If you’ve ever tried to manage stock levels in a growing business, you’ll know it’s not as simple as “just keeping an eye on it.” For retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers, everyone relies on products, and inventory can move quickly. At times, too fast. Especially when you’re juggling multiple products, locations, and sales channels (such as an e-commerce website).

At a small scale, spreadsheets appear to be the obvious solution. Spreadsheets are familiar, cheap, and easy to set up. But as you start to grow, traditional methods like these will quickly start to crack under the pressure.

Onto the big question: which software can you use to stay on top of inventory management? We have the answer.

Let’s explore the pros and cons of older approaches before examining how modern tools – such as First Software’s Xero-integrated inventory management – can transform the way you track and manage your stock.

The Problem with Traditional Inventory Management Tools

For small businesses all across the world, inventory management usually starts with two core systems:

• Spreadsheets (usually in Excel or Google Sheets). These are suitable for tracking basic stock movements, but they rely heavily on manual updates from humans. One missed entry or accidental overwrite can throw the whole system out of sync, and mistakes compound quickly.
• Standalone inventory apps. There are simple tools available on the market that offer barcode scanning and basic stock tracking capabilities. The issue is that most of these don’t integrate with your accounting software or sales platforms, creating silos of information.

The result? You’re constantly switching between systems, or worse, working from outdated or inaccurate stock data. This makes it a lot harder to keep the right items in stock and maintain a smooth flow between purchasing, sales, and fulfilment. That golden thread is the bedrock of your cashflow, and if there’s an issue anywhere in that line, then your revenue will take a hit.

Why Modern Businesses Are Switching to Smarter Tools

As your product range grows and your customer base expands, you need a system that connects inventory with the rest of your business. That’s where integrated software solutions come in.

Connected systems are, to put it lightly, a game-changer. With a connected inventory management system, you can:

• See stock levels across every single channel, online or in-person, in real-time. From anywhere you are.
• Automatically update stock when a sale happens or a delivery comes in.
• Forecast demand using past sales data and trends.
• Sync inventory data with your accounting system for faster, more accurate reporting.

These are far from small improvements. These are the kinds of tools that give growing Kiwi businesses like yours to move past the limitations of spreadsheets and manual systems, because no one wants to deal with an Excel headache every single day.

Introducing, First Software’s Xero-Integrated n2 Solution

If you are already using Xero for your accounts, our solution for inventory management + Xero is the perfect next step. To help you integrate it quickly, let’s get acquainted with how it works.

Every time stock is received, sold, or moved between locations, the system updates instantly. This means you’ll always know exactly what’s on hand and where it’s located. That carefully-collected data connects directly to your financials, so you can heavily reduce the amount of time spent on manual entry and head off errors.

All of this data also provides a clear view of your inventory’s performance with our smart reporting functionality, making costs and margins even clearer. This allows you to identify which products are your top performers and which ones require attention.

Finally, when you grow your business, add new product lines, open extra locations, or start selling online, then you need a system that grows with you. This one is purpose-built to do just that.

In summary, you get:

•  A system that benefits you, even if you don’t have an accounting team.
• An integrated tool that tracks how your dominos will fall before they even start to.
• Clear data that lets you track and forecast performance for your products.
• A massive time-saver that doesn’t demand you reimagine your existing tech stack.

Spreadsheets might have worked when your business was smaller, or before the retail world became as fast-paced as it is now. However, as you grow and businesses increasingly migrate online to access more customers, managing inventory manually consumes time, leads to costly mistakes, and limits your ability to scale.

With First Software’s inventory management solution for Xero, you get an intelligent system that keeps your stock, sales, and finances perfectly aligned. The result? You can spend less time tracking stock and more time growing your business.

Take control of your inventory with First Software today.

If you’re ready to move beyond spreadsheets and manual stock tracking, First Software’s Xero-integrated inventory management gives you the tools to do it.

Put the n2 system to the test in your own business with a demo from the First Software team. Get in touch to schedule your demo today.