If you want to keep operations efficient and customers happy in your pet store, effective inventory management is a must. But it’s more than simply tracking products — you need to make sure you’re stocking the products your customers need.
The right pet store inventory management software automates key processes like inventory tracking, purchase orders, and vendor management, which saves you the time and effort typically spent on manual tasks.
In this blog, we’ll explain how to choose the best pet store inventory management software for your needs, plus key features to consider. Then, we’ll cover the top providers to look into.
Let’s get started.
Must-Have Features for Pet Store Inventory Management Software
Each of these must-have features play a key role in making your inventory management more efficient, so you can operate more smoothly and offer better service to their customers.
Automatic Purchase Orders
Automatic purchase orders help you maintain optimal stock levels by automating the replenishment process. This pet store inventory management feature ensures your popular items are always in stock and reduces the risk of lost sales due to out-of-stock products.
By analyzing sales trends and inventory levels, your software can generate purchase orders automatically when stock reaches a predetermined threshold, which saves time and reduces manual errors.
Integrated Barcoding
Integrated barcoding streamlines your inventory tracking and the checkout process. With barcoding, each product is assigned a unique code that can be quickly scanned to minimize the time spent on manual data entry.
This feature makes sure inventory counts are accurate, reduces human error, and speeds up customer service at the checkout counter. It also helps you manage large inventories efficiently, which is particularly beneficial for pet stores with a diverse range of products.
Vendor Management
Effective vendor management features allow you to coordinate seamlessly with multiple suppliers. This capability gives you easy access to supplier catalogs, product lists, prices, and order histories.
With vendor management tools, your pet store can establish stronger relationships with their suppliers, negotiate better deals, and ensure timely deliveries. This feature also helps track vendor performance, which is important for maintaining a reliable supply chain.
Bulk Edits
The bulk edits feature lets pet store owners make mass changes to inventory data quickly. This is particularly useful for updating prices, product descriptions, or stock levels across multiple items simultaneously. Bulk edits save significant time and effort compared to updating each item individually.
The ability to implement changes swiftly helps ensure that your inventory data remains accurate and up to date, which keeps operations efficient and customers satisfied.
Each of these features plays an important role in boosting the overall efficiency of inventory management for your pet store.
How To Choose the Right Inventory Management Software for Your Pet Store
Here's how you can identify the best pet store inventory management software for your business.
Assess Your Needs
Start by conducting a thorough assessment of your pet store's inventory management requirements. This involves understanding the size of your inventory and the specific types of products you sell. For example, if your store carries live animals, perishables like pet food, or items with expiration dates, you may need software with specialized tracking features.
Consider the scope of your operations — do you manage a single location or multiple stores? Understanding these nuances helps you select software that aligns with your operational needs and can scale as your business grows.
Evaluate Features and Costs
Once you have a clear picture of your needs, it's time to evaluate the features and costs of different inventory management software options. Prioritize features that are crucial for your business, like automatic purchase orders, real-time inventory tracking, and detailed reporting tools.
Compare the pricing plans of each software, taking into account any additional fees for features like integrations, upgrades, or customer support. It's essential to find software that offers the necessary features within your budget, ensuring you get the best value for your investment without sacrificing essential functionalities.
Check Integrations
Integration capabilities are a key consideration when selecting inventory management software for your pet store. Ensure the software can seamlessly integrate with your existing systems, such as your point of sale (POS) system, e-commerce platform, and accounting software.
Strong integration options allow for smooth data flow across different platforms, which reduces the need for manual data entry and minimizes errors. This leads to more accurate and consistent inventory data.
Related Read: 10 Pet Store Design Ideas To Maximize Sales
Review User Feedback
User feedback from other pet store owners can give you invaluable insights into the performance and reliability of the software you’re considering. Look for online reviews, testimonials, and case studies that discuss the experiences of users in similar retail environments.
Pay attention to comments on the software's ease of use, customer support quality, and any common issues that users encounter. Feedback from real-world users can highlight both the strengths and potential drawbacks of the software, helping you make a more informed decision based on practical experiences.
By following these steps, you'll be ready to choose a pet store inventory management software solution that meets your current operational needs and supports your store's future growth and success.
5 Top Providers of Pet Store Inventory Management Software
Finding the right pet store inventory management software is a game-changer. Here's an overview of the top providers offering tailored solutions for pet retailers.
5. Rain POS
Rain POS is designed to accommodate the needs of specialty retail environments with a robust set of features, including:
- Product and serial tracking: Rain POS' advanced product and serial tracking precisely manages inventory, especially for businesses with serialized items or complex product catalogs.
- Customer communication tools: The platform's customer communication tools include email and SMS receipts, loyalty programs, and customer history tracking to boost engagement and personalize the shopping experience.
Pricing:
Rain POS operates on a custom pricing model, where each quote is tailored based on a demonstration and the specific needs of the retail environment. This ensures that businesses receive a solution that aligns with their operational scale and requirements — without paying for unnecessary features.
Review:
We’ve used every POS system out there. Nothing else compares. I’m really happy we switched to Rain. It’s the best point-of-sale software for our outdoor shop. It’s easy to use, well designed and precisely what we need.
— Wendy Summers, Manager, 24-7 Outdoor Ltd
4. Square
Square offers an impressive array of features that are designed to meet the diverse needs of various retail businesses. Its primary standout features include:
- Versatile payment options: Square allows many payment options, making it convenient for customers.
- Efficient checkouts: Square's system speeds up checkout by offering tap-to-pay and mobile payments, increasing customer satisfaction.
- Adaptable solutions: Square's adaptable platform supports businesses of all sizes, with a modular design that allows for tailored business solutions.
Pricing:
Square offers a basic system that is free, which is particularly attractive for small businesses and startups. However, while there are no monthly fees for the basic plan, transaction fees do apply. Square also provides custom plans for businesses with more complex needs or higher transaction volumes, ensuring that pricing is scalable according to business size and requirements.
Review:
We do about 85 to 90% of payments online. Because our clients are prepaying for all services, they’re going to our website, signing themselves up, and using Square to pay — before we even speak to them.
— Katherine Ostiguy, Co-Founder, Crossbones Dog Academy
3. Lightspeed
Lightspeed is equipped with a range of features tailored to meet the demands of complex retail environments. Its core functionalities include:
- Extensive product categorization: Product categorization allows retailers to improve inventory management and simplify navigation.
- Bulk updating: Lightspeed's bulk updating feature allows retailers to quickly and accurately change large amounts of inventory data at once.
- Customizable reports: Lightspeed's robust reporting features generate custom reports that provide insights into sales, inventory, and customer behavior to support data-driven decisions.
Pricing:
Lightspeed's flexible pricing plans start at $189/month for the basic package and go up to $399/month for advanced features.
Review:
Lightspeed collects what we have, what we carry, how many we have in stock, and [the Local Inventory on Google integration] has the ability to post online. So, if someone's looking for specific products, they can Google it online and we'll come up.
— Donna Nusspickel, Founder, Donna’s Pet Depot
2. Shopify
Shopify is known for its extensive app integration, making it a versatile solution for businesses looking to expand their digital capabilities. Its key features include:
- Extensive app integration: Shopify's app store provides many integration options for businesses to customize their operations.
- Online store creation: Shopify is an e-commerce leader that provides tools to simplify online store creation and management.
- Inventory tools: Shopify's inventory management features help businesses track products and orders to avoid stockouts.
Pricing:
Shopify offers a range of tiered pricing plans starting at $29/month, with advanced plans costing up to $2,300/month. Transaction fees may apply.
Review:
We have been setting up the store and I think it looks at least "nice?".
— EmperaRQPet
1. eTailPet
eTailPet is designed specifically for pet stores, offering a comprehensive suite of inventory management features that cater to the unique needs of this niche market. Notable features include:
- Vendor integration: This feature allows you to easily communicate with suppliers, which helps you manage product catalogs, orders, and vendor performance.
- E-commerce integration: eTailPet's e-commerce integration keeps your inventory levels synchronized across online and in-store channels.
- Loyalty programs: The Astro Loyalty integration lets pet stores create customer loyalty programs that encourage repeat purchases through rewards and discounts.
Pricing:
eTailPet operates on a custom pricing model, tailored to the specific needs and scale of each shop.
Review:
We use eTailPet as our online shopping option for our customers. It has been a learning process for us as a store, but the amazing team at eTailPet has made the transition so easy and smooth!!
— Kara M., Online Store Operator
eTailPet gives you the tools you need to increase customer satisfaction and drive business growth. By focusing on industry-specific needs, eTailPet supports pet store owners in delivering superior service and maintaining a competitive advantage.
Choose the Right Pet Store Inventory Management Software
Choosing the right inventory management software is a crucial decision for any retail business, but particularly for pet stores where the diversity of products can make inventory management more complex.
The right software streamlines your operations and helps you keep customers happy — but when selecting your pet store inventory management software, it’s important to consider your business’ unique needs and budget constraints.
Each business operates under different circumstances, with varying sizes of inventory and customer bases — which means it’s key to choose software that aligns with your specific operational needs and financial capabilities.
If you're considering implementing or upgrading your pet store inventory management software, consider eTailPet and schedule a demo with one of our pet store experts today. Let’s work together to find the best fit for your business needs!