- TAG IT
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Blog Article
When you store and ship inventory that belongs to your customers, every stock question is really a service question. A client asks how many units are left, and the clock starts. If the answer takes two days and arrives with a caveat about accuracy, that client learns something about how you operate.
That was the position Brandables was in before it moved its customer inventory off spreadsheets.
Brandables, a Phoenix-based promotional products and apparel decorator, provides branded merchandise along with warehousing and fulfillment for e-commerce stores and trade show programs. The company held its customers’ inventory and tracked all of it in Excel spreadsheets that staff created and updated by hand.
Records went out of date. Data entry was inconsistent from person to person, counts stopped matching what was on the shelves, and the upkeep took time the team did not have. Brandables guaranteed customers an inventory update within 72 hours and usually delivered in 24 to 48.
The company wanted a system that looked professional in front of clients, one accurate record instead of many conflicting spreadsheets, and the ability to answer a customer’s stock question without stopping to verify it first.
Brandables replaced spreadsheet tracking with Wasp Inventory, moving customer inventory into one centralized system. Staff update records as inventory is received and as orders ship, so the count reflects what actually happened rather than what someone remembered to enter later.
The company now tracks 549 items across seven customers, covering e-commerce products and promotional merchandise held in its warehouse. When the record updates as goods move, answering a client question becomes a lookup instead of an investigation.
Wasp Inventory cut customer inventory-update response times by more than 80%, from 24 to 48 hours down to a few hours, for Brandables, a Phoenix-based promotional products and fulfillment company.
That speed changed what the business could pursue. Brandables added four new warehousing and fulfillment clients, growing from three to seven, a 133% increase. Accurate counts also removed the constant correction work that spreadsheet errors had created.
“We wanted to have a more professional system in place and eliminate the constant mistakes found in Excel sheets.”
— Amanda Wigal-Schlosser, Owner, Brandables
Brandables is one company with a particular mix of clients, and the lessons apply to any operation holding inventory on someone else’s behalf.
If your customers are waiting a day or two for stock answers, the constraint is usually the record rather than the team. Wasp Inventory gives third-party logistics and fulfillment operations one accurate view of what is on hand, whose it is, and where it sits, with barcode scanning so the count updates as goods move.
To see how it would fit your operation, book a free consultation, or read the full Brandables case study.
They use inventory management software that keeps each client’s stock in one centralized record rather than separate spreadsheets. Wasp Inventory tracks items by customer with barcode scanning as goods are received and shipped, so counts stay current. Brandables uses it to manage 549 items across seven customers and answer client stock questions in a few hours instead of 24 to 48.
Update the record at the moment inventory moves instead of reconciling it later. With Wasp Inventory, staff scan items as they are received and shipped, so a client’s stock level is a lookup rather than a manual count. Brandables cut customer inventory-update response times by more than 80% this way.
Yes. Third-party logistics and fulfillment providers hold goods they do not own, so the record has to separate stock by customer. Wasp Inventory tracks items by client with a full transaction history, which lets a provider report accurately on any single customer’s inventory without disturbing the rest.
Spreadsheets rely on manual entry, so records drift out of date and counts stop matching the shelves, which slows customer reporting and undermines trust. Wasp Inventory replaces hand-maintained files with one centralized record updated by barcode scanning. For Brandables, that change preceded growth from three warehousing clients to seven.
