Inventory Visibility Tools: Knowing What You Have Before It Becomes a Problem

Inventory issues rarely start with shipping

Inventory visibility tools matter because most fulfillment failures start long before an order is packed. Research shows that overselling, stockouts, and mispicks are often symptoms of poor inventory visibility, not poor demand. When teams do not trust what the system says is available, every downstream decision becomes harder.

Many brands come to G10 after living with inventory data they could not rely on. Counts were off. Locations were unclear. Updates lagged reality. The result was constant firefighting. Inventory visibility tools exist to replace guesswork with evidence.

As Maureen Milligan said, "Most of the customers who come to us from another 3PL, their challenges have always been access to their data, order accuracy and efficiency, and basically just meeting the committed requirements. So we've seen a lot of people come disillusioned by their last 3PL, where their orders weren't getting fulfilled in time, their inventory accuracy was not there, and they were not able to satisfy customer orders." Inventory visibility is the foundation of fixing those issues.

Good visibility tools capture inventory movement in real time

Inventory visibility tools fail when updates happen after the fact. Real time inventory tracking is what allows brands to make confident promises to customers and sales channels.

Bryan Wright described the level of tracking that supports real inventory visibility when he said, "Absolutely. We have portals that show you the data. We have history that shows you all of that tracking. It shows the product landed on the dock at 8 o'clock. At 8:10, John picked it up and took it to location XYZ, and at 10 o'clock, we picked two items off of that pellet in the location 1, 2, 3, 4, order, you know, ABC, and at 11 o'clock, we packed it, we put it in this box and put this label number on it, and all the way through the process onto the truck and to the customer." Inventory visibility tools rely on that same chain of custody, applied to every unit.

Scan-based execution keeps inventory data trustworthy

Inventory visibility tools only work when physical movement is captured digitally. Scan-based workflows ensure that receiving, putaway, picking, and adjustments are recorded without delay.

As Connor Perkins said, "You want everything to be scanned in the warehouse, nothing done on paper. You can lose a lot of money in this industry by you know having people ship stuff wrong, or store it wrong, and now it's lost somewhere. So having a 3PL and WMS that is 100% scan-based is crucial." Without scanning, inventory visibility tools turn into inventory guesses.

Connor also said, "One of the pain points our clients have experienced with previous 3PLSs is inventory accuracy; maybe their previous 3PL wasn't great at picking the orders accurately. So they were losing money by shipping wrong items or wrong quantities of items." Visibility tools help identify where those errors originate so they can be fixed instead of repeated.

Visibility tools must show location, not just quantity

Knowing how many units you have is not enough. Inventory visibility tools should show where inventory is located, whether it is available, reserved, damaged, or in transition. Research shows that location-level visibility reduces picking errors and speeds up fulfillment because teams do not waste time searching.

Location visibility also supports better slotting and replenishment decisions. When teams can see where inventory tends to bottleneck, they can redesign the flow instead of reacting to shortages.

Portals make inventory visibility usable for brands

Inventory visibility tools are only helpful if brands can access them easily. A portal gives brands direct insight into counts, movement, and accuracy without waiting for a report.

As Maureen said, "We're in the last stages of developing a new portal that will give customers real-time visibility to their on-time order fulfillment, inventory accuracy, and even inventory levels so that they can monitor those things directly in our systems." Inventory visibility tools become practical when that information is always available.

She added, "A lot of the 3PL customer expectations are that order fulfillment is happening extremely timely, that our inventory is accurate, that we're able to execute on their orders very quickly, and get them shipped the same day. So what these real-time portals provide our customers is 100% visibility." That visibility reduces anxiety and improves planning.

Reporting turns visibility into improvement

Inventory visibility tools should not stop at showing counts. Reporting allows teams to identify patterns like recurring variances, slow-moving SKUs, and locations that generate frequent adjustments.

As Connor said, "Our clients get best-in-class visibility and transparency. They can see their daily orders, they can see KPIs, and they can see historical transactions. They can look at a daily level or go into the more granular version where they're looking at transactional history on an item." That history supports root-cause analysis instead of surface fixes.

He also said, "You have easy access to reporting and you can export to Excel, or really any format that you like you know directly from our WMS portal." Reporting access makes inventory improvement measurable.

Visibility tools reduce stockouts and oversells

When inventory visibility is accurate and timely, brands can commit inventory confidently across channels. That reduces oversells, prevents backorders, and protects customer experience.

As Maureen said, "We will take in your inbounds, we will get them received and reported back to you within our SLAs, and oftentimes more quickly than what we contracted for. We will ship your orders out the day they're required. And our inventory accuracy is generally right there at that 99.7% that we agreed. So that's one of the areas where we really do excel, and where we've been able to win business." Visibility tools make that accuracy visible instead of assumed.

Inventory visibility rebuilds confidence after bad data

Many brands switch 3PLs because they lost confidence in inventory data. Counts were wrong. Adjustments were unexplained. Promises were broken. Inventory visibility tools rebuild confidence by making every movement traceable.

As Maureen said, "For customers who have come to us from a bad 3PL relationship, they experience relief. They're suddenly seeing their business scaling, that the data supports what we agreed to, and then the trust begins to build." Reliable inventory visibility contributes directly to that relief.

Inventory visibility tools are now essential

As order volume and SKU counts grow, inventory problems compound quickly. Inventory visibility tools require real time tracking, scan-based execution, portals that expose the data, and reporting that supports continuous improvement.

As Connor said, "This is one of our strengths. G10 is on the cutting edge for this kind of transparency and feedback for clients." If your brand wants fewer stockouts, fewer surprises, and better planning, investing in strong inventory visibility tools is a practical step.

If you want to see what inventory visibility looks like when every unit movement is captured and accessible, ask for a walkthrough that maps your current inventory challenges to a clearer, more reliable visibility model.