2020 Review fo Zoho Inventory Management

Zoho Corporation

www.zoho.com

From the 2020 review of inventory management systems.

Zoho Inventory Management is part of Zoho’s suite of applications that are designed for small to mid-sized businesses. Zoho Inventory is cloud-based, and it includes an app for both iOS and Android devices.

Along with inventory management, Zoho Inventory also offers warehouse management, multichannel selling, order management, order fulfillment, and good reporting options, making it a great choice for retailers that sell from a brick and mortar location as well as online. A great option for retailers who sell products on a global scale, Zoho Inventory is available in U.S., UK, Canadian, Australian, Indian, and Global editions.   

New in Zoho Inventory is the Advanced Analytics Integration, which offers more than 75 business intelligence reports that can be customized to suit any business. Zoho Inventory has also introduced the Payments Made module, where users can record and view all payments made. Also added was a Payments Received module, so users can also record and view all payments received.

Zoho Inventory includes an inventory dashboard that offers easy inventory management from a single user interface. The dashboard is completely customizable, and it can display information such as current sales activity, product details including low stock items, purchase order details, and an inventory summary. New users can import a current product list into Zoho, or users can choose to enter items individually. Users can add both inventory and non-inventory items, and the Group feature allows users to create and then place new inventory items into a group with other similar items. Items can also be easily removed from a group or moved to another group if necessary. Another useful feature in Zoho Inventory is the ability to create a composite item made up of two or more separate items.

Zoho Inventory is not useful for tracking internal assets, but the application does allow users to use serial number tracking, enabling both composite items and price lists. Once this is done, users can choose whether to track items via serial number or by batch.

Zoho Inventory does offer barcode scanning capability, but does not include an option to create custom barcodes. The application does include kitting capability, with an assembly option available as well.

While Zoho Inventory only supports a single price for inventory items, users can create a price list that can be used when special pricing is necessary. Pricing options available from the price list include a percentage discount, a buy one-get one option, or users can simply create special pricing for a select group of customers. There is no volume pricing option, and Zoho Inventory currently uses FIFO as its current inventory valuation.  

Zoho Inventory offers a variety of standard reports for inventory, sales, purchasing, and activity. The addition of the analytic reports mentioned earlier, provide users with even more reporting and customization options. Inventory reports include an Inventory Overview, Product Purchase report, Product Sales report, and an Inventory Details report. Sales reports include Sales Order History, Invoice History, and Sales by Category. In addition to the new report analytics module, users can also export any standard report as a CSV file for additional customization, with an option to export reports to Microsoft Excel available as well.

Zoho Inventory integrates with all Zoho Suite applications such as Zoho CRM, Zoho Books, Zoho Subscriptions, and Zoho Sign. Other integrations available include QuickBooks Online, Shopify, Amazon, eBay, Magento, Slack, Microsoft 365, Stripe, PayPal, Worldpay, and WePay. Zoho Inventory also integrates with shipping applications including FedEx, DHL, and UPS.  

The Resources page in Zoho Inventory offers users access to Help Documentation, FAQs, a user forum, as well as the Zoho blog. Users can access a variety of webinars, which take place weekly. There is also a comprehensive knowledge base available that offers in-depth information on a variety of topics including getting started options, product setup, and detailed information on product features. Zoho also offers product support during regular business hours, with users able to access support using the toll-free number, or via email or chat.  

Zoho Inventory is best suited for small brick and mortar retailers as well as online merchants. Zoho Inventory is scalable, with four plans (including a free plan) available. Paid plans include Basic, which runs $39 per organization per month, and supports up to two warehouse locations and up to 10 system users; Standard, which runs $79 per month and supports up to five warehouse locations, and up to 15 users; and Professional, which currently runs $199 per month and supports up to 10 warehouses and unlimited system  users. All pricing is based on annual billing, with month-to-month options running slightly higher. Zoho also offers a free 14-day trial for those interested in learning more about the product.

2020 Rating – 4.75 Stars

Strengths:

·        Complete integration with other Zoho applications

·         Intuitive user interface

·         Scalable, with 4 plans offered

Potential Weaknesses:

·         Does not handle asset tracking

·         Limited integration with accounting applications