WooCommerce Inventory Management: How to Do It Right

Management of inventory is one of the most crucial aspects of managing a business. However, many store owners undervalue just how important it is. WooCommerce Inventory management software can be.

Does WooCommerce perform well? Let's take a look at the features it provides.

What exactly is WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is not a standalone E-commerce CMS similar to these, but an extension for WordPress, and it's probably the most well-known WordPress E-commerce plugin. Despite being a plugin to a bigger platform, WooCommerce can be equally powerful as fully-fledged applications like Shopify.

It's well-known for being easy to learn to use as well as having a variety of extensions to expand its functionality. On top of that, WooCommerce and WordPress are each free. However, you'll have to pay for things such as web hosting costs and paid plugins, this makes the total price and barrier for entry considerably lower.

How WooCommerce's Inventory Management Work

WooCommerce is able to keep track of your inventory and stock integrated. They are not the most effective or appropriate to specific situations, however they are able to be developed with both paid and free extensions, and the content can be used for the majority of businesses.

Inventory tracking is done on a product-level. The stock will decrease instantly when customers complete purchases, and in the same way, WooCommerce has helpful tools for monitoring customer orders and delivery status.

Overall, WooCommerce's tools are built-in components that can be further developed with the help of plugins. You can, for instance, get plugins to integrate with your favorite inventory management software to update stocks automatically or handle raw material tracking. WooCommerce provides the essentials every user needs to begin with.

Pros & Cons of WooCommerce Inventory Management

Before we get into a deeper review of what WooCommerce is able to do, we'll look at the pros and cons of its inventory management system.

Pros of WooCommerce Inventory Management

• A free and low-cost platform.
• Small businesses can access it, but sufficient for larger ones.
• Decent, if simple, inventory management tools.
• Control inventory worldwide or per product basis.

The cons of WooCommerce Management of Inventory:

• It is impossible to find the raw material.
• Can only monitor inventory overall It is not location or supplier-specific.
• There is no stock tracking automated system built in (you have to edit manually items each time stock rises).
• It is required to be extended with extensions and plugins. This could result in hidden startup fees in the form of paid plugins.

We'll mention a few helpful WooCommerce plugins that can help with its inventory management. But first, let's go over how you can use its tools.

How to Configure WooCommerce Inventory

At the top on the Settings page, there are several tabs. Choose the one that says Products and then the smaller inventory button that is located below those tabs.

Check that the checkbox to enable inventory management is ticked. This allows WooCommerce to subtract stock automatically and alter the status of stock if there is a shortage. If you'd prefer handling this manually you can leave the checkbox unchecked.

There are a variety of settings that which you should explore.

• Hold StockThe change in this code affects the way long stocks are held for unpaid orders before they're canceled.
• Notifications- This will send an email to customers when the inventory on a product falls low or has been depleted. It is also possible to change the thresholds for out-of-stock and low.
• Out of stock visibility This is a way to hide items from your shop if they're unavailable.
• Format for stock displayThe format allows you to display the customers precisely the amount of stock remaining, but only turn it on when at the threshold of low stock, or shut off the display completely.

Additionally, there are individual product stock settings you'll want to get familiar with in case you would like to alter the basis of stock-by-stock. Navigate to products > All Products and click to editany item. Scroll to the information box, then hit inventory .

If you want to manage the individual settings for stock You'll have to verify whether you can enable management of stock at the product level . Here's what each of these settings refers to:

• SKUset a SKU number.
• Stock numberManually assign stocks numbers.
• Backorders are allowed Customers can purchase products when they're out of inventory.
• Low threshold for stock - Specifically, change the threshold for low stocks set on the global settings screen of this particular product.
• Sold in a single transaction- Allow buyers to purchase only just one item at a time.

How to Keep Inventory Updated

This can be done by turning on Enable stock management within WooCommerce's Settings > Inventory > Product. For each product, you can turn off Stock management to the level of productin the product's Edit pages and adjust the level of stock.

WooCommerce will take a deduction from the above amount each time you make a sale, and also make your items the lowest or not in stock in the event that it is necessary.

It's a fact that you'll have to go through and manually update the numbers whenever there's a delivery. WooCommerce can only increment stocks lower, not increase them.

This is easily rectified with add-ons, but the base tool doesn't have such features.

How to Manage Stock Status

What about changing stock status? There are two ways either globally or for each product.

On the WooCommerce Settings > Products and Inventory pages, you can set the threshold for low and out of stock threshold, change the way that out-of-stock products appear on the site, and how stock status displays in your store.

On any product's Edit screen, you can create an individual low stock threshold, then check if the product is in stock. WooCommerce handles this when you've ticked the option to enable stock management on the an individual productsetting checked.

If you don't possess the global enable stock managementsetting on, you'll only be able update when items are available or out of stock. WooCommerce cannot do this automatically.

You can also modify the stock status for variants for products that are variable. After you've established the variations and you've got them, visit each variation on the Variations tab and change the stock number or status as well as low stock threshold.

Other Stock Management WooCommerce Tools

There are other necessary stock management tools provided by WooCommerce:

Bulk Management

Turning on manually products' stocks management and updating their stock status can take forever However, there are integrated bulk editing tools.

In the Products page, click the Products All Productspage, click the checkboxes in order to select different products or the top checkbox to like each of them. Switch the bulk actions menu into Modify and click to apply.

From the bulk editing menu that appears, you can select the menu item Manage Stock? then change the option to Yes. now all your products will be individually managed stock enabled.

If you enable it, you are able to alter the Stock qtysetting by bulk and change it to a precise number as well as incrementing or decrementing it by a set quantity.

Low Stock Threshold

You can define the Low Stock threshold in two places:

In WooCommerce > Settings > Product > Inventory, you can change it on a global scale. It is also possible to decide if stock numbers will be visible to buyers at lower stocks, as well as who gets emailed once a product has reached this threshold.

On an individual product basis, you can go to its editingscreen and then scroll to the inventory tab. Check to see if Manage stockis checked, and then change the low stock threshold.

Sold as a set

If you wish to sell one product at a time, go to the Inventory screen of a item's editingpage. Select the Sold individuallycheckbox. This doesn't require turning off stock management at the product level.

You may also enable this feature by using an editor that is bulk.

How can I View Stock Status Reports

WooCommerce includes tons of data and analysis, and these can be used to keep a closer eye on your stocks.

Find the analytics > stockpage It provides an overall view of quantity of stock units as well as the status. Select Product/Variation, SKU, Status or Stock to sort these numbers, and then repeat the process to reverse the order.

You can use the Showmenu to limit it to only products of certain availability. For instance, you can see instantly which products are not in stock or are on backorder.

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The process of selecting a product type

• Simple items The Simple products are, like the title suggests, the most basic type of product that is available through WooCommerce. It is a unique, shippable product with no unique variations or groupings.
• Variable items - Similar in function as basic products, however it has different variants like color or size. Every variation is essentially its product with its stock number and SKU, but it's all grouped within one product.
• Grouped items They are items of any category that are offered as a bundle or collection. This bundle is made up of items that can be purchased separately, and if you run out of stock, the bundle is no any longer in stock. This is why it's essential to track these issues using the various tools WooCommerce provides. It is different from upsells and cross-sells.
• External/affiliate productThey are items that aren't entirely your own; you take a commission off them, and part of the cut is given to a third party. The majority of them are sold on a particular website.

There are also downloadable products that eliminate shipping and allow you to sell items on your shop. It is unlikely that you will need to worry about stock tracking for this type of product.

16 WooCommerce Inventory Management Plugins for 2022

You're familiar with WooCommerce's default settings, but how do you go can you adapt it to the specific needs of your business? These 16 extensions which are free as well as paid provide additional functionalities that build upon the features WooCommerce can offer.

Want to handle stocks in the physical shop? Monitor raw materials or stock in particular areas? Or overhaul the system entirely? Check out these plugins.

ATUM Inventory Management

ATUM is a step up for WooCommerce's inventory management capabilities. It comes with all the sophisticated inventory tracking tools you're likely to needand more, all for free. It doesn't have features that are locked behind paid monthly plans.

However, a few premium extensions allow automated exporting, multi-location and multi-supplier stock tracking, and billing of materials management.

If you're certain that you're going to need greater power than the ones that WooCommerce comes with, take a look at ATUM.

Multi Locations, Inventory Management

WooCommerce has some multi-location/global selling tools, but it's pretty lacking when it comes to inventory management in multiple places. Its plugin will solve that problem and will also give you better control over shipping and ordering at specific places.

Do you need a no-cost alternative? Take a look at the Stock Locations available for WooCommerce.

Katana

Katana can be described as a powerful manufacturing enterprise tool that is designed to provide you with complete control over your inventory.

The software also has hundreds of integrations with other business tools and an API that allows you to create the integrations you want to make. In addition, you get access to all of Katana's usual inventory management features.

WooCommerce Cart Stock Reducer

Export of Imports from Product

Through this plugin it is possible to download and export CSV documents for not only your own products, but also images review from customers, as well as other attributes or tags. One drawback is that the free version doesn't support the use of variable product types.

WooCommerce Attribute Stock

The Attribute Stock plugin gives WooCommerce's stock tracking tools more power. If you're frustrated that the default does not support particular use cases for your industry It's a plugin which will likely resolve the problem. It lets you track attributes and share stock across different product lines.

One good example is a shop that sells necklaces using this plugin. it is possible to track separately the number of chains and pendants available. If you are out of a specific size of chain it'll be out of stock on all necklaces.

StockUpp Inventory Management

If you're in the market for an inventory management ERP but a little smaller in scale Try StockUpp. It comes with useful features such as greater stock management capabilities suppliers tracking, stock management, as well as batch lot lots. However, it's neither expensive nor difficult to use.

Smart Manager for WooCommerce

The plugin can be beneficial, not only for stock management but for your entire store. It allows you to manage all of your products and inventory from an Excel-like screen with a more efficient large editing menu. This will surely help you save a significant amount of time.

Integration with WooCommerce and Zoho CRM

Zoho is a suite of enterprise-level tools including Zoho CRM to Zoho Inventory and more. Thanks to this plugin it is possible to have the entire suite of features in WooCommerce. Once you have set up the plugin the entire system will be automatized and synchronized.

Stock Manager for WooCommerce

If you're interested in managing all your stocks from just one place, then sort them, edit them, and then export them, you should check using this Stock Manager software. The plugin is free and doesn't have any restrictions on premium features. What you see is what you will receive.

WooCommerce Quickbooks Connector

QuickBooks accounting software is an extremely popular option for firms, which is why the integration with WooCommerce can be beneficial. With this, everything is synced between the two platforms both ways. Additionally, it is fully compatible with other inventory management tools.

Stock Synchronization in WooCommerce

If you keep track of your inventory with an external CSV data file supplied by your provider, this is the best solution. It keeps your stock on track, which means you don't have to update it manually whenever you receive a new delivery.

Advanced Notifications

While WooCommerce has a basic notifications system for stock status, it's not enough for a lot of stores. Advanced Notifications lets you have greater control over how you use the system and lets you send email notifications to other parties, and also customize which products they are notified concerning.

Central Stock of WooCommerce

Establishing multiple stores made up of the same warehouse can be a challenge, but the Central Stock plugin can make it much easier to handle. Now you can sync stock across several websites that are within the same network.

WooPOS

If you have an actual store as well as an online version, the process of synchronizing stocks can be difficult. WooPOS is the point of sale software as well as a CRM and an efficient inventory management tool. All of it is available, and it is available on multiple physical and online stores.

A Bulk Table Editor to WooCommerce

If your shop grows big with thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of items, a bulk editor can be one of your best investments. With this plugin, managing the inventory and SKUs of your store won't be a hassle.

Summary

WooCommerce might appear to be a simple device at first, but there are thousands of extensions and more that can make it more effective than you may expect.

With or without the plugins, WooCommerce offers all the necessary tools for managing inventory to get started. And with add-ons, you can do almost anything. Though some of these plugins can cost money, WooCommerce itself is free in comparison to other e-commerce CMS'.

Compared to similar tools like Shopify, WooCommerce may not provide as effective in the beginning for inventory management. However, add a few additional features are all you need to be in the process of creating an easy, well-organized, and effective method.

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