At the risk of preaching to the choir, running a business is not easy. Even something as seemingly simple as inventory can require decision-makers to keep aware of data streams from myriad sources. This is not only inefficient, it can be outright exhausting as well. Luckily, there is a way to unify inventory data in a singular location, saving on time and on headaches. For a cost-effective way to centralize sales and supply chain data, we recommend Zoho Inventory. In this article, we examine why the Zoho Inventory management system is so useful, and go over an example of how to connect a third-party sales channel like Amazon to Zoho.

If you’d like to learn more about the topic, check out one of our many articles on Zoho.

The Importance of Straightforward Inventory Management

Effective marketing can be transformative for a business. In fact, we have a crash course on putting together an effective marketing plan that will boost your business online. That said, marketing and operations need to be in harmony, and there’s nothing worse than having a super successful advertising campaign and then running out of inventory.

The best way to get started is to consider placement. In other words, meet your customers where they are. For an eCommerce business, placement can mean leveraging multiple sales channels to ensure you get your product in front of your target market. Let’s suppose you have a website where you sell home decor items, and you’ve identified a few online marketplaces, like Amazon, Walmart, and Etsy, which your target customer uses. Of course, you will want to list your products on these sites to extend your reach and improve your sales.

While this seems straightforward, selling through multiple sales channels (e.g. Amazon) can present several logistical challenges. You might find yourself with an excessive workload (e.g., redundant efforts like cross-referencing sales volume and compiling information from numerous sources). You could also end up with crippled business intelligence (e.g., improper data collection and integration among sales channels).

We’ve also seen poor supply chain management due to supplier mistakes and inefficiencies in the process. Unfortunately, suppliers are unlikely to mention if there are inefficiency issues, meaning the business owner becomes responsible for handling them. You must also stay on top of inventory, because running out of stock will cost you sales and can damage your brand. You may be unable to keep up with demand if you’re:

• Not monitoring your sales velocity
• Not accounting for the holiday shopping season
• Not tracking your other sales channels
• Not preparing for promotions

Using the Zoho Inventory Management System

At this point, we’ve established the importance of keeping a close eye on your inventory. However, doing so can be complex and time-consuming, especially if the process is spread across multiple sites, profiles, or services. This begs the question – what simple steps can a business take to improve their supply chain management? In our experience, the best way to optimize your supply chain is to invest in a technology that:

1. Provides you data-driven insight into your supply chain so you can make informed decisions.
2. Centralizes your sales channels instead of siloing them so you can minimize management time.
3. Centralizes your stock management so you are sure you can meet demand.
4. Improves reaction time and resolves inefficiencies so that you’re saving money in both the short and long term.

While there are many excellent inventory management tools out there, we’re big fans of Zoho One because of its low price and modularity. In Zoho, the Inventory application can help you consolidate your shopping channels and centralize your supply chain. You can also connect to a vast range of eCommerce channels, and when you factor in third-party extensions like Zapier, you can connect almost anything.

Example: How to Integrate Your Amazon Store With Zoho Inventory

To give you a sense of just how helpful the Zoho Inventory management system is, let’s walk through how it integrates with Amazon:  

• Improved Tracking: While Amazon offers you some tracking capacity, you’ll still need a way to monitor inventory, auto management, and taxes. To this end, the Zoho Inventory integration allows you to track stock flow, cash flow, and taxes across multiple currencies, locations, and channels. It also generates comprehensive reports that will enable you to track your performance.
• Seamless Syncing: When you integrate your Amazon Seller account with Zoho Inventory, you can sync your sales orders and inventory and then fulfill them in Amazon Inventory. This will let you track all your online sales, offline sales, and shipments from a single app.
• Straightforward Setup: All you’ll need for this integration is your Amazon Seller ID and an MWS Auth Token ID. Log into your Zoho Inventory account, navigate to Integrations, and select Marketplace. Amazon will authenticate the request, and once approved, your data will automatically sync. 

As you can see, integrating a single sales channel with Zoho Inventory is pretty straightforward. Things can get a bit more challenging when integrating multiple sales channels to pull from the same inventory pool. Additional challenges arise if you’re trying to integrate sales channels that don’t have direct integrations and require the use of third-party extensions, like Facebook Marketplace. Be sure to watch out for mismatched settings (e.g. regions, currencies, and time zones) and user permissions.

How Out-Sourcing Reduces Headaches

As we’ve seen above, connecting a single sales channel to Zoho Inventory is simple, but linking multiple sales channels that communicate with one another can be challenging. When building a sales network for your brand, it’s essential to be meticulous with every setup step. If you’re struggling with linking everything together, we highly recommend finding a team that specializes in setting up business automation. This is especially true if your business requires a custom inventory management system. If you need help linking your sales channels and setting up a Zoho inventory management system, fill out our contact form, and we’ll set up a free 30-minute consultation.

For more information on Zoho Inventory, read our article on building a custom Shopify extension with Zoho Inventory.