Every business has to deal with managing inventory. Warehouse management is a big part of this process, and barcodes are very helpful for companies because they provide so many benefits. Warehouse managers need to know how to allocate resources effectively, keep track of all their products, and minimize errors when tracking goods in the warehouse. Barcode data collection systems are an important tool that can help them do just that!

Barcodes are a common feature in the world of retail. They’re on most products that you buy, and they serve many purposes. From aiding inventory management to simplifying checkout lines at your favorite store, barcodes have become an integral part of our shopping experience for more than 50 years now.

What is a barcode? How does it work? And how can CommerceCore™ help make this process easier for retailers like you?  Read on below to find out more about how CommerceCore™ Barcode works and why it’s so helpful when managing your business…

What is warehouse management?

Any business that stores items in a warehouse knows that effective management is the difference between fulfilling customer orders quickly and accurately while keeping costs down versus hearing complaints about delayed or inaccurate shipments and higher operating costs.

Warehouse management encompasses the principles and processes involved in running the day-to-day operations of a warehouse. At a high level, this includes receiving and organizing warehouse space, scheduling labor, managing inventory and fulfilling orders. Zoom in closer and you’ll see that effective warehouse management involves optimizing and integrating each of those processes to ensure all aspects of a warehouse operation work together to increase productivity and keep costs low.

Global ecommerce has grown rapidly in recent years, and is expected to top $29 trillion by 2023—accelerating a need for more warehouse space to match growing consumer demands. Ecommerce growth is expected to increase demands for U.S. warehouse space by 1 billion square feet by 2025. It’s not surprising that one survey, by trade publication Logistics Management, found 79% of warehouse operations were planning some type of expansion plan.

Why use barcodes in a warehouse?

Many warehouse managers are turning to automation technologies to improve operational efficiency,  reduce costs, and remain competitive. Of these technologies, barcode scanning has remained one of the most popular. The typical warehouse must manage shipping, receiving, replenishment, picking, and packing activities that are often occurring simultaneously. Barcodes give each rack, container, or item a unique identifier that makes it easy to transfer goods between different locations both within and outside a warehouse. 

Efficiency in a warehouse requires moving bulk containers and individual products smoothly through several unique steps. Using spreadsheets and manual data entry to perform inventory counts and other activities can lead to errors and prevent staff from responding to changes quickly. Warehouse staff can manage these activities with greater accuracy and speed by using automated warehouse management software  to scan barcodes on products, racks, containers or pallets. Warehouse managers then receive real-time visibility into inventory activity to optimize the flow of materials through their warehouses efficiently.

Warehouse management with barcodes

In addition to automated scanning, barcodes provide a few unique benefits that are important for warehouse operations:

• Know that you may save money by hiring additional workers to conduct clerical work in the office or warehouse. This is due to the fact that barcodes might aid you eliminate your manual data-entry duties to a greater level. You may save a lot of money on extra employees.
• With the assistance of your free barcode generator, you may greatly increase your current inventory monitoring capability. This will eventually result in a significant decrease in operational expenses. Manually tracking each action in your ecommerce store's larger warehouse takes a lot of money as well as time and energy that you could be diverting to more profitable company goals.
• Another significant benefit of employing barcodes is that there are no mistakes while tracking your inventory. You don't need to engage expensive tracking experts since barcodes enable for error-free tracking.
• Tracking employee performance is undoubtedly a difficult endeavor. However, a bar code generator can complete the task quickly and without error. This manner, you can assure increased production while simultaneously lowering total expenditures.
• Many operations occur in an ecommerce endeavor or warehouse, making tracking all of the frantic activity challenging and necessitating more manual power. However, with a barcode printer, you can swiftly arrange shipping or receiving activities, resulting in cost savings.
• Barcodes are now used by businesses to track practically all activities, including warehousing tasks such as receiving items, packing, and shipping. They are also capable of tracking labor movements and cycle counts.

CommerceCore™ barcode app

Barcode is a unique feature that helps a user to easily identify a product along with the product name, serial or lot number and the cost of the product. Barcode scanning is a feature that helps to save time considerably. Attributing of barcode can easily help to manage products at the inventory, during purchase, manufacturing and at point of sale. CommerceCore™ Barcode can be used for operations, inventory adjustment and for batch transfers.

CommerceCore™ barcode is an application that is modern and has all functionalities. CommerceCore™ barcode will help you to manage all warehouse-related operations inventory adjustments and product tracking.

The Warehouse Management add-on for CommerceCore™ helps you manage your warehouse activities. It integrates a barcode scanner with the Warehouse module to allow workers to scan items in and out of storage areas, record inventory movements, etc... 

How the CommerceCore™ barcode app works

The magic behind the barcode scanner is that it replaces a keyboard. The scanner scans a binary code through the lines and then sends the output to the computer. 

On most products we see a linear barcode. That's the type of barcode CommerceCore™ uses for the Apps point-of-sale inventory and HR.

There are also two-dimensional barcodes such as QR codes that contain more data in a smaller area.

CommerceCore™ generates these on invoices with SEPA QR codes. Since the scanner can act as a keyboard the input could be incorrect if our localization settings are not the same. This varies greatly on the equipment used. 

Of course if you use the barcode scanner integrated with the CommerceCore™ mobile app everything will work fine directly.

Why should you use the CommerceCore™ barcode app for inventory management?

Simplicity of usage

Managing barcodes for inventory control is not a difficult effort. It can be readily controlled by anyone, even if they are not very adept in the use of software or computers.

Cost

Barcodes that are effective can be applied at a reasonable cost. IT can also assist you in managing all operations that will aid you in automating product detection.

The technology is easily accessible

Barcode technology is no longer a foreign and difficult-to-access technology. However, barcode connectivity is now available from all ERP vendors.

Minimal errors

You don't have to manually input the product serial number or other information when you use a barcode. Errors can occur when typing by hand. The possibilities of error are quite low when using barcode scanning, which allows you to input all information in a fraction of a second.

Enhanced security

By securely processing data, barcodes help us avoid errors and control security.

Quick and simple product tracking

Barcodes make product tracking easier. When a barcode is scanned, the product information are updated and the movement is monitored.

Conclusion

Barcodes are one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to make sure your warehouse management is up-to-date with accurate inventory levels. This system can help you track where products come from, when they arrive in stores or warehouses, how long they stay there and if any items need restocking.

By using barcodes on all products that go through the supply chain process, business leaders always have real time information as they place new purchase orders, choose which items to promote and figure out how to offload slow moving inventory.

We’ve explained how your business can benefit this technology but we know there could be many more applications than what we listed here so feel free to contact us and schedule a demo.