Do you know exactly how many products you have in your warehouse? Do you often decide on orders by thinking, "I guess there will be enough"? If so, you're not alone. Many small and medium-sized businesses still track their inventory and purchasing processes using Excel spreadsheets or paper. As businesses grow, this method starts to become problematic: a product appears as "in stock" in the system when it's not on the shelf, orders are placed late, and sometimes more goods are purchased than needed, leaving money sitting in the warehouse. In this article, we explain in simple terms what inventory management and purchasing management are, how they can be easily controlled with simple methods, and how Entranet can help you in this process.
What are Inventory Management and Purchasing Management?
Inventory management is about having the right amount of goods on hand – whether ready-to-sell items or raw materials for production – at the right time. The goal is quite simple: neither keep excess inventory and lock up money in the warehouse, nor run out of stock and lose customers. Purchasing management, on the other hand, is the process of procuring the necessary materials from the right supplier, at the right price, and at the right time to strike this balance. In fact, they are two sides of the same coin: one manages what you have, the other replenishes what's missing in a timely manner.
Why is Proper Inventory Management So Important?
If you have more products in your warehouse than you need, it means your money is sitting there; you can't invest that money elsewhere. If you have low inventory, customers can't find the products they're looking for and turn to competitors. Managing both of these situations correctly simultaneously with manual tables and ledgers is quite difficult because the data isn't up-to-date, sales, warehouse, and accounting all know different numbers, and decision-making is delayed. Proper inventory management directly impacts both your money and customer satisfaction.
The Most Common Problems Businesses Face During the Purchasing Process
Purchasing isn't just about "placing an order"; it involves many steps, including creating demand, comparing offers, obtaining approval, and following up with suppliers. The most common problems businesses encounter in this process are:
- Delays caused by processing requests and approvals via email or paper.
- The inability to easily compare offers from different suppliers.
- Over- or under-orders are placed due to discrepancies between purchase and stock information.
- It is not possible to track which suppliers are delivering on time and which are consistently late.
Many of these problems stem from the fact that the purchasing process does not align with inventory and financial information within the same system.
4 Simple Ways to Simplify Inventory Tracking
There's no need for complex formulas to strike a balance between excess and deficiency in inventory. Here are four easy-to-implement methods commonly used by businesses:
Minimum-Maximum (Double Box) Method: You set a lower and an upper limit for each product. As soon as the product quantity falls below the lower limit, an order request is automatically created. This eliminates the need to constantly check if the product is sold out.
Just-in-Time (JIT) supply means obtaining the material exactly as you need it, when you need it. This reduces excess inventory and unnecessary storage costs; however, it requires a relationship of trust with your supplier regarding timely delivery.
ABC Analysis: You categorize your products into three groups based on importance: best-selling and most valuable products (Group A) are closely monitored, mid-level products (Group B) are monitored normally, and you are more flexible with low-selling products (Group C). This allows you to dedicate your time to the most important products.
Inventory Turnover Tracking: Allows you to see which products are selling fast and which are selling slowly. Instead of reordering a slow-selling product, you can allocate that money to a fast-selling one.
The Benefits of Consolidating Inventory and Purchasing into a Single System
Having access to inventory and purchasing information in one place, in real time, provides tangible benefits to your business:
- Timed ordering: The order is automatically activated when stock is genuinely low, preventing unnecessary purchases.
- Cost control: Supplier offers and historical prices are compared on a single screen, making it easy to make the best decision.
- Transparent approval process: Every step from request to order is visible, and it's clear who approved it and when.
- Real-time reporting: Information such as inventory value, supplier performance, and turnover rate is always on your screen.
How does Entranet simplify inventory and purchasing management?
Entranet Cloud Suite, stock and purchasing process It integrates every step into a single platform; you don't need to use separate programs for this. Entranet's Inventory & Purchasing solution. It offers the following:
Stock Cards: You create cards for different types of products such as finished goods, semi-finished products, and raw materials, and track blocked quantities through these cards.
Unlimited Warehouse Definition and Shelf Addressing: You can define as many warehouses as you want, record which shelf each product is on, and quickly perform inventory counts using barcodes.
Transfer Forms and Shipping Orders: Records product transfers and shipping processes between warehouses, and allows you to view open and closed shipments in a single list.
Inventory Count Forms: You can manually or via Excel transfer inventory results to the system, automatically add the results to the stock, and review the price difference report.
Inventory Value Report: Instantly view the current monetary value of your inventory based on purchase and sales quantities.
Purchase Order Management: You can manage all steps from creating a purchase request and comparing offers to confirming and sending the order, all from a single screen.
Supplier Relationship Management: You evaluate potential suppliers according to your defined criteria and set limits and restrictions for each supplier.
Integrated Management from Production to Warehouse: Raw material warehouse, packaging warehouse, semi-finished product warehouse, and finished product warehouse are tracked separately; you can block the materials required for a production order.
Mobile Access: Even when you're not in the office, you can instantly track and manage your inventory and purchasing processes from your phone or tablet.
Why Entranet for SMEs?
The biggest concerns for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are often cost and complexity. Entranet's solution for SMEs... This will make your job easier in both of these areas:
- Cost-effective, flexible pricing: You only pay for the applications you need, and expand the system as your business grows.
- No setup required: Because it's cloud-based, there are no server, hardware, or maintenance costs.
- Over 300 applications: In addition to inventory and purchasing, you can also meet your accounting, HR, CRM, and e-commerce needs from the same platform.
- Automatic updates and support: Updates and security measures are performed automatically for you.
- Data security: Your data remains secure with encryption and regular backups.
- Free trial without a credit card: You can start using the system within minutes of registering.
A Real-Life Example: Lovering Jewelry
You can see that what we've described isn't just theory, from the words of a business that actually uses Entranet: Lovering Jewelry . General Manager Yalçın Ulçay summarizes the Entranet experience as follows:
"With Entranet, we can easily and practically track all business processes such as customer relationship management, inventory management, human resources, and accounting from a single point. Moreover, we can easily manage the system online from both our phones and tablets, even when we are outside the office."
This is real proof of how much inventory and purchasing management can be simplified with the right system.
Conclusion: Start simplifying your inventory and purchasing management today.
Inventory and purchasing management directly impacts your profitability, regardless of your business size. Managing this process with Excel spreadsheets and scattered methods becomes increasingly difficult as your business grows. Bringing the entire process together on a single platform—from stock cards and purchase orders to warehouse tracking and supplier evaluation—means timely ordering, lower costs, and satisfied customers.
You can start trying Entranet's Inventory & Purchasing solution for free right now; you can begin using it within minutes without needing credit card information.
Try it for free: https://www.entranet.com/tr/ucretsiz-dene
Explore our Inventory & Purchasing Solution: https://www.entranet.com/tr/cozumler/stok-satin-alma
For more information on the technical details of warehouse operations, you can also review our article "What is a Warehouse Management System (WMS)? What are its Advantages?" in the Entranet Usage category.
