Transactional Inventory
We treat inventory moving in and out of Slatwall just like an accounting platform. This allows for us to not just tell you how much inventory you have on hand right now, but how much inventory you had on hand this time last year, or just last Tuesday. It isn't just about knowing how much inventory you have on hand, it is also about how much is coming in from vendors and when it will arrive, or how much is committed for orders that have not yet shipped.
Vendor PO's & Returns
Unlike many eCommerce systems Slatwall has the capability to actually place PO's with your vendors and receive those PO's into inventory. This means that your entire inventory lifecycle, from vendor purchase to customer order fulfillment, can exist within Slatwall. However, if you have another system for purchase orders, then Slatwall can provide a data sync so your customers can see things like when out-of-stock inventory is expected to be back in stock.
Dropshipping & 3rd Party Fulfillment
If your business has the opportunity to sell goods that you don't need to keep in inventory it can be a great way to free up capital and alleviate cash flow issues. Utilizing manufacturers or distributors that offer drop shipping can also allow you to offer a broader product line. All of this is great, but if your system can't handle things like inventory feeds from your dropshippers or provide visibility into order statuses, it can leave your customers frustrated. Slatwall provides the tools you need to solve both sides of the equation and grow your bottom line.
Real Time Physical Counts
A big part of managing the entire inventory lifecycle is performing physical counts of the goods that you have on hand. With traditional methods this meant shutting down part or all of your warehouse or retail store, but with Slatwall's API's and the ability to take physical counts with wireless devices, you can just scan and go! Slatwall evaluates the timestamp when each piece of inventory is counted and then reconciles that quantity with any transactions created after the item was counted.
Multiple Locations
Most companies inventory lives in multiple locations, especially as the organization grows. These locations can be warehouses, physical stores or just virtual inventory buckets. With Slatwall, you can define as many locations as you need, and the platform provides the tools to move that inventory around as you see fit.
Location Nesting
When dealing with large and complex warehouses there is often a need to "Nest" locations inside of other locations. For example, if you have a warehouse in Dallas, it might be broken up into 20 aisles, which can be thought of as nested locations of the parent warehouse. Those aisles might be further broken up into sections, and then again further into shelves or bins. By maintaining inventory at this level, Slatwall provides operational control over your warehouse.
Inventory Adjustments
Slatwall provides the ability to do inventory adjustments so you can transfer quantities in or out of of any location you select. In addition, you can use inventory adjustments to transfer items from one location to another. You have the flexibility to automatically move the inventory from one location to another, or force employees at one location to ‘send’ the inventory so that the employees of the other location are forced to ‘receive’ that inventory. This allows you to track inventory that is in transit.