It’s Tuesday morning. You sit down in your beautiful showroom, full of customizable couches in multiple styles, colors, and materials. Your first job of the day is to organize your recent inventory records. An hour later, you’re no closer to understanding why your spreadsheet is littered with errors and stock inconsistencies.
Managing your inventory efficiently without a system that can handle multiple couch variants is challenging. A lack of real-time insights into your supply chain also makes it challenging to predict stock needs and time purchases correctly, so you often experience stockouts or overstocking.
If these challenges resonate, you need furniture inventory management software.
Ahead, hear from retailers in the furniture industry about which software is best for your growing business. Learn how to choose the right inventory management system for your furniture business and which costs to consider.
7 best furniture inventory management software
Are you not sure which furniture inventory software is best for your business? Here are seven of the best options.
- Shopify POS
- STORIS
- Furniture Wizard
- Quickbooks Commerce
- Zoho Inventory
- Fishbowl Inventory
- Lightspeed
1. Shopify POS
Shopify POS is the go-to furniture inventory management software for merchants. The system helps you offer a smooth shopping experience for your customers in-store and online.
Key features:
- Request transfers from your other locations
- Create purchase orders for vendors and suppliers
- Connect with your in-store POS system for easy payments
- Conduct inventory counts for incoming orders with a barcode scanner
- Use recent product performance or seasonality to get purchase order suggestions
- Identify trends and confidently plan for the future with reports about your locations and inventory
- Receive warnings of low stock based on the current rate of sales and lead time for each vendor
- Use the stock performance grading system to decide which products are worth reordering and which are taking up valuable storage and cash
Wendy Wang, the owner of F&J Outdoor, an outdoor furniture cover store, explains they chose Shopify POS because of its robust reporting, excellent customer support, and ability to handle multiple locations and channels.
“One example of how Stocky has helped streamline our operations is with assembled products. We sell custom made-to-order cushion sets that combine different fabrics and sizes. Shopify allows us to create bundles and track inventory levels of each component, so we always know what's in stock and available to sell,” she says. “This has reduced our backorders and increased customer satisfaction.”
“Another benefit has been the ability to set reorder points and get low stock alerts, ensuring we never run out of our most popular furniture cover styles and sizes. The reporting has also given us insights into our bestsellers, helping inform our purchasing decisions,” she adds.
Pricing: Basic plans start from $29/month
📚 Learn more: Master Inventory Management With Shopify
2. STORIS
STORIS is a cloud-based inventory management solution designed for home furnishings retail businesses.
One key feature of STORIS is its ability to manage custom orders effectively. You can customize orders based on specific customer preferences, including style, fabric, and finish. The platform then makes it easy to track and manage these orders from purchase to delivery.
The software also syncs inventory levels in real-time across multiple stores and warehouses––a key feature for furniture retailers who need to ensure they can fulfill large order volumes from any location.
Key features:
- Automate stock reordering
- Monitor inventory levels in real-time
- Get alerts when inventory needs restocking
- Track inventory across warehouses to showroom floors
- Adjust quantity, status, pricing, discounting, write-offs, and transfers in one place
- Create floor tags, Point-of-Sale labels, receipts, and inventory barcodes with the Forms Designer
Pricing: Starts from $529/month
3. Furniture Wizard
Furniture Wizard is a powerful furniture store inventory software that ensures your inventory is always in sync. By providing invoicing, price/tag label creation, barcode hardware solutions, delivery routing, and payment processing, the IMS helps eliminate time-consuming operations-related tasks.
Its catalog integration, the iFurniture app, provides access to a library of furniture catalogs from various manufacturers. Sales teams can add new products to their inventory, complete with high-res images and descriptions, via the software without the need for manual entry.
Key features:
- Schedule and load your deliveries
- Integrates with Ashley Furniture systems
- Automatically maintains stock availability of bestsellers
- Check the movement of every piece with traffic history reports
- Print tags and labels customized with your store’s logo, photos, and barcode
- Track the real-time status of where each item is; on order, in the showroom, or the warehouse
- Run detailed reports on inventory, customers, invoices, purchase orders, service, and transfers
Pricing: Monthly plans are custom to the business––contact Furniture Wizard for more details.
4. QuickBooks Commerce
QuickBooks Commerce is a centralized cloud-based system that ensures your inventory is always in sync. You can manage inventory across multiple channels from a single dashboard, ensuring accuracy. Get granular insights into sales patterns, inventory turnover, and customer preferences so you can make better decisions.
Key features:
- Scales to support your growing business
- Integrates with Shopify, Amazon, and eBay
- Segments customers using their purchases and preferences data
- Streamlines the entire order process, from placement to fulfillment
- Supports inventory tracking across multiple locations and warehouses
Pricing: Starts from $15/month
5. Zoho Inventory
Zoho Inventory is a cloud-based IMS that lets you sync stock levels and orders across multiple sales channels. The order management tool automates workflows from order creation to fulfillment. Integrations with popular shipping carriers help merchants manage deliveries.
- Warehouse management tools track inventory by location
- Real-time inventory updates help prevent stockouts and excess inventory
- Create and track purchase orders and manage vendor communications
- Generate detailed reports and analytics on inventory levels, sales performance, and customer demand
- Integrates with other Zoho apps and external platforms, including Zoho Books for accounting and various ecommerce platforms
Pricing: Free for up to 50 orders/month
6. Fishbowl Inventory
Fishbowl Inventory makes it simple to track inventory, manage multiple warehouse locations, and master complex manufacturing. It also has some solid manufacturing and warehouse management features that make it ideal for large-scale furniture retailers.
Key features:
- Offers POS integration to streamline sales processes in both retail and online storefronts
- Advanced inventory control capabilities, including serial and lot number tracking and part tracking
- Supports manufacturing processes by managing bills of materials, work orders, and production stages
- Includes a WMS with features like multi-location tracking, barcode scanning, and real-time updates
- Generates customizable reports that provide insights into inventory trends, sales patterns, and overall business performance
Pricing: Starts at $329/month
7. Lightspeed
Lightspeed makes it easy to manage inventory across both physical and online stores. One of the platform’s best features is its customizable product catalog, which lets retailers manage and customize their product catalog with detailed descriptions, images, and attributes.
- Integrates with major ecommerce platforms
- Access an open API to build customizable workflows
- Track sales trends, identify popular items, and manage stock levels efficiently
- Manage purchase orders, track supplier performance, and automate reordering to maintain optimal inventory levels
- Use a mobile application to access inventory, make sales, and interact with customers directly from mobile devices
📚 Learn more: Top 8 Supply Chain Management Software in 2024
How to choose the best furniture inventory software
There is plenty of furniture inventory software available. That’s why it’s important to understand your business, the key features you need, and your budget.
Let’s walk through the core factors that will shape your decision.
Assess your business size and needs
Are you a small boutique, growing home and garden brand, or large-scale enterprise? Each size comes with challenges and needs. Small stores may prefer a simple system for tracking sales and inventory in the stockroom. Larger businesses require advanced features like multi-location support and detailed analytics.
Consider the problems you need to solve. Do you struggle with overstocking? Is your order fulfillment as efficient as it could be? Answering these questions will guide you to the software that best fits your business model.
Consider integration capabilities
Your home decor store doesn’t only run on inventory systems––it likely relies on other tools like accounting programs, ecommerce software, and customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
So, you need to pick inventory software that connects with your existing tech stack.
That way, all your data will flow smoothly between systems, reducing errors and giving you a clear picture of your business in real-time.
Evaluate scalability and flexibility
As your furniture stores grow, you’ll need better inventory management. Look for scalable software that can handle an increase in products, sales, and new store locations without slowing down.
Flexibility is also key. Can the software adapt to new business processes, seasonal changes, or sudden shifts in market trends? A scalable and flexible system will support your business as it evolves.
Determine user-friendliness
It's important that everyone in your store, from your sales team to your back-office staff, can easily use your inventory software. User-friendly software means you spend less time on training and make fewer mistakes due to complex systems. When evaluating software, look at the interface––is it clean and easy to navigate?
Test how simple it is to perform everyday tasks like entering new inventory items, generating reports, or checking stock levels.
Find essential features
The right inventory software should have all the features that meet the unique needs of your furniture store. Here are six features to look out for:
- Omnichannel capabilities: Manage your inventory across all sales channels, from your brick-and-mortar store to your online shop.
- Payment processing: Look for software that integrates directly with payment systems, making transactions smoother and faster for you and your customers.
- Purchasing and supplier management: Efficiently manage your orders and relationships with suppliers to keep your store stocked and running smoothly.
- Staff management: Choose software that includes tools for scheduling, tracking hours, and managing staff performance to help keep your team organized and accountable.
- Customizable reports and insights: Access detailed reports that you can customize to focus on what matters most to your business, helping you make informed decisions based on accurate data.
- Cloud-based: A cloud-based system means you can access your inventory information anywhere, anytime.
Calculate the overall costs for affordability
Beyond the initial price tag, you need to consider all the other potential costs to ensure it’s affordable for your business.
Here’s what to consider:
- Subscription fees: Most inventory software charges a monthly or annual subscription. Check what these fees include and what might cost extra.
- Feature costs: Advanced features like omnichannel capabilities, payment processing, and customizable reports might come at an additional cost. Decide which features are must-haves and which you can do without.
- Implementation costs: New software can require additional hardware or professional services—factor in these costs to avoid surprises.
- Training and support: Consider whether training sessions for your staff and ongoing support are included or if there will be extra charges.
- Upgrades and maintenance: Cloud-based systems usually include updates and maintenance in their subscription fee, but it’s worth double-checking. Regular updates are essential to keep your software secure and functioning optimally.
Wang of F&J Outdoor, explains how evaluating Shopify’s cost helped the team assess their time savings.
“When evaluating Shopify’s cost, we looked at the monthly subscription fees based on order volume and the one-time onboarding and setup costs. We felt the pricing was reasonable given the feature set and time savings it would provide our team.”
📚Learn more: How to Start a Furniture Business in 12 Steps (2024)
What is the cost of furniture inventory management systems?
Inventory management software may involve other costs beyond licensing and subscription fees. Always check what’s included in these fees to avoid surprises later.
Software licensing and subscription fees
The first costs you’ll face are software licensing and subscription fees. These fees depend on the provider, the features, and the usage you need.
- Software licensing: Some software may require a one-time purchase, often called a license fee. This fee gives you permanent use of the software, but updates and support may cost extra.
- Subscription fees: Many software options operate on a subscription model, where you pay monthly or annually. This recurring fee usually includes updates, maintenance, and sometimes even customer support, which can be a great deal since you get continuous improvements and new features.
Implementation and integration costs
You also need to consider the costs of getting everything up and running.
- Implementation costs: This includes the expenses of installing the software to work with your current systems. Depending on the complexity of the software and your setup, this could involve some significant time and resources.
- Integration costs: If you’re using other systems for things like accounting or customer relationships, your new inventory software will need to work with them. Sometimes, integration is straightforward and included, but other times, it might require extra software tools or professional services.
Training and support expenses
Once your new inventory management software is up and running, you'll need to make sure your team knows how to use it. Here’s what to consider regarding training and support:
- Training: Most systems come with a learning curve, so consider whether you’ll need formal training sessions for your staff. Some software companies offer training as part of the initial package, while others charge extra.
- Support expenses: After the initial setup, you may want ongoing support to help solve any issues that come up. Check if the subscription fee includes support or if there are additional costs for different levels of support services.
Find the best inventory management software for furniture retailers
Whether you’re setting up a home decor pop-up shop or scaling globally, you need inventory management software.
Choosing the right inventory system will help you manage customizable product variants, ensure you never run out of bestsellers, and sync your inventory across locations.
Furniture inventory management software FAQ
What is the best software to track inventory?
The best software to track inventory will depend on your business size, budget, and the specific features you’re looking for. Shopify POS is a top option for merchants. It integrates with your online store and physical shop, synchronizing inventory across all sales channels. Some other options include Zoho Inventory, QuickBooks Commerce, and Lightspeed.
How does a furniture inventory management system improve business operations?
A furniture inventory management system tracks stock levels in real-time so you avoid overstocking or running out of popular items. The system also automates ordering from suppliers and other repetitive tasks, saving you time and reducing errors. Plus, with better inventory control, you can ensure that popular furniture pieces are always available and deliveries are on time, leading to more repeat business.
Can small furniture retailers benefit from inventory management software?
Yes, small furniture stores and retailers benefit from using inventory management software. It simplifies tracking stock levels, helps manage orders more efficiently, and reduces time spent on manual inventory tasks. This system also provides valuable insights into which products are selling well, helping small businesses make better buying decisions.
How do I implement an inventory management system in my furniture business?
Implementing an inventory management system in your furniture business can be straightforward. Start with these four steps:
- Choose the right system: Select software that matches your business size and needs.
- Setup process: Install the software, enter your inventory data, and integrate with existing systems (like POS or ecommerce platforms).
- Train your team: Ensure all staff receive training on using the new system.
- Test the system: Run tests to confirm the system tracks and manages inventory accurately before fully implementing it.
