Managing inventory can become difficult as a small business grows.
When you only have a few products, a spreadsheet may be enough. But as the number of products, orders, suppliers, and sales channels increases, it becomes harder to know what you have in stock and what you need to reorder.
Running out of popular products can lead to missed sales, while ordering too much inventory can tie up cash in products that may take a long time to sell.
AI-powered inventory management tools can help small businesses track stock, identify low inventory, analyze sales patterns, and in some cases forecast demand and assist with purchasing decisions.
In this guide, we’ll look at five inventory management tools that can be useful for different types of small businesses.
Quick Comparison
| Tool | Best For | Main Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Zoho Inventory | Small businesses and ecommerce | Inventory and order management |
| Sortly | Visual inventory tracking | Simple mobile inventory management |
| inFlow Inventory | Wholesale and B2B businesses | Purchasing and order management |
| Katana | Makers and small manufacturers | Materials and production management |
| Cin7 | Growing multichannel businesses | Connected inventory and order management |
1. Zoho Inventory
Best for: Small businesses that need inventory and order management
Zoho Inventory is designed to help businesses manage stock, orders, purchasing, warehouses, and sales channels from one system.
It can be useful for small ecommerce businesses and retailers that are moving beyond spreadsheets and need a more structured way to track inventory.
Zoho Inventory also supports automation and integrations with other business applications, making it possible to connect inventory information with other parts of a business.
For businesses already using other Zoho products, the broader ecosystem can make inventory management easier to connect with accounting, CRM, and other workflows.
- Small ecommerce businesses
- Businesses managing multiple products
- Businesses moving away from spreadsheets
- Businesses using other Zoho applications
- Businesses that need inventory and order management together
2. Sortly
Best for: Simple and visual inventory tracking
Sortly takes a more visual approach to inventory management.
Instead of relying entirely on traditional spreadsheet rows, businesses can organize inventory using photos, folders, custom fields, and other visual information.
This can be useful for businesses that need to track physical products, equipment, tools, supplies, or inventory across different locations.
Mobile access and barcode or QR-code scanning can also make physical inventory counts easier.
- Small businesses with physical inventory
- Equipment and supply tracking
- Businesses that prefer visual inventory management
- Mobile inventory checks
- Businesses with relatively simple inventory requirements