If you are a business owner with something to sell, we’re about to make your life a whole lot easier.
It doesn’t matter what you’ve got in stock, or whether you have a web store or a retail shop in a busy mall.
Store management software is for anyone who wants to monitor stock levels, track shipping, record sales, and access customer data. All at once, in one place.
Curious how it all works? Well that’s why we’re here.
In this article we’ll give you the skinny on store management software, and a rundown of the features to look for.
We’ll also explain how retail software can change your inventory tracking system for the better.
And, because we don’t like to leave you high and dry, we’ll introduce you to monday.com — a complete Work OS with a few interesting perks for your store.
What is store management software?
So, you have a retail business. You have physical inventory coming in, and going out. You may have to keep an eye on multiple stores, a large team, repeat customers, or a busy supply chain.
How do you keep track of it all without underbuying, or overbuying stock?
Did you know that overstocking is common for US retailers? For every $1 in sales, business owners are holding onto $1.65 of inventory.
Fortunately, when you use store management software to view the bigger picture, you can prevent overspending.
monday.com can do sales pipelines. It can do CRM. It can do marketing plans, team delegation, and automation.
Oh, and monday.com can integrate with your favorite apps, including Shopify as a retail POS system (point of sale), or Stripe for retail store payments.
What to look for in store management software
You’re tempted. Why wouldn’t you be? But — and there’s always a but — how many times have you invested in software only to discover it isn’t right for you?
How are you supposed to choose a store management solution that you can stick with?
We say, start with the cloud.
With cloud inventory management software, your team can access data anytime, anywhere, with real-time syncing.
What other features should you look for? Here’s our top 5 hit list:
- Inventory management
- Reporting and analytics
- Shipment tracking
- Team delegation
- Automation
Let’s discuss each feature in a bit more detail.
1. Inventory management
This is a must-have feature for any retail management software solution. When you have inventory management at your fingertips, you’ll never miss a beat. Your team will always know what’s in stock, giving your customers a realistic timeline for purchases.
Sort inventory your way. You can even use time-saving labels such as status, date, and location.
And, it’s great for manufacturers too. Oversee your supply chain, drag and drop as components arrive, and keep track of every purchase order.
To really succeed in this area, we recommend monday.com’s inventory management template.
2. Reporting and analytics
Deciding where to invest your money shouldn’t be a guessing game. Reporting and analytics are essential to the growth of any business, giving you valuable insights into what to spend — and where.
Your store management software should be able to compile your data quickly and easily, giving you stats on anything your little heart desires.
Want to compare your budget to your actual spend? Do you want to know which products are your bestsellers? Or, maybe you want to know how many customers ask for a refund each month?
monday.com will report with accuracy. With clever filters, formulas, and a chart view, you can create measurable sales and budgeting goals for your retail business.
3. Shipment tracking
What’s the status of your shipment? When was it sent, and where is it going?
While we can’t guarantee your parcels will make it to their destination, you can follow up more easily with shipment tracking features.
Your store management software should be able to give you a bird’s eye view of your activities.
monday.com does this too. You can check the status, date, and delivery details of orders with the help of some pretty color-coded boards. And, it’s customizable for both incoming and outgoing inventory.
From ordering to packing, to shipping, you can follow the yellow brick road with accuracy.
Check out the monday.com shipping manifest template for more information.
4. Team delegation
Efficient teams, big or small, near or far, get the job done.
Imagine if your store management software could delegate tasks to team members.
It can.
With monday.com, you can assign anything to anyone in your workforce. It could be a small task that is part of a bigger store management project. Or, it could be repetitive tasks such as stock reordering and web store updates.
Team management is a big part of what we do at monday.com. There’s a customizable template for every industry, including retail and sales.
Once you have assigned owners you can set priorities and see how long each task takes to complete.
If simplicity is your style, try the Team Task Management template.
5. Automation
Your retail store management software should be smart enough to know that there are processes that repeat themselves.
This can be as simple as sending reminders and notifications when things are due. Or assigning team members to specific tasks based on your preferences.
As far as inventory management goes, this is where monday.com can make even the most forgetful manager look like a Marie Kondo-worthy organization superstar.
You can set automations to “reorder stock” when levels reach a certain point, and remind team members to follow up with customers.
You don’t have to remember, because monday.com will remind you.
What is monday.com, exactly?
Is monday.com store management software?
The answer is a resounding yes, but we’re also so much more.
monday.com is a Work OS — a platform for work designed for businesses and teams of all sizes. It’s built for managing not just your store, but your business’ projects, customers, sales, budgets, marketing, recruitment, and more.
It’s easy to use, whether you type with one finger, or are a self-proclaimed tech geek wanting a customizable solution that you can sink your teeth into.
It’s loved by teams all over the world, and reviewers give it an average rating of 4.6 out of 5.
What are the key features of monday.com?
- 40+ integrations
- 24/7 customer support
- Automation and notifications
- Reporting and budgeting tools
- Inventory management tracking
How monday.com meets all your store management software needs
monday.com meets our 5 feature checklist with options for inventory management, reporting and analytics, shipment tracking, team delegation, and automation.
Setting up your team and using our inventory management system is simple. Choose a template, add your items and other customizations, and assign team members and track stock automatically.
You can view your boards in different ways, giving you a complete overview and extensive reporting. Some options are Gantt, timeline, files, Kanban board, map, workload, chart, calendar, and workload views.
All the information for your retail store is at your fingertips. The question isn’t “what can monday.com do?” It’s “what can’t monday.com do?”
If it ain’t got it, you can add it. Your favorite integrations work with monday.com.
For example, you can use Zoom to video chat with your team and customers. Or, Slack as your virtual chat room and private message board.
Other shop-ish integrations for business owners run seamlessly with monday.com. Whether you need multi store management, or a solution for an up and coming web store, we got you.
Here are a few integrations you may like:
There’s a template for that
monday.com doesn’t believe in throwing you in the deep end. We don’t make you wait for customer service, and we have a library of tutorials and resources to get you started.
But, this isn’t enough for busy store owners. You have customers, staff, marketing, and orders to take care of.
So, we give you over 200 templates, each fully customizable and targeted to a specific niche.
Try these for store management:
A quick recap
There’s no doubt that running a business is time-consuming.
But, store management software can give you a clear picture of incoming and outgoing stock, customer relations, and shipments.
We’ve given you a checklist of features to look for, covering tools to check your inventory level, team management, and clever little automations.
We’ve shown you how monday.com excels, giving you all of the features on any entrepreneur’s wishlist, and plenty more.
Signing up for monday.com will give you access to multiple views, templates galore, and your favorite integrations. Everything is customizable, and there’s no learning curve.
Jump in, add your data, delegate, and get on top of your retail business workflows.
Free trial? You got it. Don’t know where to start? Say hi.
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