If you run a brick and mortar shop, you need a quality system that can help you track your shop inventory. The right inventory management tools allow you to see what inventory you have on hand, support invoicing, purchase orders, cost tracking, and more.

QuickBooks Compatible Inventory Apps

SOS Inventory

SOS Inventory lets you enter inventory manually and assign a location and serial number for each item. Using the location and serial number, you can track each item’s cost history and assess overall profitability. SOS Inventory syncs with your QuickBooks Online account, saving you the burden of manual entry and reducing errors. By creating a sales order in SOS inventory, you can sync your data with QuickBooks, generate an invoice, issue a sales receipts, and update your accounting records.

If you run a manufacturing facility, SOS Inventory lets you track raw inventory as well as finished assemblies. Use it to track work-in-progress so you know what’s happening with all of your inventory and so you can let customers know when their products are ready.

QR Inventory

If you prefer to catalog inventory by scanning rather than manual entry, you may like QR Inventory. This cloud-based mobile inventory software creates inventory records by scanning QR codes, barcodes, or NFC tags with a smartphone or tablet. Add descriptions to items using QR Inventory, and even attach photos for visual reference.

If you deliver, use QR Inventory to track the location of your items while they are in transit. You simply need your warehouse employees and delivery drivers to update the location of an item when it’s on the service van, at the customer’s address, or in another location. QR Inventory also syncs with Quickbooks and keeps your financials up to date.

DEAR Inventory

DEAR Inventory is a simple, all-in-one accounting and inventory software package for small to medium businesses in retail, wholesale, manufacturing, and food production sectors. If you support your shop with an online presence, you can also integrate your online inventory from your e-commerce site. This program syncs with Quickbooks to manage costs and maximize.

Forecast Inventory Using Day Sales in Inventory

Days sales in inventory, or DSI, measures the number of days it takes for your company to sell all of its inventory. The calculation also shows how many days your company’s inventory lasts into the future. Knowing this calculation helps you to quantify your business’s overall value and determine how quickly you turn assets into cash.

Calculating Days Sales in Inventory

The formula for DSI looks like this:

Days sales in inventory = (Value of your ending inventory / cost of goods sold) x number of days under review

The period of review refers to how many days you reviewed the ending inventory and cost of goods sold, such as a 31 days in a month, 90 days in a quarter, or 365 days in a year. The cost of goods sold measures the direct costs that go into the inventory, such as raw materials, labour, and storage costs.

For example, your ending inventory comes to $500,000, cost of goods sold is $100,000, and the period in review is 31 days.

The days sales in inventory comes to:

$500,000 / $100,000 x 31 = 155 days

This shows that your inventory should stay on your shelves for 155 days. If these same dollar amounts happened over 365 days, then the days sales outstanding comes to 1,825 days.

Take a look at what happens to this 31-day period when your COGS is higher than your inventory value:

$500,000 / $1,000,000 x 31 = 15.5 days

This result means you sell your inventory in a faster time than the time period for which you reviewed your inventory. This represents a very favourable result because you have high demand for your products and the price is right.

How Days Sales in Inventory Creates Forecasts

The lower the days sales outstanding, the faster you convert goods into sales and cash. Typically, you should aim to have the value of this metric at about 90 days. The lower the number, the faster your inventory goes out the door to customers. This lets you build forecasts based on demand for your goods, pricing models, and the amount of supplies or raw materials you need to bring in. If your inventory turns over faster than before, you may have to order more supplies.

You might need to increase the hours your employees work or hire more help if you need to produce more goods in a short amount of time. Knowing the days sales in inventory also gives you an opportunity to gauge staffing levels during busy periods or lulls.

Choose which option works best depending upon the kind of inventory your store handles. QuickBooks can simplify management of both brick and mortar inventory and online inventory. 5.6 million customers use QuickBooks Online. Join them today to help your business thrive for free.