Multi-channel inventory management systems are the need of the day for today’s online business owner. The reason is very obvious – if you could set shop in many different shopping malls in different locations for free, why wouldn’t you? And if you were provided with a system through which you could manage all of the shops in one place, instead of deploying employees to handle each shop, wouldn’t it be the best thing in the world? Browntape creates, manages and provides support to a multi-channel inventory management system that is specifically designed for Indian sellers. Our experts strive every day to make your online business experience better and better. Today, we are giving a short under-the-hood tour to see what goes on inside the system, so that you have a better understanding of what ‘multi-channel management’ really means. Lets see how it is done.
Multi Channel Management
1. Adding Channels
Browntape provides support for a vast range of online channels through one portal. The great thing about Browntape is that you can also add and manage your private website and your brick-and-mortar store along with your multiple online channels. The system has been designed to be very intuitive for the user.
- On any page, click on the channels link situated on the left side bar. This will take you to the Channels section where all the compatible channel integrations are listed.
- To add any of the channels, click on the ‘Add this’ button under your preferred channel.
- Channel integration process for each channel might be a bit different after that. For example, to integrate with Shopify, you will only need to paste your Shopify store URL into the designated space. For Amazon, the process is slightly more tedious. You will have to register at the Amazon Marketplace Web Services page, and add Browntape as a developer. A detailed list of how to add individual channels in your Browntape account can be found here.
2. Adding Inventory to Your Channels
Once you are setup for all the online marketplaces that you wish to exploit, it is time to add inventory. The keyword here is SKU Codes.
The idea here is to make it easy to sell the same product on multiple platforms while making sure that the inventory is updated on each of them. Imagine it to be like selling through the many windows your warehouse might have. Browntape maps and updates your SKU details across all connected marketplaces, every 24 hours. For example, if you had a common inventory of 5 for a specific product and sold one of it, the stock in all channels will automatically be updated to 4, within the next 24 hours. In case you want to update it manually, you can do so by clicking on the update button near the Channel SKU Mapping column header on the Inventory tab. However, for Channel SKU mapping to function properly, you need to make sure that the SKU codes you have given across the marketplaces match.
3. Syncing and Fetching Orders
Browntape syncs seamlessly with your channels and starts fetching orders on the go. The first time you do this, it might take from 30 to 240 minutes for Browntape to integrate your store activity. Once this is done, Browntape keeps updating the channel activity at regular intervals. Browntape also has a smart way to optimize fetching orders. The more activity there is on a channel, the more frequently it integrates the orders. If a particular channel has slow activity, the frequency of updation drops down. Of course, you can manually ask Browntape to update your preferred channel anytime you wish.
Browntape is the leading provider of multi channel inventory management systems in India. For any queries about how we magically help you sort out some of the most tedious processes in an online seller’s itinerary, get in touch with us!