Owners dealing with a physical store have many needs such as sales order processing, electronic point of sale, procurement, warehousing, special customer accounts, wholesale integration, potential for e-commerce integration, and much more. It becomes apparent during the holiday shopping season that merchants with brick-and-mortar shops truly need to understand how much and what kind of product is on their shelves at any given moment.

There are three components for a merchant to consider when using stock control software: tracking inventory, receiving new shipments, and taking care of outgoing orders.

• Tracking and Maintaining Inventory:
  By understanding when items are running low, merchants can easily re-stock. With real-time reporting on how many items are coming in or leaving, merchants can gain a close understanding of how much inventory needs to remain in stock without getting spoiled or damaged. Software can help merchants understand and plan the "flow" of items better.
• Receiving New Shipments:
  When a new shipments come in, software and the use of bar coding or other asset tracking helps with reporting on new stock vs. existing or ageing inventory.
• Taking Care of Outgoing Orders:
  Items are sold online, in-person, through other retail outlets, or to wholesalers. Some items may be moved to alternate warehouse loactions or franchises. By tracking sold and pending orders, software can help the merchant organize and report on their needs.

Instead of counting products by hand, one by one, UK business owners who consider investing into systems and processes may help their business run more smoothly and efficiently. By making better use of available time, business owners leverage their abilities and can grow the company at a steady pace.

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