Fran's Fitness Faire is a retail store selling exercise equipment, sportswear, and athletic shoes for women. Currently the store keeps track of its inventory using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, which is maintained on a desktop computer in the owner/manager's office. Fran Farley, the owner/manager, updates the spreadsheet daily, using the packing lists for shipments received into stock and copies of paper sales receipts for items sold. Although this worked well at first, as business has increased, updating the inventory spreadsheet is taking more and more of Fran's time. It has also been difficult to keep the records accurate, causing the store to run out of some items and be overstocked on others. Because of these problems, Fran is considering adopting a more sophisticated computerized inventory system.
What are some of the potential costs and benefits likely to be associated with adopting a new inventory system at Fran's Fitness Faire?