Why EMERGE barcode inventory software is the best for distribution and trading SMB?
Why do wholesalers and distributors use barcode inventory apps in warehouse management?
In B2B wholesale and distribution businesses, a typical warehouse has an average area of 18,000 square feet. This means that there are a large number of products stored in different corners of the warehouse. Managing such a large volume of products correctly is an art form for wholesalers and distributors. What they do is sort the products by category, place them on shelves, use barcodes to speed up the process of operations, and ultimately increase productivity.
- Scan barcodes to quickly add items to SO, PO or stock transfers.
- Scan barcodes to check shipping lists to ensure that outgoing items are selected correctly before shipping.
- When you scan a barcode, more detailed information such as the expiration date, supplier name, and lot number of that product will be displayed in the barcode inventory application.
The barcode inventory app is metaphorically like a good aide for your warehouse staff. Using it in warehouse management can reduce human errors, fasten processes, and ultimately enhance efficiency. In addition, it is easy to use and even if you had to pick someone off the road to work for you, little effort is needed to train them to use the app. Read on to see how it works.
The use of barcode inventory software to streamline wholesalers’ inventory operations
Barcode inventory management is not just about pointing & “beeping” your scanner on the barcode. A complete barcode inventory management system includes the hardware; the scanner, printer, and the barcode labels stamped on the products or shelves. But with EMERGE, it is an inventory management software with an integrated barcode management system, you will only need to buy a scanner or a scanning tablet.
- EMERGE has a built-in label printing feature where you can print barcode labels and generate them when you need to.
- Even if you don’t have a processional barcode printer, we have templates to print using an A4 size printer.
- We support the most ideal barcodes commonly used in warehouse management such as EAN-8, EAN-13, UPC, and Code-128.
A product is identified by its unique barcode from the time it arrives at your warehouse until it is shipped out. During this process, multiple “scans” are performed corresponding to barcode inventory software functions such as adding, updating, and tracking.
While manual inventory management is becoming increasingly difficult for growing wholesale distribution businesses, the adoption of technology is changing lives. Using a barcode inventory software makes your tracking job easier and simpler.
- When you need to fulfill an order or transfer inventory to another location, you can use a scanner and add items into the sales order or stock transfer swiftly.
- Look up specific information about the products in your warehouse in the barcode inventory software by scanning the item’s barcode in the product module.
- During the delivery process, you can scan the barcode to verify the product in the dispatch list. This process ensures accuracy in delivering the correct products to the customer.
Using a barcode inventory software will save you a lot of time and manpower. When your wholesale warehouse is large, you want to save on the costs of product routing, product picking, and the opportunity cost of your employees’ time spent on these tasks. Simply putting, it is about saving on inventory management costs while still ensuring the accuracy and efficiency of the process.
The biggest improvement of barcode technology over manual methods is the real-time data update feature. Imagine with every transaction or activity that happens in your warehouse being updated in one central place with a real-time database, the entire inventory operation is now in your hands, real-time.
- When you scan a barcode to add an item into Purchase Order, Sales Order or Stock transfer, the inventory level in the barcode inventory system will be adjusted and updated automatically as soon as you save the transaction.
- When the inventory data is updated in real time, your sales rep will have the right amount of stock at the moment to sell, which is important for them to avoid overselling or selling another sales rep’s reserved upcoming goods.
- You can also scan barcodes in the warehouse to reconcile the physical stock levels with the data in the barcode inventory software.
Since the beauty of barcode inventory management is providing wholesalers the not just the ease of management, but also increasing overall productivity with accuracy and efficiency. Hence,it is an added advantage when you are looking to expand your operations.
- Product and transaction information is stored in a centralized database, so as you add more product lines/categories, the inventory remains organized.
- Standardize your inventory management by implementing barcodes for all products to better manage your products.
- EMERGE provides up-to-date reports on your inventory operations such as Inventory Movements Reports, Sales Reports, Product Sales Trend Reports, etc. These insightful reports will help you easily decide on the optimal inventory levels to meet the demands of your customers.
With the barcode inventory system integrated, EMERGE brings you the best and most convenient way to manage your warehouse.
More about our EMERGE
EMERGE is the perfect order, purchasing, and inventory management system for small and medium businesses. By integrating multiple operating systems such as barcode inventory system, XERO and Quickbooks for accounting, etc EMERGE has a full range of technologies that can bring you:
- Intuitive, user-friendly interface means no manuals or boring training.
- Designed from the ground up for the world’s businesses: multi-currency, multi-tiered taxes, and multilingual documents.
- Built-in smarts and time-saving tricks. How about automatic landed cost calculation? Or auto tabulation of CBM in packing lists?
- Pay for what you use with value-for-money plans. Or scale up fast by adding new users when you need to.
- Reduce inventory errors, and carrying costs caused by excess inventory
- Increase supply chain accuracy as well as its speed
How to Find the Best Barcode Inventory System: A Guide for Every Need
We often discuss barcode systems for large warehouses, but what about finding the best barcode inventory system for a small business with simpler needs? It’s easy to focus on advanced features, but mastering the basics is what most businesses need. The best barcode inventory system for you is the one that fits your specific needs, helps you scale, and remains affordable.
Start by assessing your current process. Are you managing your business manually with spreadsheets that your staff sends every few days? Would you like to upgrade this process to access real-time operational data and free your team from the burden of daily Excel reports? Determining whether you truly need a system is the essential first step.
Once you’ve confirmed the need, the next step is to find one that suits your needs at a reasonable price. Below are different perspectives on what defines the "best" barcode inventory system for various businesses.
Finally, begin your software search. At this stage, carefully review the pricing, as some providers may charge additional fees (hidden costs) for customizing their solutions to fit your business workflow. Most importantly, read reviews from former users to understand the quality of customer support and the onboarding process. A lengthy onboarding period can be a significant hurdle, as some users have experienced delays of months before going live.
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Barcode inventory system for small business
The best barcode inventory management system for small businesses should primarily focus on ease of use, affordability, and be an all-in-one, integrated system that helps manage inventory, sales, and order fulfillment. These are the basic functions that a business needs. And that’s all you need when you’re running a business that doesn’t have a high volume of orders every day, where your inventory management and order fulfillment processes are simple. In this case, a large software solution with comprehensive features doesn’t make sense, both in terms of price and functionality.
EMERGE is a barcode inventory system for small businesses with powerful features for basic needs, like:
- Manage product, supplier, and customer data in one place.
- Track data across your entire warehouse and locations in real time
- Production tracking shows what stage or status an order or product is in
- Assign batch and serial numbers to products as you receive and put them away.
- Easily track product information, expiration dates, and inventory levels based on the batches and serial numbers you assign
- Integrate with barcode scanning systems to streamline order fulfillment processes, including receiving, picking, and shipping.
For small businesses, EMERGE also offers a barcode inventory system that allows you to print barcode labels directly from the system and integrate with barcode scanning devices, enabling faster operation by scanning.
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Barcode inventory system for warehouse
When it comes to a barcode inventory system for warehouses, effectiveness and accuracy are the primary outcomes sought by those seeking this solution. If you run a business with a high volume of operations that requires advanced functions in fulfillment and reporting, you need more than just basic features.
A barcode inventory system for warehouses offers comprehensive warehouse management solutions, complemented by barcode scanning systems that perfectly meet your requirements. This type of system should be the solution, and it must have these components:
- Barcode labels for items, pallets, and even for warehouse sections/locations if you have multiple ones.
- A handheld scanner or mobile device that is integrated with the barcode scanning system.
- Warehouse management software to record and store scanned information, which works seamlessly with the barcode system.
EMERGE offers SME businesses a barcode inventory system for warehouses that supports both warehouse management software and a barcode system. With both of these components, you gain the ability to:
- Track a product’s location precisely, which helps you reduce the time spent searching for items when your warehouse is large and complex.
- Scan to update product information in processes like receiving, putaway, and order placement. In these processes, simply scanning allows you to accurately add products to your warehouse inventory or reduce inventory levels by scanning to add a product to an order.
- Speed up fulfillment. For high-volume operations, scanning barcodes makes processes faster and more accurate, a key benefit that a barcode inventory system for warehouse operations provides. This includes scanning during picking and dispatching.
Along with a barcode scanning system, EMERGE is essentially a warehouse management system, providing you with comprehensive warehouse, inventory, and order management solutions that help you easily track your business.
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Barcode inventory system with real time tracking
To achieve operational efficiency and transparency throughout the entire order fulfillment process, a barcode inventory system with real-time tracking is a powerful tool for businesses with high volumes of products and orders. A cloud-based barcode inventory system with real-time tracking allows you to access live data anytime, anywhere with an internet connection. At the same time, data from all departments and order stages is updated seamlessly in the cloud. Having a barcode inventory system with real-time tracking also means you have the ability to:
- Save all your data in the cloud with the option to back it up at any time.
- Access your data in real time, whether it’s inventory levels, the stage of an order, or the status of invoices and shipments.
- Connect your business to one centralized system. No matter how many offices, warehouses, or locations you have, you can manage them all from a single platform.
- Create multiple companies if your business has separate branches that operate in different fields or customer segments.
- Update product information from anywhere, as you can access the system via mobile phone or tablet.
- Gain transparency with historical activity tracking, so you know who did what in a clear timeline.
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Barcode inventory system with mobile app
One of the most important outcomes of a solution is convenience, and the same goes for a barcode inventory system. Having a mobile app for a barcode inventory system will definitely make your work more convenient and flexible. A barcode inventory system with mobile app provides you with accessibility, allowing you to monitor your inventory from your mobile phone or tablet. This actually helps a business more than you might think. This barcode inventory system, paired with mobile apps, turns your phone into a device that helps you manage your warehouse and more. Here are some of the advantages of going for a barcode inventory system with a mobile app like EMERGE:
- Perform a Stocktake on the go.
- Scan barcode to handle receiving, putaway, picking, and dispatching directly from your mobile device. Inventory is updated in real time with every scan.
- View real-time inventory levels, order statuses, and product information immediately from your phone or tablet.
- Replace clipboards and printed sheets with digital efficiency, reducing errors and saving time.
- Equip your staff with mobile scanners (your own devices or ours) to decentralize operations and increase productivity across all locations.
Manage your warehouse from anywhere, with the accuracy and power of a full system always at your fingertips.
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Why do you need a simple barcode inventory system
The primary reason for deploying a barcode inventory system is to simplify your work, expedite processes, and improve operational efficiency. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense to deploy a complicated system that takes months for your team to learn about and implement, or even go live. Now, a simple barcode inventory system is the solution, which is easy to learn and use, helping you save time and resources.
EMERGE provides a simple barcode inventory system, a straightforward and easy-to-use solution that doesn’t require complex setup or advanced technical skills. In the spirit of a simple barcode inventory system, EMERGE brings you the important aspects you are looking for, like:
- Easy to Learn: You can invite your employees into the trial process, allowing them to quickly understand and use the system, thereby reducing training time and errors.
- Training course: As many of our users are learning the system themselves, we have created a training course with step-by-step instructions.
- Quick Implementation: You can set up and start using it fast without extensive IT involvement or customization.
- Affordable: You can request customization in the software to hide all the modules that you don’t use. That will reduce your costs as well as simplify your operation workflow within the system.
- User-friendly interface: The interface on mobile and desktop versions is designed to be simple, easy to understand, and has step-by-step instructions.
- Fundamental Features: Focus on essential tasks: inventory management, tracking, and updating. Some modules can be hidden to display only the most frequently used features, thereby removing unnecessary ones.
- Flexible: Easy to customize or add features. Additionally, the barcode inventory system with a mobile app provides the convenience of working without being tied to your desk.
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Affordable barcode inventory system for SME business
As mentioned earlier, if you don’t require advanced features for a complex workflow like trading or production, an affordable barcode inventory system is a practical investment. For example, as a wholesale distributor, you need a system built for a retail workflow, not an expensive, comprehensive ERP. It’s about making a smart, practical investment for your growth.
A truly affordable system should have no hidden customization fees. EMERGE delivers exactly that, offering a solution that helps you:
- Manage orders and warehouses with ease.
- Speed up fulfillment with an integrated barcode scanning system.
What Makes EMERGE Affordable? In 2025, an integrated approach is the most cost-effective strategy. EMERGE’s affordability comes from its complete, all-in-one package, which includes three essential components:
- Barcode Generation & Printing.
- Flexible Scanning Hardware: Select scanners that align with your budget and workflow.
- Centralized Management Software: The platform that seamlessly integrates with other solutions for delivery, accounting, and e-commerce, to run your operations.
EMERGE provides a warehouse solution starting from just $49.99 per month. However, it’s also important to note that you will have a free trial for life, which means you don’t need to provide any credit card information or worry about the remaining days of your free trial or whether your card will be charged. None of that will happen with EMERGE. You can also contact our support team, which works 24/7, to help you upload your data into the software. This allows you to start using it with your real product and customer data, and then you can begin creating quotes, shipments, and invoices.
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Top barcode inventory system 2025
Since every business has its own workflow and scale, the top barcode inventory system of 2025 will have different definitions depending on each person’s needs and industry. Below is a list of the top systems this year, along with the specific advantages you can consider.
- NetSuite (Oracle): A comprehensive, full-suite ERP solution. It is the go-to for large corporations requiring deep financial and operational integration.
- Cin7: A powerful and scalable cloud platform for product-based businesses through strategic acquisitions and robust feature integration.
- QuickBooks Commerce: A choice for small and medium-sized businesses already in the QuickBooks ecosystem for accounting.
- EMERGE: An affordable solution for small businesses with strong fundamental features and advanced customization, along with seamless integrations with accounting solutions.
- Finale Inventory: a cloud warehouse management software for fast-growing e-commerce and fulfillment companies.
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Why EMERGE stands out as a barcode inventory system 2025?
In 2025, when people are seeking advancements in technology, owning a system that meets all the basic needs and offers advanced features at an affordable price will undoubtedly be a highlight. EMERGE stands out as a barcode inventory system 2025 with these features:
- Real-time inventory tracking: Delivers timely data that helps you make better decisions, especially for salespeople who need real-time inventory data to provide timely quotes to customers
- Order Reminder: The system will send a reorder notification with a proposed purchase order with the correct quantity you need when inventory reaches the minimum level you set. This helps businesses avoid out-of-stock situations without the need for manual tracking.
- Barcode scanning system: Generate and print barcode labels directly from the system, scan to add items into order, scan to receive, dispatch, etc.
- Order management: Manage sales orders, purchase orders, and fulfillment workflows with ease and accuracy.
- Advanced Reporting and Analytics: EMERGE provides insights into sales trends, inventory turns, and inventory performance, supporting better business decisions.
These features make EMERGE a powerful, user-friendly barcode inventory system, tailor-made for efficient warehouse and supply chain management in 2025.
Frequently Asked Questions
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How to implement a barcode inventory system in my wholesale business operation?
To get started, you will need the right hardware:
- Barcode printers – Zebra and SATO are highly reliable.
- Barcode scanners – Honeywell, Motorola, Datalogic, and Symbol are widely used in the industry.
Once your hardware is ready, connect it with your inventory management software.
For a more intuitive look, you can watch our video tutorial Here. -
Can I use multiple barcodes to manage inventory?
Yes. EMERGE supports multiple barcode types commonly used in wholesale and distribution, including UPC, EAN-8, EAN-13, and Code-128.
- UPC (Universal Product Code) and EAN (European Article Number) are widely used in retail and wholesale worldwide.
- Code-128 is often used for product labeling, logistics, and shipping.
Depending on your business needs, you can choose and apply the barcode format that fits best. EMERGE lets you set your preferred barcode type directly in the system settings, so you can manage inventory seamlessly across different markets and channels.
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What if I already have barcodes on my products?
You can mass import your products with their existing barcodes directly into EMERGE. Our team will help you with data import so your onboarding is fast and hassle-free.
If you don’t have barcodes yet, EMERGE can automatically generate barcodes when you create new products. You can also generate QR codes in EMERGE. So whether you already have barcodes or not, you’re fully covered.
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How to assign unique barcodes to different product variants (size, color, dosage)?
In EMERGE, you can generate barcodes or QR codes directly and even print labels from the system.
For product variants, once you create the variant (e.g., size, color, or dosage), you’ll see a variant table. From there, you can fill in the detailed information for each variant such as SKU, barcode, and QR code.
Each variant gets its own unique barcode, which makes it easy to scan and track accurately. For example, different dosages of medicine, or apparel with different sizes and colors, can each have their own barcode for better inventory control.
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"EMERGE App is fantastic if you are running a traditional wholesale & trading business and thinking of selling online."
"Saves me considerable amount of time preparing quotation, purchase order and other documents."
"Partial and consolidated delivery and payment allows me to manage my workflow better compared to other similar solutions."
"Manages drop shipping orders which is just what we need."
"Seamless workflow processing from invoice to delivery has freed up a lot of time and headaches for our team, allowing us to focus on serving our customers better."
"Emerge is simple to use, helps us be more productive and easily run our daily operations. It makes it easy for a new company like us to get started and easily run its daily operations."
"Selling on consignment retail department store, Shopify & occasional pop-up store at the same time has never been easier with EMERGE."
"Easy to use , Best support.
I run a e-commerce business and it is really very helpful to have a platform like Emerge for inventory management and it syncs with Shopify too."
"This web app is a great inventory management system that gets the job done. It also has some simple accounting features perfect for small companies and startups to boost productivity."