Inflow (Inventory Management)
- Alyssa Mai Le (Unlicensed)
Intro to InFlow
Inflow is a software company that offers inventory management solutions. They provide a packaged solution, which means they offer a pre-configured or ready-made software package designed to address specific inventory management needs. These solutions typically include features such as inventory tracking, order management, warehouse management, and sometimes additional functionalities like reporting, forecasting, and integration with other business systems. Inflow's packaged solution for inventory management aims to streamline and optimize inventory-related processes for businesses across various industries.
Our client used Inflow to manage her inventory for donations she was receiving and wanted to eventually also get a website to sell some of the items and Inflow offered easy website integration and served as a place for the client to easily manage her inventory. This website also has an app so our client uses the app on her phone to do tasks such as scan barcodes and uses the desktop for tasks such as generating reports.
Pricing
There is a monthly and annual plan option and there are different tiers offered from Entrepreneur being the most basic plan to Mid-Size having the most capabilities.
Pros Regarding Inflow
- User Friendly Interface
- Agent assigned to you in order to help with your specific case and gives advice
- Offers comprehensive reporting tools
- Has ecommerce integration and API capabilities - (Can connect directly with shopify, woocommerce, squarespace, amazon, zapier, and more)
- Has hardware integration capabilities (can connect to printers) and even has hardware recommendations on the website
- Multiple people can login on one account. Leveraging this can save businesses the costs of adding new users, especially if they plan to all have similar access
Cons Regarding Inflow
- Cost may be a constraint especially for small businesses or startups with a limited budget. However, registered nonprofits get a 50% discount
- There are limitations when it comes to having a full range of customization so it is important to consider the unique needs that an organization may have
Key Software Features
- Inventory control
- Save money and take control of your inventory
- Barcoding
- Generate barcodes and save time
- Manufacturing
- Creates assemblies or kits while tracking costs
- Sales and Invoicing
- Quote, pick, ship, and invoice in one place
- B2B Portal
- Take B2B orders online without a separate store
- Purchasing and Receiving
- Send POs and receive product from any device
- Reporting
- See your business with 30+ reports
- Integrations and API
- Connect inFlow to online sales, accounting, and more
- Mobile
- Get work done from your smartphone
Use Cases
- Warehouse
- Choose a WMS that is easy to set up and deploy
- Assembly and BOM
- See how inventory tracking keeps you ahead of orders
- Wholesale
- Inflow brings order even to the largest orders
- Asset tracking
- An equipment signout solution
- Field service
- Track tools and materials across all job sites
Inflow Hardware Products
- Smart scanner
- Printer
- Accessories
Support features
- Contact sales for advice
- Hire an in-house expert to set up Inflow for you
- Connect with other Inflow users
Resources
- Inflow learning center
- Videos on website
- Inflow blog
- Webinars Inflow hosts
- Inflow Podcast about inventory management
Ecommerce Integration Steps
Options > Integrations
There are 3 main sections within this integration page. The first section includes core integrations that Inflow offers (with the Entrepreneur plan, you can only connect one integration of your choice). This includes:
- Amazon
- QuickBooks Online
- Shopify
- Squarespace
- WooCommerce
- Xero
- Zapier
The second section details the 150+ third-party integrations that Inflow offers. This is different from the core integrations because Inflow has access to these third-party integrations through its partnership with CartRover.
The final section is API keys. This includes the ability to add an API key and access API documentation. This is particularly useful if you want to build a custom solution that calls on the information stored within your Inflow products database (for example, you could call the API and use information such as product name or date added, and then use Python to create data visualizations or implement into a custom web development solution).
Customize Product Fields
Product List > Click on a specific product > Manage
Within Inflow, you can customize up to 10 fields that you want every product to have. You cannot make any of these fields required or change the datatype of them (they’re all string fields). We recommend the following fields:
- Date Added
- Item Type
- Color
- Size (S, M, L)
- Condition (N, L, U)
- Status (A, P, S)
- Month
- Year
- Day
Two things: The first thing to note is that because inflow doesn’t directly track the date you added the item, you must add that as a field. However, for the sake of searching and filtering items by specific months or years, you must also add the Month, Year, and Day fields. The second thing to note is that since a dropdown option was not available for the field datatypes, we had to get creative and use code letters to signify certain things such as status (Available - A, Pending - P, Sold - S). For clarity, Condition (New, Lightly used, Used), Size (Small, Medium, Large).
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