Square Announces New Inventory Management Features for Retailers

Easy Item Create, Quick Inventory Counting, and Smart Stock Alerts provide retail sellers more insight and better control of their inventory

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Square announced the availability of new inventory management features for Square for Retail sellers, to help automate and improve one of the most challenging, but critical, processes businesses of all sizes face. New features like Easy Item Create, Quick Inventory Counting, and Smart Stock Alerts provide sellers greater control over their inventory management, and improve efficiency with better ways to create, count, and reorder inventory.

“Before we started using Square’s new inventory management features, keeping track of our stock could have been a full time job,” said Kamala Allison, owner of Fybr Bamboo, a clothing and homegoods store in Santa Cruz, California. “Taking stock used to be an all-night affair, but with Quick Inventory Counting we can just use a barcode scanner to quickly and easily get an accurate view of our inventory. Up-to-date inventory means no more accidental sales of out-of-stock items, which is disappointing to our customers, and Smart Stock Alerts enable us to improve cash flow and replenish our best-sellers before we miss a sale.”

The ability to reach buyers wherever they are -- whether that be in store, online, or across social media -- is more important than ever. As a result of shifting consumer preferences, the impact of staggered reopening schedules, and a shift to online selling, an omnichannel presence is no longer a “nice to have,” but has become critical for long-term success. In fact, a recent survey by Square revealed that nearly 90% of retailers are now selling online.

For retailers, access to real-time insights into what products are available, when, and where, is key as businesses look to expand their sales channels. Many sellers view inventory as one of the most frustrating and difficult tasks they encounter because building out a product catalog, counting inventory, and keeping stock at the right levels is traditionally a manual and labor-intensive process.

With the introduction of Easy Item Create, Quick Inventory Counting, and Smart Stock Alerts in Square for Retail, retailers will be able to perform a full or partial inventory count quickly and easily, and get a heads up when they’re running low on an item so they can reorder. Quick Inventory Counting helps sellers easily keep their stock counts accurate with simple barcode scanning, and Smart Alerts use machine learning to anticipate when an item is going to run out of stock and automatically helps sellers reorder. Finally, Easy Item Create helps sellers quickly build out their catalog and get it ready for sale across any channel, by populating item information with just a scan of a barcode.

“Last year was a challenging one for retailers. We’re looking forward to providing sellers with access to the tools they need to prepare for reopenings and the year ahead. We’re also excited to help sellers continue to automate difficult, but necessary tasks like inventory management, and get back to doing what they love - running their business,” said Roshan Jhunja, GM, Square for Retail.

To learn more about these updates, and how Square is helping retailers prepare for the year ahead visit squareup.com/retail . To hear more from Square about additional resources and updates on Square products, please reference our COVID-19 resource hub.