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Zoho Inventory Overview

Overview Of Zoho Inventory is multi-channel Inventory management software for growing businesses to facilitate increase in their sales by keeping track of every unit through powerful stock management, order fulfillment and inventory control software. Zoho Inventory streamlines operations for businesses, enabling them to manage their inventory, sales & purchase orders and shipments more effectively.

Inventory management features

Item management

Efficiently organize, tailor, oversee, and monitor all your assets within one comprehensive platform. Experiment with different solutions to find the perfect fit for your enterprise, all while maintaining full command over your inventory.

Customer lifecycle

Effectively handle every aspect of your business operations, from order acceptance to customer dispatch, streamlining the process without the necessity of repetitive data entry at every stage.

1.SALES ORDER MANAGEMENT
  • Centralized system: Our centralized system serves as a comprehensive database, consolidating all sales transactions made across various channels. You can effortlessly generate sales orders for offline purchases, while online sales orders are seamlessly integrated into the system. Access all your sales orders conveniently from one unified platform.
  • Order merging: Receiving frequent orders from repeat customers indicates positive business growth, yet managing multiple orders can be daunting. Fortunately, with Zoho Inventory’s order-merging capability, you can streamline operations by consolidating unfulfilled orders from the same customer and dispatching them as a single package, simplifying the process significantly.

  • Multiple templates: Select from a variety of designer templates or design your own layout tailored to your brand’s identity. Personalize your sales orders to leave a memorable impression on your customers. Adding a touch of style can greatly enhance your business’s appeal!

2.INVOICING
  • Convert sales orders to invoices: Instantly generate invoices directly from your sales orders with Zoho Inventory. Seamlessly compile data and effortlessly create invoices for your clients from single or multiple sales orders, all done automatically for your convenience.
  • Get creative with your invoices: Employ personalized invoices to consistently convey the appropriate tone for your business interactions. Zoho Inventory provides a variety of templates, allowing you to effortlessly customize your invoices according to your preferences and needs.

  • Centralize your billing process:Effortlessly import and export your invoices with ease. Securely organize and store all your data on a centralized server for efficient management. Stay informed about the status of your invoices, ensuring timely payments and smooth financial operations.

3.PACKAGING
  • Categorized packages: Zoho Inventory offers a comprehensive view of all your active packages within a single interface. These packages are conveniently categorized as Not Shipped, Shipped, and Delivered, providing a clear snapshot of their status and facilitating efficient planning for your subsequent actions.
  • Automated package numbers: Similar to sales orders, every package you generate is assigned a unique identifier, referred to as a package number. As your business grows, managing these package numbers can become overwhelming. To alleviate this burden, our package number auto-generating tool ensures seamless numbering sequencing, simplifying package tracking and management.

  • Package slips: Zoho Inventory facilitates the creation of package slips, comprehensive documents outlining order and package specifics. Not only can you generate these slips, but you can also customize, print, save, and easily share them with your shipping carrier via email. Additionally, Zoho Inventory automates the process by automatically populating all necessary details, saving you valuable time.

4.SALES RETURNS
  • Customize your returns process: Introducing streamlined returns management—say farewell to complexities. Effortlessly generate sales return requests, initiate returns for customers, and tailor the process to align with your unique business requirements.
  • Qualify items as returnable: Effortlessly designate individual or multiple items as returnable, providing you with flexibility in managing your returns strategy. Tailor return policies for various products and categories to deliver a seamless and customer-centric experience.

  • Track items in real time with real-time tracking: Eliminate guesswork and manual updates; monitor your returns as they progress from authorization to refund, all in real time. Enjoy full visibility into the status of your sales returns for enhanced control and efficiency.

  • Issue refunds and credit notes: Effortlessly provide refunds or credit notes to customers for returned items with just a few clicks. Generate credit notes that can be utilized for future purchases, fostering customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Vendor relations

Centralize all your vendor transactions and bills in a single platform, ensuring data integrity and preserving strong vendor relationships without compromise.

1.VENDOR PRICE LIST

  • Easy to create:Crafting a price list is straightforward. Simply input a name and a percentage for markup or markdown. You can then assign any price list to a specific vendor or purchase order, automating the update of item prices when selecting the same vendor or purchase order in the future.

  • Import price lists: For vendors offering varied discount rates for each item, streamline the process by importing item details with updated pricing through a single CSV file. This action automatically generates a new price list, allowing easy application to relevant cases.

  • Discuss and decide: Beyond importing price lists, leverage the capability to export and share your price lists with others. Utilize this feature for discussions with peers and vendors, or share with potential vendors to facilitate negotiations for better deals.

2.PURCHASE ORDER AND BILLING SOLUTION
  • Send detailed purchase orders: Effortlessly generate purchase orders with detailed fields to ensure accurate shipments, facilitated by quick autofill features for swift creation.
  • Make accurate product bills: Effortlessly transform purchase invoices into comprehensive bills, providing clarity on your outstanding payments to vendors. Stay organized by tracking your bills and ensuring timely payments are processed.

  • Maintain a comprehensive record:Monitor all modifications made to your purchase orders or bills seamlessly. Zoho Inventory meticulously logs every activity into a database, allowing you to review your actions at any time, even retrospectively. 

3.BACKORDERS AND DROPSHIPMENTS

  • Dropship your purchases: With Zoho Inventory’s dropshipping feature, you can meet product demands swiftly by enabling suppliers to deliver directly to customers. In this process, suppliers ship items to customers and provide order and shipping details to sellers. Sellers can effortlessly track this information within Zoho Inventory by converting sales orders to drop shipments.

  • Backorder your sales: In Zoho Inventory, when facing low stock, the backordering feature prioritizes fulfilling the needs of regular customers by temporarily pausing other confirmed sales orders and reallocating products. When an item in a sales order is out of stock or requires reallocation, a backorder is initiated. This triggers the generation of a purchase order within Zoho Inventory, enabling you to first order the items from your vendor and subsequently fulfill the customer’s request.

4.VENDOR PAYMENTS

  • Vendor payables management: Efficiently monitor, record, and upload bills, staying informed about your vendor transactions. Promote financial transparency and ensure timely payments are consistently maintained.
  • Easy online payment methods: Bid farewell to paperwork and delays. With online payment options through integrated platforms, settle payments from anywhere and guarantee prompt disbursement to your vendors.

  • Advance payment solutions:Whether you’re aiming to secure future orders or foster robust vendor relationships, our platform provides comprehensive support. Seamlessly track and document advance payments to your vendors with ease.

Integrations

1.POST SHIPMENT
  • All your deliveries on a single screen:  Zoho Inventory now offers seamless integration with AfterShip, providing a robust shipment tracking feature. Monitor all your shipments in real-time from a unified dashboard without the need for separate payments.
  • Secure shipments and client’s trust: Enhance your brand’s trustworthiness by providing clients with delivery updates, even after the products have left your possession. Utilize AfterShip to inform clients about expected delivery times and send real-time shipment notifications via email or SMS, fostering transparency and customer satisfaction.

  • Supports tracking across an ocean of couriers: AfterShip stands as a premier automated tracking solution, offering support for tracking over 400 international couriers. Choose your preferred carrier with confidence, knowing you have a wide selection available.

2.Crossfire EDI Integration
  • Interlinked 3PL: When collaborating with 3PL providers, the EDI system emerges as the favored method for data transfer, offering a plethora of customizable options. Empowering you with control, you can tailor the system precisely to your preferences and requirements.
  • Real-time information exchange: Data is seamlessly transmitted, granting both parties real-time access to essential information concerning transactions, modifications, and approvals. Bid farewell to logistical hurdles, as delays in reorders or stockouts become a thing of the past. 

  • Global Appeal: The EDI system stands as the favored mode of business communication for leading retailers worldwide. Broaden your product reach by connecting with top-tier industry players. Streamline fulfillment processes and forge connections with premier third-party logistics and order fulfillment providers globally.

 

Automation

1.Barcode inventory management

  • More data means more control: Take full command of your product inventory effortlessly. Simply scan barcodes to track individual items or monitor products along a range or assembly line. This ensures precise inventory management, preventing stock shortages and potential missed sales opportunities.
  • Serial number and batch tracking:Utilize barcode scanning for meticulous tracking of individual items throughout the entire production-to-sale process via serial number tracking. With batch tracking, effortlessly manage expiration dates and identify defective items for efficient recall or replacement procedures.

  • Efficient inventory monitoring:Effortlessly address discrepancies between actual and recorded stock levels. Barcode scanners streamline stocktaking, enhancing speed, accuracy, and reliability. Leveraging this data, gain heightened visibility into stock versus sales through intuitive dashboards and insightful reports.

Smart features

In an era of advancing technology, inventory management must evolve accordingly. Explore our range of smart tools to stay aligned with industry trends and optimize your operations.

  1. REPORTING AND ANALYTICS
  • Keep an eye out for detail: Encountering fluctuations in sales, struggling with customer retention, and missing sales targets can be detrimental to any business. However, discovering these issues at a later stage exacerbates the situation. With Zoho Inventory, you can proactively stay informed about daily sales, identify best-selling products, monitor customer balances, and recognize your most valuable customers, all within a unified application.
  • Don’t let your vendors wander:Establishing strong relationships with suppliers is crucial for maintaining a steady supply of items and fostering business growth. Access comprehensive reports in Zoho Inventory to identify top suppliers, analyze purchase data, review payment details, and track vendor balances. You can also download and share these reports with your vendors to ensure mutual understanding and collaboration.

  • Know their worth: Managing a burgeoning inventory can be challenging, especially when tracking the journey of each batch of stock and reconciling it with the corresponding invoice and bill numbers. Additionally, valuing your on-hand stock can be labor-intensive. With Zoho Inventory, you can effortlessly generate FIFO and inventory detail reports, eliminating the need for manual effort and streamlining your inventory management processes.

2.REORDER POINT

In business, striking the right balance between avoiding stockouts and minimizing excess inventory is essential. Achieving this equilibrium involves setting reorder points and determining safety stock levels. Learn how to calculate these metrics and explore our reorder point calculator for practical experience.

3.PACKAGE GEOMETRY

Gain a clear understanding of how your products will be accommodated within a packaging box, ensuring optimal storage and shipping efficiency. Leveraging package geometry, you can enhance packaging for your orders by strategically considering both item and package dimensions. This optimization not only reduces costs but also improves overall operational efficiency.

Key Features

Why Businesses choose Zoho Inventory?

What is Zoho inventory used for?

Zoho Inventory serves as a comprehensive tool designed to streamline and optimize inventory management processes for businesses of all sizes. This integrated software solution offers a range of functionalities aimed at efficiently handling various aspects of inventory control.

At its core, Zoho Inventory provides users with the ability to monitor stock levels in real-time. This feature enables businesses to stay informed about the availability of their products, thereby facilitating better decision-making regarding restocking, sales, and order fulfillment. Additionally, the software allows for the management of activities across multiple warehouses, ensuring that inventory is distributed and tracked accurately across different locations.

One of the key benefits of Zoho Inventory is its capacity to generate insightful reports swiftly. These reports offer valuable insights into inventory performance, sales trends, and other relevant metrics, empowering businesses to identify areas for improvement, forecast future demand more accurately, and optimize their inventory strategies accordingly.

Moreover, Zoho Inventory facilitates seamless integration with other essential business tools and platforms, such as accounting software and e-commerce platforms. This interoperability enhances efficiency by enabling data sharing and automating processes, thereby reducing manual efforts and minimizing the likelihood of errors.

Overall, Zoho Inventory serves as a vital tool for businesses seeking to enhance their inventory management practices. By providing comprehensive features, actionable insights, and seamless integration capabilities, it empowers organizations to streamline operations, improve decision-making, and ultimately drive greater efficiency and profitability in their inventory management processes.

Is Zoho inventory really free?

Yes, Zoho Inventory offers a free version of its inventory management software tailored to the needs of small and expanding businesses. This version provides essential features to assist in efficiently managing inventory across various channels and devices without incurring costs.

Designed with the aim of supporting businesses in their growth journey, Zoho Inventory’s free version equips users with tools to streamline inventory control processes. It enables businesses to monitor stock levels, track inventory movement across different channels and locations, and manage orders effectively.

Despite being free, Zoho Inventory doesn’t compromise on functionality. Users can leverage features such as real-time stock tracking, order management, and basic reporting capabilities to maintain visibility and control over their inventory operations.

Furthermore, the free version of Zoho Inventory is user-friendly and accessible across multiple devices, allowing businesses to manage their inventory anytime, anywhere. This flexibility is particularly beneficial for small businesses with limited resources, enabling them to stay organized and responsive to customer demands without investing in expensive software solutions.

While the free version of Zoho Inventory offers valuable features for small businesses, there are also paid plans available with additional functionalities for those requiring more advanced inventory management capabilities or scalability as their business grows. Nonetheless, the free version serves as a practical starting point for businesses looking to improve their inventory management processes without financial constraints.

What is the purpose of Zoho Inventory?

Zoho Inventory serves as a comprehensive solution for businesses seeking to streamline their inventory management processes. Its primary purpose is to facilitate efficient handling of sales and purchase activities, along with managing invoices, bills, and payments effectively.

One of the core functionalities of Zoho Inventory is its ability to centralize and organize sales and purchase data. Businesses can easily track incoming and outgoing inventory, monitor stock levels, and receive alerts for low stock or reorder points. By providing real-time visibility into inventory movements, Zoho Inventory enables businesses to make informed decisions regarding procurement, sales, and restocking.

Additionally, Zoho Inventory offers robust invoicing and billing features, allowing businesses to create, send, and manage invoices seamlessly. This helps in maintaining accurate financial records and ensures timely payment processing. Moreover, businesses can track payments received and outstanding, enabling better cash flow management and financial planning.

Another key aspect of Zoho Inventory is its capability to monitor packages and shipments. By integrating with shipping carriers and tracking services, businesses can track the status of their deliveries in real-time, ensuring timely and accurate fulfillment of customer orders. This not only enhances customer satisfaction but also helps in maintaining a positive reputation for reliability and efficiency.

Overall, Zoho Inventory is designed to simplify and optimize inventory management processes, from sales and purchases to invoicing, billing, and shipment tracking. By providing a centralized platform for managing these crucial aspects of inventory control, Zoho Inventory helps businesses improve operational efficiency, minimize errors, and ultimately drive growth and profitability.