All items, goods, merchandise, and materials are held and used by a business for profit. Businesses must ensure they have an effective inventory management to prevent selling out of items that will upset customers, over-reordering or having overstock that costs money.

In NetSuite, businesses can use ODBC to retrieve data about their inventory to aid in making better business decisions. For example, a retail store retrieves daily inventory reports to monitor the stock levels of fast-selling products. Based on the data, the store adjusts reorder points to ensure popular items are always in stock, improving customer satisfaction and maximizing sales. Another example would be when a manufacturing company regularly reviews inventory reports to identify raw materials with low stock levels. By analyzing these reports, the company ensures that production lines have the necessary inputs to meet manufacturing schedules and avoid production delays.