Are you looking to streamline your eCommerce operations? It is time to set up automated inventory management in your BigCommerce store. This guide will walk you through the BigCommerce automated inventory process, helping you save time, reduce errors, and keep your stock levels accurate. Let’s dive in and explore how to harness the power of automation for your business.

What Are the Benefits of BigCommerce Automated Inventory?

Automated inventory management offers wide-ranging advantages that can significantly enhance various aspects of your business operations. Let’s explore the key benefits:

Enhance Accuracy and Reduce Human Error

Automated inventory management significantly reduces human error, leading to improved stock accuracy and more reliable reporting. 

By minimizing mistakes in counting and data entry, automation creates a more dependable inventory system. The increased accuracy ripples through your operations, boosting decision-making capabilities and improving long-term planning. 

Save Time

With access to more accurate data, decision-making becomes faster and more precise, reducing time wasted on errors. Early problem detection enabled by automation helps prevent minor issues from escalating into major challenges. A Forbes-cited report highlights the significant impact: up to 53% of employees report saving approximately two hours daily through automation, potentially reclaiming 240 hours annually.

Save Money

While implementing BigCommerce automated inventory software requires an initial investment, it often leads to significant cost savings when properly utilized. By eliminating common errors, automation reduces expenses associated with inventory damage, incorrect order fulfillment, and product returns. 

A Salesforce study underscores this benefit, revealing that 57% of departments prioritizing automation reported cost reductions between 10% and 30%. 

Help Company Growth

Automation frees up both time and financial resources, allowing companies to shift their focus from mundane manual tasks to strategic growth initiatives. This newfound capacity enables businesses to explore innovative ideas and pursue expansion opportunities. 

By delegating routine tasks to automated systems, companies can leverage data-driven insights for more informed decision-making. 

Boost Overall Efficiency

Automation’s biggest benefit is increasing productivity and efficiency. This helps companies last longer and react faster to changes, like supply chain issues or shifting product trends. It lets businesses do more work in less time. 

Kissflow reports that 94% of companies do repetitive, time-consuming tasks – exactly what automation is good at speeding up. By making these processes faster, companies can get more done, handle challenges better, and stay successful as markets change.

How to Set up BigCommerce Automated Inventory?

• Assess automation potential: Identify which areas of your business are suitable for automation
• Consider staff impact: Plan for training and process changes
• Avoid hasty implementation: Understand that some processes may take time to automate correctly
• Choose the right software: Look for features that match your automation needs
• Ensure compatibility: Check if new software works with your existing systems
• Seek customization options: Find software that allows for flexibility in automation setup
• Look for integration capabilities: Ensure the software can connect with necessary services via plugins or APIs
• Prepare for data flow: Set up proper information channels to activate automated functions
• Consider expert help: Be ready to involve a developer for complex software setup if needed

Features to look for in an automated inventory management system

When choosing an automated inventory management system, look for software that offers essential functionalities to maximize your success. Important features to consider include:

Automatic pre orders and backorders

Pre-ordering allows customers to reserve items before they’re available, generating product excitement and helping companies assess demand for new offerings. Backorders, while similar in that customers wait for stock, occur when popular items temporarily run out. An automated inventory system efficiently handles both scenarios, tracking these orders until stock arrives and fulfillment can proceed.

Inventory alerts

The system automatically notifies you when stock runs low, certain items aren’t selling as expected, or when significant shipments are due. This proactive approach helps prevent stockouts, reduces excess inventory, and ensures timely reordering.

Bulk actions

BigCommerce automated inventory streamlines processes by enabling bulk task completion, dramatically reducing time spent on repetitive individual actions. This efficiency is particularly evident in managing product recalls. When a recall occurs, the automated system can simultaneously flag affected items in storage, initiate return processes to suppliers, and notify customers about their recalled orders.

Safety stock calculating

Safety stock is extra inventory you keep for unexpected situations. It helps when:

• Customer demand suddenly changes
• Suppliers are late
• Prices shift

Deciding how much extra to keep is hard, especially with many products. An automated system does this math for you quickly and accurately. This helps you stay prepared without wasting money on too much stock.

Multi-Warehouse Management

If you run several warehouses, you need to see what’s happening at each one. It is important to use a tool that works with your warehouse management system and gives you a single view of all your stock across locations. This way, you can easily track and manage inventory in all your warehouses from one place.

Sales Channel Integration

Selling through multiple channels helps you reach more customers. But managing inventory across these channels can be tricky if done manually. An automated system brings all your sales channels together in one view. This means you can easily see and control your inventory across all platforms you sell on, whether it’s your website, marketplaces, or physical stores.

Integrations

Look for inventory software that works well with other business tools. Good automated systems can link up with your accounting software, cash registers, financial tools, and online selling platforms. This helps everything in your business work together smoothly, saving you time and reducing mistakes.

Smart Reports for Better Decisions

Top-notch inventory software gives you clear insights about your products. It creates detailed reports that help you decide which items to focus on and when to reorder. Using all the data it collects, the system can predict future demand, show sales trends, and track production. These smart reports make it easier to run your business and plan for the future.

How BackOrder Can Help You with BigCommerce Automated Inventory

BigCommerce BackOrder enhances your BigCommerce store by automating inventory management. When stock hits zero, it instantly switches products to backorder status, ensuring you never lose sales due to shortages. 

The BackOrder Threshold feature lets you control how many items can be sold on backorder, helping you plan for restocking and set accurate back-in-stock dates. Seamlessly integrating with your IMS/ERP systems, BackOrder keeps inventory data synchronized across all platforms. 

This automation maintains your internal systems as the primary source for inventory information, streamlining your operations and improving customer satisfaction by preventing missed sales opportunities.

Final Thoughts

Implementing automated inventory management in BigCommerce can transform your eCommerce operations, boosting efficiency, accuracy, and customer satisfaction. By leveraging the right tools and strategies, you can streamline your inventory processes, reduce errors, and focus on growing your business. 

Contact us today to explore how GritGlobal can help you harness the full potential of BigCommerce automated inventory management and drive your eCommerce success forward.