• Software
    • All Features
    • Order Management
    • Shipping your Orders
    • Centralized Inventory
    • Sales Analytics Dashboard
    • Payments from Marketplaces
  • Services
    • Outsource your eCommerce
    • Enterprise Integrations
  • Clients
  • Integrations
    • All Integrations
    • Pepperfry
    • Amazon
    • Ebay
    • Flipkart
    • Rediff
    • Snapdeal
    • Mr. Voonik
    • Paytm
    • Vilara
    • Shopclues
    • Magento
    • Myntra
    • Shopify
    • WooCommerce
    • Limeroad
    • Bigcommerce
    • Voonik
    • OpenCart
    • Firstcry
    • Seller Fee Calculator
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Videos
    • Seller Fees Calculator

Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm: Software: +91-95953-23155

Browntape Browntape
Sign up Login
  • Software
    • All Features
    • Order Management
    • Shipping your Orders
    • Centralized Inventory
    • Sales Analytics Dashboard
    • Payments from Marketplaces
  • Services
    • Outsource your eCommerce
    • Enterprise Integrations
  • Clients
  • Integrations
    • All Integrations
    • Pepperfry
    • Amazon
    • Ebay
    • Flipkart
    • Rediff
    • Snapdeal
    • Mr. Voonik
    • Paytm
    • Vilara
    • Shopclues
    • Magento
    • Myntra
    • Shopify
    • WooCommerce
    • Limeroad
    • Bigcommerce
    • Voonik
    • OpenCart
    • Firstcry
    • Seller Fee Calculator
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Videos
    • Seller Fees Calculator

6 Reasons Why Spreadsheets Are Killing Your Online Business

Jun 9, 2014 | Posted by browntape | Blog, Inventory Management |
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  

Although a traditional favourite, using spreadsheets to manage online sales can be mind boggling and excruciatingly painful. Well It is partly true that in theory, you can’t really go wrong with a spreadsheet. It is a permanent account of your incoming and outgoing inventory, is easy to edit and store. Before the advent of computers (and online shopping, of course), business owners managed their inventory using handwritten ledgers, which obviously became obsolete with the birth of MS office. You really can’t blame the sellers too. Who could manage a library of 100 physical books of records and a growing stock and business. But the best part was that, with digital records it became extremely easy to search and track a particular inventory article as compared to its physical counterpart. Perfect solution right? Well yes, for that time. It is now time you graduate from excel sheets too, just the way you moved on from physical ledgers, and for the same reason – technology.

Still not convinced? We will give you 6 hard reasons why Spreadsheets are no more the best inventory management solution for your online business:

1. Spreadsheets are Two Dimensional

You have an x and a y axis to a spreadsheet, in other words, a set of rows and columns. You would have to fix a few different variables for different columns and rows, for the spreadsheet to make sense. But then, how does this model look when your operation gains complexity? As a multi-channel seller, you would either have to use multiple spreadsheets to track your orders, and then consolidate the key variables from each into one master spreadsheet which can tell your total product demand and supply. Just thinking about that could give someone a headache. How many times have you prayed for a solution that made more sense than a dozen excel sheets? Looks like your prayers have been answered. Cutting edge inventory management systems are taking the market by storm, tailor made for the needs of a growing ecommerce business. With these multi-channel inventory management systems, you can integrate all your orders through different sales channel into one portal, automatically and let the software do all the dirty work like tracking your AWB numbers, printing your labels, and a lot more.

2. Spreadsheets Make Data Outdated

As a business owner, keeping records has two purposes – 1. keep track of demand supply information for accurate accounting of your business. 2. observe trends and patterns from past date that help you extrapolate and strategize your business. For example, looking at the annual demand supply pattern from last 2 years, you can estimate the demand for certain products during certain seasons, peak months or holidays. This becomes difficult with spreadsheets because there is very less version control. Soon enough you find yourself sifting monthly files through the crevices of your computer and trying to piece them together. An inventory management system on the other hand can give you all the trends, by time periods, channels, regions, and other demographic parameters with just a click of a button.

3. Spreadsheets are Unsafe

Considering they are essentially small, virtually unprotected files, spreadsheets are liable to get corrupted. How many times has it happened to you that have you opened a really old Excel file to find just gibberish inside. Also, spreadsheets, usually are open programs that can be manipulated by any user that has access to it. Your inventory data is precious, leaving it unprotected shouldn’t even be an option for a growing business. Inventory management softwares are usually incorruptible and password protected, which means that only you and your trusted employees can view and edit these documents.

4. Spreadsheets are Difficult to Share

One of the worst problems with spreadsheets is that they are extremely difficult to share and edit within a group. A file edited on a particular system cannot be synced into other systems that it exists in. While google spreadsheets and other cloud sharing methods sort this to an extent, it is not as feature rich as desktop spreadsheets like Excel. This means stale, inconsistent data and the problems that come along with it. As opposed to this, an inventory management system has a single entry point that can be accessible through multi user login. This means that the data within your inventory can be edited and made accessible to a group of your choice, hassle free.

5. Spreadsheets Do Not Provide Analytics

Sure, there are ways to extract analytics within spreadsheets, but they involve writing complex formulae and feeding them into the system. It also means manual effort into picturizing that data according to your needs and then commencing analysis. Inventory management systems have pre-existing mechanisms with which you can extract valuable analytics with a mouse click. Not only can you get insightful visualization of your data, but you can also exploit valuable strategic suggestions for sales, inventory and stock management that the system offers you.

6. Spreadsheets are Prone to Mistakes

Spreadsheets, especially the complex ones, tend to be pretty unreliable at a mass scale. On one hand, spreadsheets like Excel give you freedom to create your own formulae, conversion systems and in’s-and-out’s, but the same freedom can cause the downfall of your data. Trivial mistakes in feeding data, formulae or conversion units can lead to potential disasters. A common blunder is defining too few rows for a formula. With inventory and sales management systems this is not an issue. These are software specifically designed to fulfill your stock and inventory tracking needs. Hence, however complex your data size is, a good inventory management system is adept at handling it, no mistakes.

To sum it up, while spreadsheets have their advantages, there are actually better ways to handle your online business. Convinced yet but don’t know where to start? Get in touch with Browntape today to know more about running an online business, hassle free with a cutting edge inventory management system. Browntape is the leading multi-channel inventory management service in India, coming from a team with years of experience and expertise in the field of making your online sales enterprise successful.

 


  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
Tags: cloud-based inventory softwareecommerce indiainventory managementinventory management software indiainventory management systemmulti-channel inventory in indiamultichannel inventory indiamultichannel order managementmultiple marketplace selling indiaonline sales businessselling online in indiastarting an online businessstock control system
Share

You also might be interested in

Hello to all Online Merchants in India from all of us at Browntape!

Apr 17, 2014

Dear Sellers, At Browntape, we are very excited to bring[...]

5 Signs You Need an Inventory Management System

Jun 23, 2014

It is natural to think twice before investing in an[...]

The Basics of Multi Channel Online Catalogue Management

Jun 27, 2014

Catalogues are a much loved and much hated word in[...]

2 Comments

Leave your reply.
  • sanchit
    · Reply

    January 6, 2015 at 6:14 AM

    I m into garments manufacturing business, we are looking for some company which can manage our sale and promotion on all online marketplaces in india
    Sanchit agarwal
    8130030144
    9012168888

Leave a Reply

Your email is safe with us.
Cancel Reply

Subscribe To Us

Seller Strategies Videos

A Browntape initiative to make eCommerce easy for sellers in India.

https://youtu.be/pp0rtqVgVJ8

Account Reputation & Pricing

A video about account reputation, pricing products & managing discounts

https://youtu.be/lqvoknVTTVA

Share

Advertisment

Recent Posts

  • Why Blogging is Essential, for Your E-commerce Website
    Why Blogging is Essential, for Your E-commerce Website
  • Top Online Pharmacies & Wellness Marketplaces in India (2021)
    Top Online Pharmacies & Wellness Marketplaces in India (2021)
  • 7 Tips to Improve Your Business Writing Skills
    7 Tips to Improve Your Business Writing Skills

Posts by Topics

Advertisment

Browntape on FB

Contact Us

2nd Floor, Alvaro Avenue, Alvaro Gardens, Above Bata Showroom, Chogm Road, Porvorim, Goa, India – 403521
+91-95953-23155
Mon-Fri, 10am -6pm (IST): +91- 95953 23155

Offerings

  • Self-use Software
  • Enterprise Integrations
  • Outsource your Ecommerce
  • Sales Channels
  • Resources

Features

  • Multi-Channel Orders
  • Centralized Inventory
  • Shipping your Orders
  • Sales Analytics Dashboard
  • Payments from Marketplaces

Info

  • About us
  • Customers
  • Careers
  • Team
  • Contact Us

Selling Tips

  • Which all marketplaces are there in India?
  • Why sell on multiple websites?
  • Why is technology important for your online sales?
  • 5 ways to streamline your online sales
  • What is an SKU and why is it important?

Software

+91-95953-23155

(Mon-fri, 10am-6pm)

Outsourcing

+91-95953-23155

(Mon-fri, 10am-6pm)

© Copyright Browntape 2012-2021. All rights reserved. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy

Prev Next
×
  • I want to use..

  • Self-Use Software (Starting from Rs 2/order)
  • Outsource Your E-commerce (Monthly Fee/Commission%. Talk to us)
  • Enterprise Integrations (Talk to us)

Signup for Software Demo..

Name

Email

Phone

Company Name

Live Marketplace Accounts

Orders per month

Number of SKUs
How do you currently manage orders & inventory

City

Cancel

Tell us a little more to provide a solution suited to your needs..

Your Name

Company Name

Company Website

Your Mobile

Your Email

City

Cancel

Connect your ERP to ecommerce

Name

Work Email

Phone

Company Name

Orders per month

Number of SKUs
Integrations Required

Cancel

You are in good company..

signup-client-logos

  • In just 6 months, Browntape turned things around. In a snap I went from B2C to K2K (Kashmir to Kanyakumari). Today my online sales are far more than my store sales.

    -Guru Bichu
  • From nothing to flourishing on more than 10 marketplaces, in just 6 months! Kudos to Browntape.

    -Renka Fashions
×
  • I want to use..

  • Self-Serve Software From Rs 1/order
  • Outsourced Services From Rs 10,000 monthly+% of sales(software included)

Get started with your self-serve software in 60 seconds..

Your Name

Your Mobile

Company Name

Your Email

Password

Repeat

Live Marketplace Accounts




Cancel

Tell us a little more to provide a solution suited to your needs..

Your Name

Company Name

Company Website

Your Mobile

Your Email

City



Cancel

You are in good company..

signup-client-logos

  • In just 6 months, Browntape turned things around. In a snap I went from B2C to K2K (Kashmir to Kanyakumari). Today my online sales are far more than my store sales.

    -Guru Bichu
  • From nothing to flourishing on more than 10 marketplaces, in just 6 months! Kudos to Browntape.

    -Renka Fashions
Get IFB Case Study - Enter Email

Enter your email address and we'll send you a link to download the casestudy.

Case Study: How Lego India utilised Amazon CPC Ads to meet growth targets

Enter your email address and we'll send you a link to download the Lego case study.

Enter your email address and we'll send you a link to download the casestudy.

×

Sign up for free now

Full Name *

Mobile Number *

Email *

Password *

Confirm Password *

Cancel

Key Points

Price Battlefield
Competing Seller’s Ratings
Seller Stockouts
Lowest Price Winner
BuyBox Winner