Multichannel Merchandise Management: What Is It and How Do You Successfully Implement It?

1. What is multichannel inventory management?
2. What are the benefits of multichannel inventory management?
3. What functions does a multichannel inventory management system include?
4. Which softwares support you with multichannel inventory management?
5. Conclusion on Multichannel Inventory Management: A Must for all Rising E-Commerce Companies

According to the Federal Office of Statistics in 2021, a proud 82% of German internet users between 16 and 74 years old shopped online. Anyone who distributes their products over the Internet has definitely taken an important step, however, the competition in e-commerce is very large. Therefore, companies need to strive more and more to stand out from the crowd.

If you want to optimise your processes, increase your reach and increase customer satisfaction, multichannel inventory management can be a game changer for you. In this article you will find out what it's all about and what tools you can use to implement it in your company.

What is multichannel inventory management?

Multichannel Inventory Management Definition

Many companies in the E-commerce sell their products in parallel through various distribution channels. Multichannel inventory management allows them to maximize their reach, sales and customer satisfaction. Companies typically implement this using cloud-based inventory management system and ERP software, which have a connection to shop systems, marketplaces and shipping service providers. Tasks such as data maintenance, data reconciliation, inventory management and document creation happen automatically.

What are the benefits of multichannel inventory management?

Multichannel economy makes your employees' everyday work easier, enhances your customers' shopping experience and increases your business success. We take a detailed look at how your processes can be automated, your employees relieved and your customers made happy.

Advantages for companies:

• Lean processes and low error rate in logistics, warehouse, transport and returns management
• More distribution channels (increases cross and upselling potentials)
• Orientation towards new buying behaviour (most research and order completion takes place online)
• Central control and central data management
• Improved brand perception
• Hints for optimization potentials in real time in the Multichannel Cockpit
• Integration of sales channels (e.g. Amazon) and shipping service providers (e.g. DHL)
• Competitive advantage through sustainability

As the online news portal Welt reports, consumers are increasingly valueing sustainability in their buying decisions. They consciously choose providers that value the ecological footprint in their products, partners and processes. However, there's also a lot happening politically:

Although guidelines (e.g. DIN EN ISO 26000) currently guide companies towards greener practices on a voluntary basis, it's likely that these recommendations will become compulsory. The packaging dealer FSP Full-Service-Packaging (Biobiene®) and the provider of sustainable baby products Wiki-Naturwaren have managed to implement sustainable multichannel inventory management with the help of DreamRobot. You can read about their journey in the Biobiene® Success Story or the Wiki-Naturwaren Success Story, respectively.

Advantages for Employees:

• Relief for departments by taking over administrative and monotonous tasks
• Overview for leaders
• Free capacity for strategic and creative work

Advantages for End Customers:

• 24/7 notifications (e.g. status messages and order details)
• Fast response time to questions and complaints

What functions does a multichannel inventory management system include?

Multichannel Inventory Management System Functions

The range of functions varies a little depending on the provider. Typical functions of complete solutions include:

• Digital order, warehouse, invoice, shipping and archive management
• Automated document capture and management as well as customer and supplier master data maintenance
• Reporting and evaluations
• Dropshipping
• Multichannel interfaces to marketplaces, shipping, tax and payment service providers
• WaWi-Apps
• Data security

Which softwares support you with multichannel inventory management?

Multichannel Inventory Management with DreamRobot

There are different systems that support you in optimising your inventory management processes. Many multichannel inventory management software focus on individual areas of multichannel management. DreamRobot is one of the systems that covers all areas of inventory management from customer order to package handover. It has interfaces to the most important sales channels (e.g. Amazon and Shopify), shipping service providers (e.g. DHL and DPD), payment providers (e.g. Klarna and PayPal) as well as accounting software (e.g. DATEV and Lexoffice).

The popular German multichannel inventory management system also automates the following company areas:

Order management

With DreamRobot you can automatically and intelligently offer products in your online shop and on all important marketplaces. Your orders are imported and processed via interfaces to the most common sales channels. You are in control and can scale distribution at will.

Order and inventory management

The system takes care of processing and managing your domestic and foreign orders as well as creating offers, order confirmations, delivery notes, invoices and credits. Using placeholder logic, all relevant data is recorded in the output documents. Your customer data is created and matched through a master data link. The inventory is updated in real time. With the BetterPick app of a DreamRobot partner you can also control and optimise your commissioning processes flexibly by mobile phone.

Payment management

The bank module matches PayPal, invoice and SEPA payments with open orders. If a payment has been made, the software sets the order to “paid”. The system automatically takes over important accounting tasks through interfaces to the main providers. For instance, your tax advisors have the created receipts directly at hand. With the DR archive system you can legally store important data such as invoices.

Shipping Management

The system assigns shipping service providers (e.g. DHL and DPD) defined by you to the orders and prints out shipping labels and any shipping documents. You have the option to group orders by email or delivery address. Customers and portals automatically receive tracking and invoice information, which you can personalise if desired. Outsourcing of the shipping processes is also possible.

Also praised on OMR Reviews are these ERP systems:

DreamRobot

Billbee

microtech büro+

weclapp

SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition

Sage 100

Xentral ERP

JTL

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

e.bootis-ERPII

Conclusion on Multichannel Inventory Management: A Must for all Rising E-Commerce Companies

Digitisation with a multichannel inventory management system is an investment that is worth it for almost every e-commerce company, as all time-intensive and error-prone processes can be put into reliable hands. The best system for you and your company depends on many factors. With DreamRobot the online shop complete solution starts at €19.95 per month. You also have the chance to try out the software for free as a test version. We advise you to intensively deal with the functions and pricing models of the individual tools and book trial versions of your top candidates if necessary.