Software does not manage your inventory. A process does. The tool is only as good as the decisions you make with the data it surfaces.
That said, the right tools make good processes dramatically easier to execute — and the wrong tools either give you the wrong data, create work instead of eliminating it, or get abandoned after three months because no one can figure out what they are actually telling you.
We have cycled through a lot of software across the brands we manage. Here is what we actually use, what we use it for, and what to look for when you are evaluating options for your own operation.
The OBG Tool Stack
We do not use a single tool that does everything adequately. We use purpose-built tools for the functions where the data quality and workflow actually matters:
Sellerise — Profitability and Inventory Health
Sellerise is the profitability layer in our operational stack. It pulls all Amazon fee data — fulfillment fees, storage fees, referral fees, PPC spend — and calculates real profit per ASIN in near real time. This is the tool where we build the breakeven ACoS for every product we manage, because you cannot set a real breakeven without accurate fee data, and Sellerise pulls that data directly from Amazon rather than requiring manual input.
For inventory health specifically, Sellerise surfaces: days of supply remaining per ASIN, inventory age flags (useful for catching units approaching the 181-day surcharge threshold), reimbursement tracking, and sell-through rate trends. The reimbursement module alone regularly recovers money that brands would have left on the table — Amazon does not automatically refund you for lost or damaged FBA inventory; you have to file claims, and Sellerise identifies the discrepancies that trigger those claims.
If you are only going to use one tool for operational health monitoring, Sellerise is the one we would choose. The profitability data it surfaces changes how you prioritize across a catalog in ways that BSR and unit sales metrics alone cannot.
Scale Insights — PPC Management
Scale Insights is our PPC management platform. It handles automated bid adjustments, campaign structure management, and keyword-level performance tracking across the brands in our portfolio. The automation rules we build in Scale Insights implement our PPC Lifecycle framework — different bid aggression during launch phase, tighter TACoS targets during trimming, expansion logic during growth and scaling.
Scale Insights is not primarily an inventory management tool, but it intersects with inventory management in one critical way: PPC spend on an ASIN that is about to stock out is wasted ad spend. We use Scale Insights in conjunction with Sellerise inventory data to pause PPC on ASINs that are approaching stockout — preventing the situation where you are spending on ads for a product that then goes out of stock, destroying both your ad spend and your organic rank simultaneously.
DataDive — Keyword Research and Listing Intelligence
DataDive is our keyword research and competitive intelligence platform. It is not an inventory tool, but it informs inventory decisions in one important way: keyword share of voice data tells us which ASINs are gaining or losing organic visibility, which is an early signal for demand trend changes. An ASIN that is losing keyword rank is an ASIN that may need inventory quantity revised downward before the next replenishment cycle.
What Standalone Inventory Management Software Does
If you are looking for a dedicated Amazon inventory management platform rather than the multi-tool stack we use, there are several options worth evaluating. Here is what they typically offer and what to look for:
Restock and reorder automation
The core function of inventory management software is to tell you when to reorder and how much to order. The quality of this function varies enormously between platforms. A basic tool calculates reorder point from a fixed lead time and fixed safety stock. A sophisticated tool models demand variability, lead time variability, and upcoming seasonality or promotional events — and updates those inputs automatically as new sales data comes in.
Ask specifically: how does the platform calculate reorder point? What inputs does it use? Can you customize lead times per ASIN or per supplier? Can it account for planned promotions that will spike demand? If the answers are vague, the forecast quality is probably generic.
Multi-warehouse and multi-channel inventory tracking
If you sell across FBA, FBM, and potentially other channels (Walmart, DTC), you need consolidated inventory visibility. Many brands discover they have more complexity here than their current tool handles when they start selling across multiple fulfillment nodes. Evaluate whether the platform handles your current setup and your likely 12-month future state.
Supplier and purchase order management
Some inventory platforms include purchase order creation, supplier lead time tracking, and inbound shipment management. For brands managing multiple suppliers and complex reorder workflows, this integration can eliminate the manual tracking that otherwise happens in spreadsheets. For simpler operations, this feature set may be more than you need.
FBA-specific metrics and fee integration
For Amazon-first brands, the platform needs to understand FBA metrics specifically: aged inventory status, IPI score impact, storage fee projections, and reimbursement tracking. Generic inventory platforms that are not Amazon-specific often lack this layer. Verify before purchasing that the platform pulls actual Amazon FBA data rather than requiring you to manually maintain inventory cost inputs.
The Most Common Software Mistakes
We see these patterns repeatedly with brands that have the tools but not the results:
Using Amazon's native inventory tools as the primary system
Seller Central's inventory management views are useful for basic visibility but insufficient for proactive management. The restock recommendations Amazon provides are notoriously aggressive — they are optimized for Amazon's storage utilization, not your capital efficiency. Treating Amazon's restock recommendations as your inventory management system is how brands chronically overstock.
Setting it and forgetting it
Inventory management software requires weekly review. The forecast is only as accurate as the most recent data — and sales velocity, sell-through rates, and inbound timing all change week to week. Brands that log in once a month to check reorder alerts discover that a lot can go wrong in four weeks. Weekly review is the minimum cadence.
Buying capability they do not need yet
Enterprise inventory platforms with sophisticated multi-node distribution, demand sensing AI, and complex supplier management workflows are impressive — and overkill for most Amazon brands under $5M in annual revenue. The right tool for your stage is the one your team will actually use correctly, not the one with the most impressive demo. Start with what solves your current problem. Upgrade when your operation is genuinely too complex for what you have.
Not connecting the inventory system to the PPC system
This is where most brands leave money on the table. PPC spend on an ASIN that is about to stock out is waste — you are paying for clicks that will not convert because the product will be unavailable within days. Conversely, an ASIN that just had a major inbound shipment arrive might support more aggressive PPC investment because you have the inventory to support a velocity increase. Connecting inventory health to PPC decision-making is where the two systems create more value together than either does independently.
A Simplified Evaluation Checklist
When evaluating any inventory management tool, run through these questions:
- Does it pull actual FBA fee and inventory data directly from Amazon, or require manual data input?
- How does it calculate reorder point — what inputs does it use and can you customize them per ASIN?
- Does it model demand variability and lead time variability, or use fixed averages?
- Does it include aged inventory flagging with surcharge cost projections?
- Does it include FBA reimbursement tracking?
- What is the onboarding and learning curve — will your team actually use it?
- What does the pricing model look like at your current SKU count and projected growth?
No tool passes every one of those tests perfectly. But the answers will tell you quickly whether a platform is built for Amazon brands specifically or is a generalist tool being sold into the Amazon market.
The Process Behind the Software
Here is the part that most software comparisons skip: inventory management software is an input to a process, not a substitute for one. The brands that manage inventory effectively have a defined process — who reviews what, at what cadence, with what authority to make reorder and removal decisions. The software surfaces the data. The process determines what to do with it.
When we build out the operations layer for a brand in our Growth Team OS, we define that process explicitly: weekly inventory review cadence, ASIN-level review criteria, reorder approval workflow, removal decision triggers, and escalation paths for ASIN-level anomalies. The tool runs the numbers. The process makes the decisions.
Work With OBG
We manage inventory operations as part of our full-service Growth Team OS — catalog, creative, PPC, and operations together. We use Sellerise, Scale Insights, and DataDive in a coordinated process that keeps inventory healthy, PPC efficient, and profitability improving.
If you want to know what your inventory health actually looks like and what it is costing you in storage fees, IPI risk, and lost opportunity, book a free strategy call. If we do not improve your profitability within 30 days, you get a full refund. That is the OBG guarantee.