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
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."