If you sell products, you know your business is only as good as your supply chain. Whether you rely on your supply chain to acquire raw materials or finished products, you need a steady stream of goods to ensure operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. At the same time, accumulating too much inventory can clog your warehouse and eat up capital. It’s a precarious balance.
Many businesses use supply chain management software to run their supply chain operations. It can help you manage supplier relationships, handle demand forecasting, and ensure inventory optimization. Here’s an overview of the top supply chain software, including tips for finding the best supply chain solutions for your business.
Top supply chain management software for your business
The best supply chain management (SCM) software solutions can manage your entire supply chain, from order management to warehouse optimization, allowing your team to redirect their efforts toward building client relationships and other strategic initiatives.
Before you consider buying new software for your business, your current ecommerce software might offer the tools you need. Shopify merchants can use Shopify Shipping to manage orders with their own teams, with discount shipping rates and tracking within their ecommerce stores. If you’re looking to outsource shipping, Shopify Fulfillment Network is a comprehensive solution. It offers real-time inventory tracking, dynamic routing technology and reliable processes for freight, drayage, and transloading.
If you are looking for additional tools, here are eight SCM options worth considering for your ecommerce business:
1. Logiwa WMS
Logiwa WMS includes features like its order management automation and real-time syncing. Logiwa is built with an open application programming interface (API), which means it’s able to communicate with other supply chain planning software like NetSuite and ecommerce software like Shopify.
Cost: Contact Logiwa for pricing.
2. NetSuite
NetSuite is an enterprise supply chain software suite that emphasizes predictive analytics—forecasting based on data analysis. The platform’s predictive tools can be used to forecast market demand and manage inventory. NetSuite is known for enterprise resource planning (ERP), and its supply chain optimization tools are part of the company’s ERP software suite. It’s owned by Oracle and runs on the Oracle SCM Cloud platform. NetSuite has an annual licensing fee that is determined by the optional features you add and the number of users.
Cost: Contact NetSuite for pricing.
3. Netstock
Netstock helps small and medium-sized businesses manage demand forecasting and inventory replenishment with its Netstock Predictor and Predictor PLUS tools. It’s a cloud-based solution capable of supplier management, inventory optimization, sales and operations planning, plus manufacturing and capacity planning.
Cost: Contact Netstock for pricing.
4. Precoro
Precoro’s SCM tool focuses on purchase approvals. It offers supply chain visibility—transparent insight into your supply chain—to all departments within your organization, which allows specific departments or individuals to approve supply chain decisions. For example, you may want your production department to authorize a raw goods purchase for the assembly line while your marketing department authorizes a card stock purchase for an ad campaign. Precoro’s finance capabilities and custom approvals make this possible.
Cost: $35 per monthly user.
5. Magaya Supply Chain
Magaya Supply Chain is an all-in-one software solution used by retailers, warehousers, and third-party logistics providers. Businesses use Magaya for order tracking, warehouse management, financial management, customer service, or other business processes, knowing data will be synced and consistent. Plus, it integrates with the Magaya Digital Freight Portal, a digital tool that monitors bookings, tracking, and reporting.
Cost: Contact Magaya for pricing.
6. SAP SCM
The SAP supply chain management software SAP SCM is an enterprise-grade solution offering business intelligence tools. These include AI-powered predictive analytics, integrated planning tools for a demand-driven supply chain, and supplier management tools to ensure you’re working with the best vendors. SAP’s feature suite is large and implementation services can be purchased to train teams on the software.
Cost: Contact SAP for pricing.
7. FreightPOP
If your supply chain operations require freight shipping (with large, bulky loads), FreightPOP may be an option. The software integrates with tracking software from major shipping companies like Hercules Freight and FedEx LTL. Its feature suite includes transportation management, freight planning, freight auditing, and supply chain analytics.
Cost: Reach out to FreightPOP for pricing.
8. Shippabo
Shippabo specializes in ocean freight deliveries. Shippabo offers SCM services to ease the process of importing goods from overseas, whether that be pre-assembled items or large factory sourced raw goods for assembly.
Cost: Shippabo publishes a fee schedule on its website.
What to look for in supply chain management software
- Automated ordering
- Strategic sourcing
- Transportation management
- Inventory management
- Supply planning
- Supply chain analytics
- Cloud connectivity
- App integration
Supply chain management software helps businesses manage nearly every aspect of the supply chain process, from procurement to warehouse analysis, order fulfillment, and logistics.
SCM software typically integrates with other enterprise systems, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, warehouse management systems (WMS), and customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
The key features offered by supply chain management software include:
Automated ordering
Many SCM systems can automatically reorder items when supplies reach a certain threshold, streamlining your procurement process and letting human workers focus on higher-priority strategy work.
Strategic sourcing
SCM software can compare multiple vendors within your supply network and make recommendations based on price, delivery times, and data from past orders.
Transportation management
SCM software can help you estimate transportation costs and track deliveries. It can also alert you when shipments reach your warehouse, especially when packages come with radio frequency identification tags, which can be scanned upon arrival.
Inventory management
The best supply management software helps you keep track of your existing inventory. It may include a warehouse management system that tracks where you store raw materials and retail goods.
Supply planning
Supply chain management tools leverage past sales data to predict customer demand, enabling you to purchase orders strategically. Demand planning ensures supplies are kept in stock while avoiding excessive warehouse inventory.
Supply chain analytics
Many SCM solutions can analyze data from your business’s supply chain processes. This includes inventory analysis, supplier performance reports, and a breakdown of system-wide costs, all of which can help improve strategies and build a more agile supply chain.
Cloud connectivity
Cloud-based software enables users to access databases wherever there’s a secure internet connection. More and more business leaders demand that their logistics providers offer a cloud-based solution, allowing more flexible access and providing a backup in case a local server fails.
App integration
You can enhance internal business intelligence (strategic data analysis and management) by establishing seamless communication between your software applications. For example, you might want your supply chain management software to integrate with your product life cycle management or labor management software, letting you collate data and analyze your company’s financial performance more effectively. One of the easiest ways to achieve this integration is to purchase all your software from a single vendor or by using SCM software that can support another program’s application programming interface (API).
Supply chain management software FAQ
What are the main types of supply chain management software?
Supply chain management software may fall into categories including inventory management software, shipping optimization software, order processing software, and warehouse management software. Many SCM tools can handle all of these functions within a single system.
What are the benefits of supply chain management software?
Supply chain management software can improve your logistics operations throughout a product’s entire life cycle, from procurement to managing warehouse stock levels to fulfilling customer orders.
Can supply chain management software help in tracking and managing shipments and deliveries?
Yes. Many supply chain management tools are specifically designed to help you manage shipments and deliveries.
Can supply chain management software integrate with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems?
Yes. Many of the leading supply chain management software tools can easily integrate with ERP systems, often by using an open application programming interface (API), which allows different software tools to communicate and share data.
