Zoho Inventory

For businesses that hold goods, sell through more than one channel and need orders to leave the warehouse cleanly, Zoho Inventory is the stock and order tool in the Zoho family, alongside the company's accounting and CRM products. Zoho describes it as flexible enough for a single shop or a multi-site operation.

Warehouses and stock movements

Stock can be held across several warehouse locations, with transfers between them recorded and reports produced for each site. Items can be tracked by batch and by serial number, and barcode or RFID systems can be used for accurate counts. Units of measure can be converted, so a product bought in cases can be sold as single items. Low-stock alerts fire when a level reaches the reorder point the business has set.

Assemblies, backorders and shortages

Items can be grouped and combined into assemblies, which helps businesses that sell bundles or make products from components. The company also describes support for dropshipping and backorders, so a sale is not lost when an item is temporarily out of stock. Local taxes can be configured and applied to orders, and several currencies and countries can be handled in one account.

Multichannel selling and order tracking

Businesses can run storefronts on several digital channels and see every resulting sale in one place. Orders from each channel are fulfilled through the same system, which keeps stock figures consistent across the points of sale.

Packing, shipping and customer updates

Packages can be laid out visually, showing how items fit into a box, and their status followed through to dispatch. Real-time carrier rates and shipping labels are produced from within the product, and tracking updates can be sent to customers automatically.

Custom workflows and integrations

Business rules can be built to trigger actions when particular events occur, such as an invoice falling overdue. Messages can be filled in automatically, and late fees or discounts added through email and field updates. Webhooks connect the system to third-party apps, so an event in one place can start a process in another.

Who it suits

The product is described for small businesses through to larger firms, including companies trading across several currencies. Role-based permissions allow colleagues and external accountants to work in the account, and customer and vendor portals let trading partners view their records. An India edition supports GST compliance, and Zoho also notes a Spanish VERI*FACTU declaration for accounts in that market.