DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ONLINE SUPERMARKET SALES AND INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

1.1 Introduction

A sales and inventory system is a software-based business solution used to simultaneously track sales activity and inventory. Sales and inventory management is one of the basic problems of business organizations that need to effectively manage their financial information and stock records. It may cause a lot of paper work, if there is no automated system available. Inventory management is the process of efficiently overseeing the constant flow of units into and out of an existing stock of goods. This process usually involves controlling the transfer units in order to prevent the inventory from becoming too high or dwindling to levels that could put the operation of the company into jeopardy.

Manufacturers and trade resellers can both benefit from a thorough solution, where single transaction entry records necessary details on the customer, products purchased, price and date while also updating inventory levels. Computerized sales and inventory systems allow for much greater accuracy in stocking and product management. They encourage ease of interaction between employees and shoppers as transactions are processed and items move from the business to the consumer.

Computerized sales help provide better insight into which products are most popular. It also allows for enhanced marketing, stocking and oversight of critical sales objectives. Computerized sales and inventory systems save time for businesses by speeding up transactions while raising accuracy. This allows for confidence in accounting and accountability among employees as it is easy to verify how much money and what time transactions took place.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitation of the study and Definition of technical terms.

1.2 Background of the Study

The company Beverly Hills Supermarket is a small store that is managed by one person, the owner. The business sells different items or products like household equipment, drinks, grocery and other items that we can see everywhere. Like some other convenience store, the business does their physical counting of stocks manually. Technically, Beverly Hills Supermarket is only using a manual system that may cause to duplication of documents and work redundancy. The business is just depending on their manual listing of products and inputs of data which is possible to commit errors. The business cannot view their proper records of sales or income in a given time of the year. It also does not have its proper listings of product. In some instances, lost items are just being ignored by the owner. Beverly Hills Supermarket does not have any extra employee today. But before, the business had one cashier on that time. And basically, introduced the income and force to remove employees. How, the owner is the one who does all work in the business.

Computerized sales and inventory systems save time for businesses by speeding up transactions while raising accuracy. This allows for confidence in accounting and accountability among employees as it is easy to verify how much money and what time transactions took place. They also allow for consistent experiences in terms of customer service. People know there is always a uniform interaction at the register that requires tendering payment, taking a receipt and transition of ownership of products and services. This generates confidence in a business and ensures ongoing consumer relationships. Computerized systems are the most common method of inventory control and sales processing in retail markets.

In fast food restaurants, sales are done regularly and as the stock level of each product are sold, the stock reduces and this affects the inventory level. In order for the management of fast food restaurant to be able to get reports of the inventory level and reports of daily sales, a sales and inventory management system is needed to aid the manager of the fast food restaurant to know when they should re-order more stock, update inventory and also view sales financial information report.

1.3 Statement of the Problem

Investigation revealed the problems of the existing Sales and Inventory Management system which is stated as follows:

1. Items are unknowingly out of stock, leading to hasty buying of goods because of low stock levels.
2. It is time consuming to obtain reports of sales made on a daily basis.
3. The manual system of inventory system is stressful and time consuming.
4. There are cases of inaccurate recording or poor entering of some data/information which is an indication of poor inventory management.

1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aim of the study is to design and implement an online application that will manage the sales and inventory on goods and services. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To develop a system that will enable easy access to sales record report.
2. To develop a system that will aid easy management of stock record
3. To design a system that will help in proper record keeping of sales and inventory
4. To design a system that will update stock level as they are being sold to enable the fast food restaurant to know when stock level is low.

1.5 Significance of the Study

The significance of the study are, it will provide the management of the fast food restaurant with a more effective system to enable them manage their sales and inventory record. It will enable the management of the fast food restaurant to know when they should re-order for stock of any item that has reached the registered re-order level. It will provide the management of the fast food restaurant with a means of obtaining sales and inventory reports.

Also, it will aid accurate computation of sales transactions and easy updating of inventory records. The study will also serve as a useful reference material to other researchers seeking related information on the research topic of sales and inventory management.

1.6 Scope of the Study

The scope of the study focuses on the Design and Implementation of an Online Supermarket Sales and Inventory Management System. The system is targeted to the small or medium organization which does not have proper record of their product as Beverly Hills supermarket in Ikot Ekpene, Cross River State, Nigeria.

1.7 Limitations of the Study

Some of the constraints encountered during this project design include the following:

1. Time: The time frame given for the research in this semester was short and combining it with studies was tedious.
2. Financial constraint: The design was achieved but not without some financial involvement. One had to pay for the computer time. Also the typing and planning of the work has its own financial involvements.
3. High programming technique: The programming aspect of this project posed a lot of problematic bugs that took us some days to solve. Problem such as database connections using PHP, MySql, posed a lot of challenging.

1.8 Definition of Terms

Inventory management: a discipline primarily about specifying the shape and placement of stocked goods.

Customers: a person who buys goods or services from a shop or business.

Inventory: is the goods and materials that a business holds for the ultimate goal of resale.

Inventory Management System: the combination of technology(hardware and software) and processes and procedure that oversees the monitoring and maintenance of stocked products.

Sales: an exchange ofgoods or services for currency or credit.

Transaction: An agreement between a buyer and a seller to exchange goods, services or financial instruments

1.9 Organization of the Research

This research work is organized into five chapters.

Chapter one is concerned with the introduction of the research study and it presents the introduction, statement of the problem, aim and objectives of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study, organization of the research and definition of terms.

Chapter two focuses on theoretical background and literature review, the contributions of other scholars on the subject matter is discussed.

Chapter three is concerned with the system analysis and design. It covers the description of the existing system, analysis of the proposed system and design of the Proposed System.

Chapter four presents the system implementation and documentation. It covers the choice of programming language, analysis of modules, choice of programming language and system requirements for implementation.

Chapter five focuses on the summary, conclusion and recommendations are provided in this chapter based on the study carried out.