Read this next: Creating a Purchase Order
Here we’ll cover:
- How QuickBooks Commerce will help you build an amazing business
- From an order’s perspective: How QuickBooks Commerce works
How QuickBooks Commerce will Help you Build an Amazing Business
QuickBooks Commerce has grown to become the commerce operating system of multichannel brands the world over. Today it’s trusted by thousands of Small and Mid-Sized Businesses to help them:
- Increase speed and accuracy of operations: Automate their businesses from start to finish as they manage inventory, orders, fulfillment, payments and delivery
- Scale growth: Seamlessly add integrations/channels to grow globally, whether that’s by selling direct to consumers or to other businesses through wholesale
- Provide Smart Insights: And master their business with daily reporting, forecasting for the future and delivering 24/7 support
QuickBooks Commerce will allow you to do all of this from within the platform, effectively becoming your master of inventory and orders, while at the same time integrating and automating the previously disparate applications and processes across your business.
From an Order’s Perspective: How QuickBooks Commerce Works
When you think about QuickBooks Commerce, I want you to think about it in the context of the core system AND the broader commerce & supply chain ecosystem that is not only connected but enables to function seamlessly.
To illustrate this point, let’s quickly walk through how the system works as we follow an order from… well… order through to fulfillment.
Whether you sell direct to consumers or run a wholesale business, your business should be able to efficiently and effectively manage the following:
- Create, receive and manage purchase orders from your suppliers
- Hold, track and manage inventory in one or more locations as well as list your products and manage multiple price-lists
- Accept, track and manage sales orders
- Picking, packing & fulfillment
- Communicate with your customers
- Leverage data to make better-informed decisions
- And track and monitor the flow of capital
Let’s start from the beginning!
Purchase Order Management
When you’re stock levels are low for one or more products, you can create Purchase Orders (PO) directly within QuickBooks Commerce. As you build your POs, QuickBooks Commerce will automatically auto-populate pricing data based on the rates you’ve negotiated with your suppliers, speeding up the entire process and allowing you to maintain all your POs in one location.
When your PO arrives at your warehouse, you can manually receive them or speed up your receiving process by using the Stock Receiving App. Scan the barcode on your PO, then scan each item individually or in groupings to receive the order either partially or in full. When marked as “received,” your stock levels will be updated automatically and synced with your sales channels.
If you manufacture your products for sale, you can use QuickBooks Commerce’s manufacturing functionality to create Bills of Materials and Production Orders (PrO)
When a PrO is started, the component stock will be assigned and assembly staff will reference a corresponding Bill of Materials in order to gather the component parts to assemble the required number of finished goods. Once a PrO has been marked “completed,” stock levels will be updated and wastage can be accounted for and financial data will be synced with your integrated accounting platform.
Inventory Management
When it comes to QuickBooks Commerce, inventory is the heart of your business. The inventory management capabilities ensure:
- You can create and list products from a single location
- Your stock levels are up-to-date across one or more location
- Prices are accurately displayed on all of your sales channels
- Product images and descriptions are centrally managed
- And set minimum order quantities, reorder limits, bin locations, etc.
Sales Order Management
When a sale is made on any sales channel, a Sales Order (SO) is created in QuickBooks Commerce and the stock associated with the SO is changed from “available” to “committed.” At the same time, the stock levels on all of your sales channels are updated to reflect your new “available” inventory count.
If you’re comfortable selling past 0, QuickBooks Commerce will also help you manage your backorder process.
Picking, Packing & Fulfillment
When it comes time to complete and fulfill a Sales Order, warehouse workers can generate a picklist or use QuickBooks Commerce's PickPack App to make the fulfillment process easier. Once a SO is marked as packed, inventory counts are adjusted across the system and the order is ready to be fulfilled either in-house or by connecting with Fulfillment by Amazon or another 3PL provider.
Smart Insights
To help you grow your business, QuickBooks Commerce Intelligence was designed to help you examine historical data and look forward to the future with Demand Forecasting.
Reports can be customized and focus on Inventory, Orders, Invoices, Payments, Customer, and the Manufacturing Process. Best of all, they can be scheduled and delivered straight to your inbox.
Demand Forecasting leverages historical sales data to provide an estimate of your future inventory requirements. Another handy feature here is the ability to create a Purchase Order directly from your forecast.
Accounting
Last but not least, integrating QuickBooks Commerce with your accounting platform will help to ensure that your ledgers are accurate and financial performance is up-to-date - say goodbye manual updates!
Hopefully, that gives you a better understanding of how QuickBooks Commerce works!
Now let’s show you how to create a Purchase Order.