Virtual Warehouse for Merchandise Inventory, Small And Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs) in The E-Commerce Sector

Abstract

The advancement of e-commerce marketplace applications has made small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) in the e-commerce sector, grow rapidly in the current Era Industrial Revolution 4.0 Era. With limited capital, SMEs businesses must compete by increasing the inventory of various merchandise and large stocks, thus requiring an increase in warehouse capacity to become larger. There is a phenomenon related to the need for large warehouses and inventory for merchandise products of SMEs in the e-commerce sector, to e-commerce marketplace applications that have a virtual warehouse concept.

The purpose of this study was to determine the concept of virtual warehouses, inventory management in virtual warehouses and the advantages of virtual warehouses, for SMEs in the E-commerce sector in the Industrial Revolution Era 4.0. This research method is descriptive qualitative. Informants in this study were determined purposively.

The Virtual Warehouse is a virtual storage place to accommodate and store inventory data, it’s a product of a digital application system program that functions to accommodate, storage, and record inventory data stock. In the e-commerce marketplace application, the warehouse facility feature is provided virtually by the application system. It’s implementation greatly reduces costs and is very efficient compared to conventional physical warehouses. With mobile device or computer that can operating online and within internet signal range, operating of virtual warehouse can be carried out anytime and anywhere