Confused about item master software and working in retail ?
Having 360° knowledge of the products your retail store houses can be very tricky. Having a paper based tracking of all the items along with their descriptions like size, weight, manufacturing date, expiry date, etc. is surely not the way to go.
Enter Item Master Software
What is an Item Master software?
An item master software is a tool that allows you to update items with related attributes without hassle. Item master data consists of all the key information like item description, materials, item categories, handling specifications. Sales and purchase specifications about any particular item is also mentioned.
Customization of item attributes
Any good item master software should allow customization of item master attributes. It should also fix some of the possible values for certain attributes so that the chances of mistakes are minimized.
Maintaining Item Hierarchy
Once you have a few thousand items, it is naturally required to organize the items in some sort of hierarchy or a parent-child relationship. This is super-easy with a flexible item master software. Many software, including Ginesys even allow the relationships to be changed any time.
Bulk operations make it a breeze
Updating thousands or even millions of items often is a reality in retail and Ginesys is an item master software that really shines in these kinds of scenarios. Also creating even thousands of new items is easily possible via import of the item list from Excel.
Item Master in ERP
Actually, item master software does not really exist ! Surprised? Yes actually this is usually part of an ERP or an accounting software or an invoicing or billing software or a POS. Ginesys is all of this basically it is an ERP and a POS. This gets you very detailed analysis of product performance based on various categories, use item attributes to create assortments.
Assortments can be used to drive promotions, replenishment and more.
Cross-sell, upsell is also made easier by having an updated item master.
Now that we know the basic functions of an item master software, here some of the benefits of item master management;
Catch on with current trends:
Item master data gives you the information of most commonly procured items, sizes and dimensions that are emptied from the shelves quickly, quality of items people prefer and other data similar to this. You can also do a mass update on the items.
Create eCommerce catalogues:
With enough attributes like product size, color, supplier, brief description, you can create the product catalogue for your eCommerce store as well as for the retail ERP software.
Critical purchasing data points:
Item master software has the details about the lead time of the supplier, minimum order quantity, min and max stock levels, purchase cost. This data provided by the item master helps you place orders keeping in mind all the factors involved.
Item Master Software and the Pandemic
The Covid crisis has created a major disruption in retail all over the world, especially in India with the 2nd wave and lockdowns. FMCG retailers are reshuffling their stocks, reducing the SKUs (width) or reducing the quantity per SKU (depth).
This is where the item master data can help retailers figure out which of the categories can afford increased SKUs and which categories can be revoked for time being.
Item master software in a nutshell
A maintained item master data indicates that the organization is structured and is well run.
In conclusion, Item Master Software has numerous benefits to offer to the retail sector, be it a footwear industry, apparels, groceries & vegetables or others. The 2nd Covid wave, the new normal has all made it very clear that a retail business must become dynamic in order to sustain itself. An item master software along with ERP and POS helps you achieve that. Ginesys has definitely excelled at these requirements.
Is your retail ready to deal with retail challenges head on? Let’s connect and figure out how Ginesys can help?
