December 12, 2024
Grow Your FFL Business

Maximize Profits, Reduce Costs with Multichannel Inventory Software

Ecommerce is a 24/7 industry, and one that happens to be growing at an accelerated rate. In the past year, global ecommerce sales grew 20% – that’s $1.5 trillion. As a GunBroker.com seller, you are acutely aware of both the growth opportunities and challenges that accompany running an ecommerce business. For those of you selling on more than one channel, those opportunities and challenges are intensified. To keep up with orders and grow your company, you need to enlist integration software to automate tasks across sales channels, simplify workflow and potentially replace an assortment of separate, outdated tools. Inventory and order management software can increase profit margins and reduce operational costs – and newer versions are finally affordable for small and mid-sized businesses.

Automation Reduces Business Expenses

Fewer manual tasks. Automating the movement of sales and order information across sales channels eliminates the need for seasonal or part-time help hired to manually manipulate and process data. The software communicates with sales channels, warehouses, and drop shippers as a sale is made, and makes inventory quantity adjustments accordingly. One ecomdash customer saved $600 a week on part-time help. Automation software is faster and more accurate than manual task management, and replaces it entirely in this case.

Eliminates outdated, non-integrated tools. Robust inventory management software can replace other expensive tools and offer an all-in-one supply chain management solution. A customer of ours spent $2,500 to $3,000 a month on various ecommerce tools, all delegated to help him manage his business. As a top 100 eBay and Amazon volume seller, he now spends just $150 a month on software that automates and integrates his multichannel ecommerce processes in real time, and has better control over all moving parts.

Better ROI. Automation provided by an inventory management software is faster, more accurate and more efficient than manual data plugging or tracking. This reduces costs spent on additional tools or help, and improves profit margins. For two ecomdash customers with 15- and 20-year-old established businesses, return on investment (ROI) numbers were an amazing 3250% and 1400% respectively…within a couple months of starting to use the software.

Streamlined Workflow Increases Profits

Add more sales channels. Without automation software, you have to log in to each sales channel individually to collect and process new sales orders, and then update stock across every channel where you may have that product listed for sale. An inventory and product listing software system streamlines your ecommerce workflow by processing and updating inventory automatically. With more time on your hands, you can safely add new sales channels and product lines. 24% of ecomdash customers have been able to add additional sales channels to their ecommerce business repertoire. Many of them took advantage of the product listing tool and catalog management automation options within ecomdash to make listing products for sale on a new channel even faster and easier. Is there a new sales channel you’d like to sell on – maybe Amazon, eBay or your own new website? Inventory software can help you to expand your market reach with greater control.

Grow revenue. Faster, more efficient ecommerce workflow and carefully managed back-end operations leads to more sales. The more robust and better integrated the software is, the better it can help your business grow and scale. Faster, more accurate processing and improved customer satisfaction allowed one customer to grow his monthly eBay sales by $3,000, in less than two months. Ecomdash customers were able to increase revenue by an average of 23% each quarter. Monthly prices start at just $50 – what would a 23% increase be worth to your business?

Compete online. With faster execution and better accuracy of all moving parts, automation software strengthens your business against competitors. It also reduces the likelihood of negative situations, such as stock-outs, that can lead to poor seller reviews. One customer of ours saw his Amazon seller rating improve from 96% to 100%, which directly impacted sales. He attributes this to the back-end automation, speed and accuracy of our inventory control software. He also takes advantage of ecomdash extras, like our built-in email marketing automation that is tied directly to sales order and product information. Better seller scores help you stand out against competitors and win more sales.

Software Eliminates Costly Problems

Prevents stock-outs and overselling. A robust inventory management system acts as a 24/7 set of eyes for your business. It proactively mitigates the risk of stock-outs or overselling by updating inventory quantities in near real time. This prevents the residual negative seller ratings that result from stock outs, and ultimately shields against the poor sales that an unsatisfactory seller rating can lead to.

Stops internal theft. The National Retail Federation reports employee theft costs retailers $16 billion each year. Inventory software prevents theft by keeping an accurate, continuous record of moving stock. Compared to businesses that use pen and paper, Excel, or accounting software to monitor workflow, businesses that use inventory management software report significantly less theft than those using other systems. Only 8.21% of inventory software users report employee theft as an issue, whereas 15.38% of pen and paper record keeping businesses saw theft as a significant problem.

An inventory management software can help you safely grow and scale your business, while saving you time and money. Look for a software that can grow with you – meaning one that has a good list of integrated marketplaces and additional enhancements to make workflow simpler and more efficient. We’re excited to announce that ecomdash is the only inventory, sales order and product listing software fully integrated with GunBroker.com to solve your multichannel ecommerce challenges. We’re very excited about our GunBroker.com partnership and our connection to you through FFL Unleashed. For a limited time you can try ecomdash for free for one month – just visit us and sign up with promo code FFLWELCOME. Use the promo code by 8/1/2015 and see how we can help you maximize profits, reduce costs and compete online.

About the Author

Tiana Byers is the Lead Content Creator for ecomdash, an award-winning multichannel inventory software for ecommerce retailers. Ecomdash offers sellers an end-to-end ecommerce software to improve and automate workflow, including inventory and sales order management, product listing, dropshipping and shipping management, reporting and more. Ecomdash helps customers save time and money, while they grow, scale and compete online.