Buying an Inventory Tagging System: What You Should Know

An inventory tagging system is an indispensable tool for companies who want to make more innovative forecasting and purchasing decisions. Customers have always been valuable to any business, of course, but in our current marketplace, they may be at their most valuable. Why? Fierce competition is driven by technology—the culture of peer reviews, which carries so much influence.

A customer who comes to you to buy a product, only to find that you’re sold out, may not be willing to give you another chance – even if she’s the most loyal customer. A potential customer who reads a negative review can be easily swayed elsewhere. Maintaining the proper inventory levels is an exercise in balance. Excess inventory that languishes on shelves translates to lost revenue, while early sell-outs lead to customer frustration.

How to Track Your Inventory with a Tagging System

If you’re tracking your inventory on an Excel spreadsheet, you’re not able to make informed predictions about seasonal variations that affect your inventory. Your tax and insurance accuracy probably aren’t what they need to be, which ultimately impacts your bottom line. Calculating the value of your assets is likely to be a time-consuming and error-prone process. You might have redundancies in your inventory, as well as losses or thefts you can’t pinpoint or of which you’re not even aware. A powerful, reliable inventory tagging system can help your company address all of these gaps and maintain the inventory levels you need to keep customers happy, stay competitive and be a good steward of your financial resources.

There isn’t any “one size fits all” inventory tagging system. Every company has its own unique needs and therefore requires specific considerations. If you’re new to inventory tagging, you’ve got several options from which to choose.

The Different Types of Inventory Tags

RFID, or radio frequency identification, tracks the movement of your inventory through radio waves. RFID tags store information about your products and don’t require you to scan each item. A reader scans multiple things at the same time, so you don’t have to remove items from shelves individually for scanning. If you have a lot of inventory to manage, RFID is an excellent option from a time-savings standpoint.

POS, or point of sale, tracks your inventory sales at the register. In turn, you can see how much inventory you still have in stock, create and issue reports, make forecasting decisions, and more.

Barcodes require the scanning of individual items, usually with a handheld scanner. Barcodes assign each piece of your inventory a unique configuration of black and white bars. Your barcode scanner works with a corresponding software program that collects and analyzes your data and allows you to create and issue reports. Barcodes can help you track in-depth information about your inventory, such as its exact location and value, as well as shipments and deliveries. You can also use barcodes to help categorize and organize your stock.

Inventory tags provide a unique identifier for each piece of your inventory using a barcode or serial number. They often have an adhesive backing for easy application.

Asset Panda's Inventory Tagging System

Asset Panda provides clients with a turnkey solution for your inventory tracking system needs. Our online store, buyassettags.com, allows you to select the best labels for your specific business conditions. For example, you might need labels that can withstand heat or exposure to chemicals, abrasion, bending, or tearing. Buyassettags.com addresses all of those concerns with a variety of durable and reliable tags and labels.

Then download Asset Panda’s free mobile iOS or Android app for the most powerful yet flexible and intuitive inventory tracking platform you’ll find on the market, hands down. Everything you need to track the complete lifecycle of your inventory lives in the palm of your hand. With Asset Panda, all that’s required is your smartphone or tablet. No separate scanner is necessary because our app includes a mobile scanner.

You won’t find an easier or more efficient way to increase your accuracy, better determine inventory values, enhance your disaster recovery efforts, and make informed decisions about your inventory. At the same time, you reduce loss, theft, and redundancy.

Give Asset Panda's inventory management software a try with a free 14-day trial (no credit card required)! You’ll receive full access to user guides, video tutorials, free mobile apps, and call-in and live chat support from our fantastic Asset Panda support team.