Zoho Inventory Review: Pros, Cons, and Pricing

What is Zoho Inventory?

Zoho Inventory is a cloud-based inventory management solution designed for small to midsize businesses, particularly those operating in online retail spaces. It features inventory management modules, including reporting and analysis, vendor-managed inventory, and lot traceability. There are mobile-compatible apps for Android and iOS devices to allow on-the-go inventory updates.

Our Ratings

Features

We focused on some key inventory management feature when evaluating Zoho Inventory:

Item, Customer, and Vendor Management

Adding new items to Zoho Inventory is easy, whether you do it manually one at a time or bulk import from a spreadsheet. The imports can be done from any CSV, TSV, or XLS files. If you have files in another format, you’ll need to convert them first before importing.

When manually filling out details for a new product, you can also add a new manufacturer or brand at the same time. No jumping around between different tabs adding one or the other before adding in products. This was a great time saver.

From there, standalone items in Zoho Inventory can be arranged into groups for easier bundling when selling kits. This is also a small workaround for any businesses looking for minor manufacturing assemblies, although it won’t be to nearly the same level as an MRP with a proper bill of materials.

Putting together composite items went smoothly, especially since Zoho Inventory included ways to copy the selling and cost prices from the totals of items included in the bundle. When making the bundle, the software tells you how many units are available to use so you won’t be over or under.

Adding a new customer or vendor to Zoho is equally straightforward. Entries can be added manually or through importing files.

Multichannel Sales

Since Zoho Inventory supports multichannel selling, you can reach customers on all sorts of sales platforms, including:

• Amazon
• eBay
• Etsy
• Shopify

By integrating between these platforms, Zoho can gain send information to your Amazon store, like item SKUs, then instantly update your stock on hand. Sales orders made on Amazon can also update Zoho, so you know if there are any new sales orders to package or invoice.

The exact marketplaces you can use will depend on which country edition you use. In addition to these popular platforms, a Google Shopping integration is currently in beta as well. You can even expand to international buyers by automatically converting multiple currencies into your base currency. That makes it easy to get started selling all over the world.

The included insights show which platforms are performing the best. I found this particularly helpful as retailers can quickly determine which avenues are worth expanding in the future. Updating stock in Zoho will update stock levels across all integrated sales channels.

Various payment gateways are also available, allowing you to get paid online via:

• PayPal
• 2Checkout
• WorldPay
• And more

However, there are limitations to Zoho Inventory’s customer management. If you want more advanced functionality, you’ll need to incorporate Zoho CRM into the mix. This integration automates all sales activities from when a product is picked to the final customer interaction.

Build Vendor Relations

Finally, you can easily apply vendor credits to bills:

Vendor credits can be added manually or imported into Zoho from other sources. If you have these files in other formats than CSV, TSV, or XLS, you need to convert it to an accepted file format using a converter.

Just like when adding products, you can add customers or vendors on the fly when creating invoices or bills. If you try to send an invoice for a product which is out of stock, Zoho won’t allow it until the missing product is restocked. While this is great if you want to avoid shortages, it can be tricky if you want to send the invoice anyway for any reason.

Unfortunately, there are limitations here as well because Zoho has their own Zoho Books module for handling more detailed purchase orders and bills. The separate Zoho Analytics also limits some of the reporting capabilities.

What Features Are Missing?

While Zoho Inventory has a lot of features, a few were missing were missing or could be improved:

• Extra modules: Zoho offers a lot of separate modules to cover business tasks. Unfortunately, this means certain features can get locked behind paywalls. Want to fully review purchase orders or invoices? You’ll need Zoho Books. Want more comprehensive customer management? Try Zoho CRM. Want a shopping cart? Zoho Commerce. All these extra modules can quickly add up. And using Zoho’s official modules can mean you have to leave behind your current software, like QuickBooks.
• Limited support: Zoho offers 24/5 support, so if you are dealing with international time zones or late hours you could be out of luck.

Pricing Plans

FAQ

Here are some frequently asked questions about Zoho Inventory:

Does Zoho Inventory support manufacturing?

Zoho Inventory has some manufacturing features, although not as much as a manufacturing inventory management solution. Users can workaround this by bundling raw materials to indicate composite items, but it’s not the same as a bill of materials.

Is Zoho Inventory free?

Zoho has a free version, though the features are limited compared to the paid plans. The Standard plan starts at only $39 per month, although paying annually reduces this cost to $29 per month. Various add-ons are available for only $2.50 to $8 to add more orders, scans, users, or warehouses.

A free trial is available for 14 days. Nonprofits are eligible for a 15% discount.

What integrations are available for Zoho?

Zoho Inventory integrates with multiple sales channels and shopping carts, including:

• Amazon
• eBay
• Shopify
• Etsy

More than 25 shipping integrations are available, including:

• UPS
• DHL
• FedEx

Other integrations cover:

• EDI
• CRM
• Accounting

Alternatives to Zoho Inventory

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Sortly

Price Range

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   $     $     $     $     $   

Starting Price

$39/month

Client OS

iOS, Android, Web

Deployment

Cloud or On-Premises

What We Like

Straightforward and intuitive

Very affordable

Excellent visual interface with customizable colors

What We Don’t Like

May not have all the features or integrations for advanced inventory needs

Limits entries and custom fields by pricing plan

May not be scalable for growing enterprise-level businesses

Demo Pricing

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Finale Inventory

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Starting Price

$99/month

Client OS

Web

Deployment

Cloud Hosted

What We Like

Offers comprehensive features.

Has a general help center, video tutorials, and allows specific service requests

Imports existing product data from spreadsheets and external systems

What We Don’t Like

Only offers dedicated account managers on some plans

May not be affordable for smaller businesses

Not a substitute for an ERP or MRP

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Fishbowl Inventory

Price Range

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Starting Price

$3,195/year

Client OS

Windows, macOS

Deployment

Cloud or On-Premises

What We Like

Competitive pricing; does not require a subscription

Integrates with QuickBooks

Can function as a light MRP system

What We Don’t Like

Somewhat steep learning curve

Transactions do not post to QuickBooks in realtime; manual or scheduled sync only

Customizations can lead to difficult support scenarios

Demo Pricing

Summary of Zoho Inventory

Based on our experience, we recommend using Zoho if you want a highly visual and straightforward inventory management system. Overall, Zoho is well-suited for eCommerce businesses looking to expand to multichannel selling to platforms like Shopify or Amazon. It’s not suited for manufacturers.

Zoho Inventory has a variety of pricing plans, ranging from free to $400 per month. Each plan offers more features and expanded usability. And it’s important to note Zoho has many additional modules and apps available to cover additional functions, though at an additional cost. We’d recommend this for any business already using other Zoho products and looking for seamless integration with the system they already have.