many retailers are looking for a way to synchronize inventory to POS software and to their online sales channels.

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Leveraging FBA for Multichannel Fulfillment

Multichannel fulfillment by Amazon warehouses
Amazon fulfillment center in Madrid, Spain. Photo credit: Álvaro Ibáñez

Whether you’re new to selling or you’re an e-commerce veteran, you know how important efficient fulfillment is to your business. Today’s customers expect their order to arrive ASAP, and exceeding their expectations is your ticket to Repeat Order Paradise. However, multichannel fulfillment is no walk in the park; that’s why Amazon offers the services of its fulfillment centers to merchants processing orders from any sales channel.

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How to Manage Multichannel Listings

Managing multichannel listings

The face of e-commerce is changing every year. Gone are the days of customers going straight to their favorite website, picking out what they want, and checking out without hesitation. With marketplaces and niches getting more competitive, online shoppers now have a dizzying amount of places to buy from. Getting your brand in front of these buyers is the way to get sales. This is why multichannel listings are going to be the new standard in 2016.

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