Streamlined and simplified: New inventory features for goods-based businesses in Xero

For goods-based businesses, managing inventory and purchases is at the heart of daily operations; it’s about having the right stock at the right time, minimizing manual effort, and making informed decisions to fuel your growth. We know these critical tasks can often feel like a constant juggle, taking valuable time away from what you do best.

Over the coming months, a series of new inventory enhancements designed to give you greater clarity, control, and efficiency in these key areas will be rolling out. The first key updates: bulk inventory adjustments and a refreshed purchase order experience, both designed to save you valuable time and reduce errors.

Streamline your stock counts with bulk inventory adjustments

For any goods-based business, keeping your inventory quantities and costs up to date is critical for accurate financial reporting, maintaining the right level of stock, and having reliable data to inform business decisions. 

“Bulk Adjustments is a fantastic step in the right direction and will be a big time saver” – Josh Wilson, The Software Coach

Adjusting your inventory items more efficiently has been a highly requested feature in Xero Product Ideas, and we’ve heard how important this is to you. With that in mind, we’re introducing the ability to adjust inventory items in bulk, making your workflow much more efficient.

This new feature will allow you to effortlessly select multiple tracked inventory items and update their quantities in one go. Whether you’re completing a large-scale stocktake, quickly correcting discrepancies, or simply keeping your records pristine, you’ll soon be able to do this faster, with fewer errors, and with far greater accuracy.

Here’s what this means for your day-to-day:

• Save time: Update multiple stock items in a single, streamlined action.
• Enhance accuracy: Reduce errors often associated with repetitive manual entries.
• Streamline stocktakes: Simplify stock management, especially during peak periods like End of Financial Year.

And for those who prefer the precision of single-item adjustments, that option isn’t going anywhere. This update simply expands your toolkit, giving you even more choice and control over your inventory management.

Learn more about bulk inventory adjustments and what it means for your experience, on Xero Central.

A fresher, more efficient purchase order experience

For goods-based businesses, we know efficient ordering is crucial for keeping your inventory stocked and your accounting in sync. To make this process simpler and more streamlined, we’ll be rolling out a refreshed purchase order experience soon. This update is designed to make managing your orders more intuitive and efficient, while also building the foundation for even more valuable features to come.

The first change you’ll see in the coming months is an update to the main purchase order list view. We’ll be improving the layout to maximize screen real estate, giving you a clearer overview of your orders. You’ll notice:

• Cleaner list management: Deleted purchase orders will be automatically removed from your main list by default, making it easier to focus on your active orders. Don’t worry, you can still easily find them using a new filter in the search bar.
• More orders at a glance: A new ‘compact view’ option will allow you to see more purchase orders on screen at once, similar to other areas in Xero.
• Personalised views: Customize which columns are shown in your purchase order list and their arrangement. You’ll also be able to set a specific purchase order status as your default page view, so you instantly see what matters most to you – whether it’s drafts, those awaiting approval, or all purchase orders.

Simplifying your business, now and in the future

Bulk inventory adjustments and the new purchase order experience are just the beginning – we’re making inventory management in Xero faster and smarter, helping to give you greater visibility and control over your stock, with more updates coming soon.

The bulk adjustment feature is being actively rolled out to Xero customers globally, the new purchase order experience will be coming soon after. If you don’t see them in your account just yet, don’t worry; they will be available to you very soon. Get ready for a simpler, more efficient way to manage your business operations, now and in the future.