Running a WooCommerce online store can be a challenging, but rewarding, experience because there are so many things that you will have to manage to ensure your store is performing at its best.
One of the things that you will need to manage is a “warehouse”. Therefore, in this article, we will go over some key concepts of WooCommerce warehouses, and we will also be looking at a few WooCommerce warehouse management plugins that can make inventory management easy for you.
What is WooCommerce?
Before we jump into the main topic of WooCommerce warehouse management plugins, let’s first take a look at what WooCommerce is. This section is for people who are not familiar with the platform.
WooCommerce is an open-source, free WordPress addon that turns your WordPress website into an online store by adding various e-commerce features such as creating products, setting prices, product shipping, payment methods, etc.
The WooCommerce platform has the largest market share of any online store creator in the world, and this popularity is due to 3 main reasons:
- It is free
- WordPress, the most popular platform to build a website, uses WooCommerce
- It has a huge development community with third-party support
WooCommerce is not an independent e-commerce platform, you will need to have a designed, functioning, and hosted WordPress website to be able to use the functions of WooCommerce. In addition, with WooCommerce you have much more control over almost every aspect of your online store, from customizations, software updates, addon installation, and website security.
WooCommerce gives you the freedom to make your online store exactly as you want it without any restrictions. The only drawback in this arrangement is that you need to be fairly competent with technology and software.
Some key features of WooCommerce include:
- Integration with WordPress
- The freedom to micromanage all aspects of your online store, there are no restrictions
- Selling all kinds of products, such as simple, virtual, variable, etc.
- Extensions and plugins that will add more functionality to your e-commerce store
- An SEO-friendly environment since WooCommerce works on WordPress
- Open-source software that users can extensively customize and modify according to their needs
What is WooCommerce Warehouse Management?
You might have come across the term “WooCommerce warehouses” pretty frequently when you go through websites and articles that talk about WooCommerce-related topics. Moreover, you may have the impression that a WooCommerce warehouse means an actual warehouse, when in fact it doesn’t have to be exclusively a warehouse.
A WooCommerce warehouse can be any one of the following places:
- An actual warehouse or depot
- A store location from where you sell products (most common “WooCommerce warehouse”)
- A room in your house where you store products
- A storage container where you keep certain products
As you can tell, a WooCommerce depot can refer to any place that you use to store products, the most common “warehouse” being an actual physical store itself. Therefore, if you ever come across a plugin or an article that has the words “WooCommerce warehouse” on it, you need not think “Well, I don’t have a warehouse so this plugin/article will be of no use to me”. When, in fact, the reality is that you DO have a warehouse, it’s just not a warehouse in the traditional sense.
Every WooCommerce store owner who deals in physical goods has a place or a “warehouse” where they keep their products, and from where they can carry out inventory management tasks.
Example
For example, you may have 2 large boxes, each for storing 1 type of product. In this case, these large boxes will be your “warehouse”. Moreover, you can easily keep track of your products by counting how many products are sold from each box. This is the simplest form of WooCommerce warehouse management.
However, if you have a large WooCommerce store with many products and multiple depots, then inventory management becomes complex. Moreover, in this case, you may need a WooCommerce inventory management plugin to help you manage the stock level in your depots.
In the upcoming sections, we will be looking at some WooCommerce warehouse management plugins that will be sure to help you in handling your storerooms.
What is WooCommerce Stock Management?
One of the key reasons why you would want a good WooCommerce inventory management plugin is because it can help you with one of the most important tasks in a business, stock management.
Stock management is an important operation that is a part of most businesses, especially ones that deal with physical goods. Furthermore, it involves keeping track of products that are coming in and moving out of your WooCommerce storeroom.
A well-organized stock management system is needed for the smooth functioning of any business operation. In fact, your whole business relies on many factors to run successfully, and stock management is one of them.
Without proper inventory management, you can run into many problems such as:
1- Loss of Sales and Customer
The main problem you can face with poor inventory management is loss of sales.
If a customer is looking to buy a certain product that you no longer have in stock because you failed to replenish your stock on time, then this can lead to a loss of sales. Moreover, this can also leave a bad impression on your customers, who might not consider visiting your store a second time.
2- Delayed or Cancelled Orders
If you are delivering products, then poor inventory management can lead to delayed or canceled orders. This once again is counted as a lost sale. Moreover, the customer on the other end will be extremely dissatisfied with your service.
3- Poor Cash Flow Due to Overstocking
Contrary to popular belief, poor inventory management can also result in a surplus of product inventory. Moreover, if this stock is not being utilized for a long time, then this can lead to poor cash flow as your funds will be tied up with the unused inventory.
The funds that are tied up with unused inventory could have been used in other areas of your business such as rent, utilities, wages, etc.
Simple Inventory Management
Unless you want to deal with the problems mentioned above, it is crucial to have a proper inventory management system in place for your depots.
For a lot of businesses, inventory can be managed on something as simple as a spreadsheet, this is especially true if you have a small business with a few products.
If you sell just a couple of products, you can even track your inventory on a piece of paper. All you need to do, in this case, is write how many products you ordered and then subtract products sold from the total products in your inventory. As a result, you will be able to see how many products you have left to sell, and when you need to get more if they get close to zero. This is the most basic form of inventory management.
Complex Inventory Management
As you can imagine, once a business grows and more products are added to its catalog, inventory management becomes exponentially more difficult.
Once you start having multiple products, tracking each product going in and out of your business can be a bit challenging if you are not organized, and if you don’t regularly update your inventory list.
For bigger businesses, it is better to utilize the services of a management solution extension, such as Multi Store Addons for WooCommerce. Moreover, these plugins will be discussed in an upcoming section of this article.
Top 5 Best WooCommerce Warehouse Management Plugins
1- Multi Store Addons for WooCommerce
One of the best WooCommerce warehouse management plugins that you use without breaking the bank is Multi Store Addons for WooCommerce.
Multi Store Addons for WooCommerce is a plugin that allows you to manage inventory across multiple WooCommerce stores (or “warehouses”). Therefore, with this plugin, you will be able to take care of many of your storeroom-related tasks.
Multi Store Addons for WooCommerce integrated seamlessly with WooCommerce. Moreover, this plugin comes with a variety of features to make WooCommerce warehouse management easier for you.
Firstly, you will be able to import/export products and store data using CSV files. This feature is really useful if you want to upload a huge amount of products and store data in your online store.
Secondly, you can arrange to receive out-of-stock or nearly out-of-stock emails to your chosen email address. This will ensure that you are fully prepared when it comes time to restock.
Last but not least, you can choose if you want to manage your inventory on a store-to-store basis or a global level.
The best thing about Multi Store Addons for WooCommerce is that it is not limited to only stock management. With this addon, you will be able to create shipping zones, calculate shipping rates, add store list widgets to your website, etc.
Multi Store Addons for WooCommerce is available for a bargain price of just $30, which is significantly lower than the price of other premium stock management plugins.
Key Features of Multi Store Addons for WooCommerce.
- Stock Status Email Notifications
- Bulk Import and Export Products and Store Data
- Inventory Management on a Store-to-Store Basis
- Global Inventory Management
- Shipping-related Features
2- Warehouse Management System for WooCommerce (WMS)
The next extension on our list is the Warehouse Management System, or WMS, for WooCommerce.
WMS is an addon that does exactly what it says on the tin: it manages your depots or storerooms.
Once you have the plugin installed, WMS will enable storage location managers to easily manage orders that are assigned for delivery. This task is done by using the plugin to create various virtual storerooms that have products and managers assigned to them.
The admin can create multiple storerooms with this addon. In addition, more than one storeroom manager can be assigned to each storeroom by the admin.
Once a storeroom is created, it can be assigned a branch manager. In addition, the storeroom can also be allocated certain products. The products are held on virtual shelves or “racks” that have rows and columns. Furthermore, the products can be viewed, and a barcode can be printed for each product by the admin.
Once an order is placed, the branch manager can fulfill the order by scanning a barcode on the products. Once the barcode is scanned, the inventory in the respective storeroom can be adjusted to show which product was removed.
WMS also comes in the form of a mobile application. Therefore, you will also be able to manage your storerooms from the convenience of your phone.
Key Features of WMS.
- Import products to certain storerooms using CSV files
- Mobile phone compatible
- Create multiple storerooms and assign products to them
- Assign and reassign managers to different storerooms
- Fulfill orders and monitor/manage products
3- WooCommerce Multi Warehouse Inventory
The next popular WooCommerce inventory management solution on our list is WooCommerce Multi Warehouse Inventory.
WooCommerce Multi Warehouse Inventory is a great inventory management system that can help you reduce shipping resources such as time and cost by enabling you to efficiently manage product inventory in multiple warehouses.
With this plugin, you can create multiple warehouse locations in which you can store and manage products. The benefit of having multiple warehouses is that you will be able to distribute product inventory levels more evenly. Moreover, you will effectively be able to reduce shipping costs by matching a warehouse to a certain delivery region.
WooCommerce Multi Warehouse Inventory even allows your customers to choose from where they would like to receive their product. In addition, the plugin also comes with a smart inventory manager that can update stock across all locations from a single dashboard.
WooCommerce Multi Warehouse Inventory is available on the Envato market at $49 for a regular license.
Key Features of WooCommerce Multi Warehouse Inventory.
- Create multiple warehouse locations to store and manage products
- 3 product page inventory styles
- Inventories for frontend and backend
- Use Excel to import or export stock quantities
- Well-documented plugin with fast support
4- WooCommerce Multi Locations Inventory Management
The next WooCommerce warehouse management system on our list that is worthy of consideration is WooCommerce Multi Locations Inventory Management.
WooCommerce Multi Locations Inventory Management is a WordPress plugin that provides its users with the option to manage product levels across multiple locations, or warehouses, for their WooCommerce store. Furthermore, the extension is especially useful for WooCommerce store owners who ship products worldwide through multiple warehouses or any organization that sells products from various locations.
You can manage and bulk-edit product levels across multiple stores or warehouses from a single dashboard. This provides you with a level of convenience that will make it very easy and efficient to process multiple orders that will need to be fulfilled from multiple locations.
The plugin is designed to make multiple warehouse management smoother by giving you access to a lot of tools that will make your experience more streamlined. For example, you can view a display of product quantity based on location and set certain locations as pickup locations for customers to collect their purchased products.
For more micromanagement, you can even create sublocations for more detailed inventory control. And you also have the option to assign different payment methods to different warehouses.
Secondary Features
With this WooCommerce warehouse management plugin installed, the visitors to your website will have the extra option of being able to select the location from where they want to receive their product. This adds a layer of shopping experience that is bound to improve customer satisfaction.
This plugin supports multiple languages, it is compatible with a lot of shipping, POS, and other plugins, and it can further be enhanced by free add-ons. Furthermore, this WooCommerce warehouse management plugin is also easy to install.
WooCommerce Multi Locations Inventory Management costs $99 for the regular license, which is a bit on the expensive side, and this makes it one of the most expensive WooCommerce warehouse management plugins on our list.
Key features of WooCommerce Multi Locations Inventory Management plugin.
- Manage product stock across multiple warehouses
- Product and Store Locator on Google Maps
- Compatible with other plugins
- Multi-Language support
- Order fulfillment rules
- Add unlimited warehouses without any extra cost
5- WooCommerce Product Stock Manager
The final inventory management tool on our list is WooCommerce Product Stock Manager by MotifCreatives.
WooCommerce Product Stock Manager is a fairly popular plugin that has 10,000+ customers with 3,500+ downloads. Moreover, the plugin claims to have a 99% customer satisfaction rate. With these types of credentials, you can rightly assume that this is one high-quality warehouse management plugin.
As with the other warehouse management plugins on this list, this plugin also provides its users with stock tracking capabilities in multiple warehouses at once.
With this plugin, you will be able to manage products and their variables from one screen, thanks to a clever interface that clearly lists all your products, their variables, and their stock status.
The WooCommerce Stock Manager revolves around the product/warehouse management screen that carries out all the functions of the plugin. Some of the functions of this plugin include stock inventory control from one screen, managing product sale prices from the same window, and managing the regular price of products.
With this plugin, admins can set product SKU, view product thumbnails, set product names for both simple and variable products, view product IDs, search products by name, and control page pagination.
WooCommerce Product Stock Manager comes with multi-language support, and the plugin costs $29 for the regular license.
Key Features of WooCommerce Product Stock Manager.
- Manage store’s inventory for variable and simple products
- Category search and export
- Bulk edit variable product parameters
- Product searching and sorting
- One-screen stock management features
- Product SKU, title, pierce, etc. editing
Conclusion
Managing online warehouses can be very difficult without the usage of powerful inventory management plugins. Therefore, for online business owners, it is vital to install an add-on with inventory management features to make your operations more manageable.
This article has outlined 5 recommended WooCommerce warehouse management plugins that you can use to manage your WooCommerce business.