Managing purchasing, vendors, and inventory is not just about whether you can issue a purchase order. Item masters, vendors, purchase orders, receiving, stock levels, cost, margin, and accounting handoff all matter — and the real question is which system owns each stage. Even when sales and orders live in a CRM (HubSpot or Salesforce), the post-order work of receiving, stock, and cost tends to fall back to spreadsheets.
This guide compares the common options for purchase order and inventory management — spreadsheets, inventory SaaS, ERP, and Sanka — assuming orders are managed in your CRM and you want to connect what happens after the order to inventory, cost, and accounting safely.
Decide these first
Before comparing tools, settle these four points.
| Decision | What to confirm |
|---|---|
| Source of truth for stock | Which system owns quantities, locations, and allocations |
| Costing method | Where cost and margin are calculated (moving average, FIFO, etc.) |
| Reorder trigger | Whether orders, reorder points, or demand forecasts trigger purchasing |
| Accounting handoff | How purchases, inventory assets, and COGS flow into your accounting tool |
If you choose only on PO creation, receiving variances, inventory valuation, cost updates, and journal entries tend to drift back into Excel. The difference shows up after the order, not before.
Comparison summary
| Option | Best for | Relationship to CRM | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheets | Teams with few SKUs and limited exceptions | Manual copy | Consistency of stock, cost, and PO history depends on people |
| Inventory SaaS | Teams prioritizing stock and movement visibility | Needs integration | PO, vendor, costing, and accounting may need separate tools |
| ERP | Mid-to-large teams running finance, purchasing, and inventory together | Migration assumed | Broad scope; setup and operating cost are high |
| Sanka | Teams connecting CRM orders to purchasing, inventory, cost, and accounting | CRM owns orders; Sanka runs the back office after | Overkill if you only need stock visibility |
1. Spreadsheets
If you carry few items and your ordering and receiving patterns are stable, spreadsheets can work. There is no setup cost and you can add fields freely.
A spreadsheet fits when:
- You have few SKUs and locations
- Ordering is infrequent and receiving variances are rare
- Inventory valuation and cost updates can be done monthly
- Stock counts and accounting handoff are checked manually
The risk appears as volume grows. Open POs, receiving, returns, allocations, and cost updates spread across sheets, and it becomes unclear who owns the source of truth.
2. Inventory SaaS
When the main goal is visibility of stock movements and locations, inventory SaaS (inFlow, Sortly, Cin7, and similar) is a candidate. Barcodes, handheld scanning, and location management make them strong for floor operations.
It fits when:
- You need accurate warehouse or store movement records
- You manage lots, serials, or expiry dates
- Stock visibility is the first priority
The thing to watch is how far it covers purchasing, vendor management, costing, and accounting. Between orders (CRM) and your accounting tool, you still need to decide who owns items, cost, and journal entries.
3. ERP
For mid-to-large teams that want purchasing, inventory, cost, and accounting on one platform, an ERP (NetSuite and other cloud ERPs) is an option. Because finance and inventory share a base, cost and inventory-asset consistency is easier to hold.
It fits when:
- You want finance, purchasing, and inventory unified on one platform
- Audit and internal-control requirements are strict
- You have enough resources for rollout, migration, and operation
The thing to watch is scope and timeline. CRM integration, data migration, and field design are prerequisites, and ERPs are not built for lightweight, fast-changing operations.
4. Sanka
Sanka fits teams that want to manage item masters, purchasing, receiving, inventory, cost and margin, and accounting handoff as an operation that starts from CRM orders. You keep HubSpot or Salesforce as the sales and order screen, and run the post-order work in Sanka.
A typical flow:
- Review CRM orders, products, and accounts.
- In Sanka, manage purchase orders, expected receipts, allocations, and vendor terms.
- Update receiving variances, returns, location stock, and inventory valuation (e.g. moving average).
- Calculate COGS and margin, and review inventory assets and purchase entries before handing them to accounting.
- Send the statuses sales needs back to the CRM.
Sanka fits when PO creation is not the problem — the post-order checking of receiving, stock, cost, and accounting is.
Related pages:
- Purchase order and receiving
- Vendor management
- Item master
- Inventory management
- COGS and margin
- HubSpot inventory and order management tools compared
Which one to choose
If visibility of stock is all you need, inventory SaaS works; if you want finance and inventory unified, ERP fits; with few SKUs and locations, spreadsheets can get you started. If orders live in your CRM and the gap is connecting purchasing, inventory, cost, and accounting, Sanka is a practical option because it can own the post-order operation.
Decide where the source of truth for stock and the costing method live first; the purchasing and accounting design follows from there with fewer reversals.
