Neto has announced the expansion of its ecommerce software with the addition of advanced inventory for retailers. This expands the software to include real-time stock tracking, low stock alerts, and warehouse and suppler management.
Neto is an all-in-one point of sale (POS), eCommerce, Inventory and fulfilment platform. It integrates with accounting software such as Xero and MYOB. Additionally it integrates with applications such as PayPal, eWay, Stripe, Braintree, Australia Post, and Sendle that help retailers in their business. Following a majority investment by Telstra in 2015, Neto has developed a strong road map for its product that sees it address many of the requirements that SME retailers have.
Stuck in the dark ages?
One of those areas that Neto looked to improve was supply chain management. Neto research found that 17% of Australian SMB’s used either pen and paper or Excel to manage inventory. Incredibly 16% still relied on sight. The Neto development team aimed to solve this problem delivering a single view of inventory across each SMB.
Advanced inventory ties together the physical store and the online store creating a single version of inventory. Companies that have multiple applications across the different channels are now able to consolidate inventory control into a single view. This simplifies systems and reduces costs.
Ryan Murtagh, CEO – Neto, commented: “Recent data from our customers showed that over 53% of retailers are spending multiple hours managing inventory each week. Before Neto, these retailers had to manage a raft of relationships between their stores and numerous third-party platforms for things like purchasing, stocktake, and warehouse management. And if just one of these relationships went sour, or the retailer wanted to take things up a level in terms of volume or market reach, the resulting breakups would disrupt the entire supply chain.
“At Neto, we don’t see why inventory should be run separately to all other parts of the retail process, which is why we’ve always allowed retailers to manage their stock from start to finish through our platform, in total harmony with the rest of their sales, marketing, and compliance. Advanced Inventory completes the omnichannel value chain, allowing retailers to sell anywhere and manage everything without paying for and managing the upkeep of numerous external service providers.”
A new ERP?
Neto are slowly evolving a solution that is coming closer to a full ERP solution for small business. This has only been possible with the influx of money from Telstra to fund development. It will be interesting to see how quickly the functionality grows and what the roadmap includes in future.
Integration to Xero is already complete. Further integrations are planned to other cloud-based platforms inluding Quickbooks and MYOB AccountRight. The roadmap includes further enhancements to eBay integration, a new partner portal, gift vouchers and several inventory enhancements.
Neto produced a webinar which has an extensive Q&A section for the new advanced inventory solution. Neto Advanced Inventory is an add-on available to customers on large plans and above (AU $299). Once set up it has several enhancements beyond the standard inventory system. These include support for multiple currencies, costed stock and low stock alerts. It takes the manual administration out of inventory control. This delivers more time back to business owners to help them grow their business.
Murtagh added: “A messy relationship between sales channels and supply chains will inevitably spill over into lost profits and reduced growth potential. By consolidating inventory management with all other parts of the omnichannel value chain, we’re helping Australian retailers to put cross-platform breakups in the past and focus on cultivating a perfect match between their stock and their customers.”
Conclusion
This is an interesting addition to software that seems as if it is growing functionality exponentially. It is only available in Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia at the moment. Will they expand into other markets such as the UK, USA and South Africa as Xero has done?
International expansion is not easy but if they want to maintain market share in Australasia they will need to expand. Otherwise a competitor with deeper pockets from a larger market will threaten them in time.
The investment by Telstra is now bearing fruit. One possibility is that one of the finance companies that they integrate with look to acquire them from Telstra. This would deliver a full ERP solution for small businesses. It might also allow a company like Xero to attack the mid-market more effectively.
ERP systems are always needed. Good Luck!
Well, inventory management is the most overlooked aspect of any organisation. The primary concerns are given priority like marketing and sales. Entrepreneurs need to understand one thing that a good inventory management system will enhance their CRM and Sales too and can add great profits to their accounts if implemented smartly.