What is Kanban?

For a small Shopify store, kanban works well for physical inventory like packaging, labels, or raw materials you buy in bulk. You put a card or marker at a set point in the stock, and when you reach it, you reorder a fixed amount without needing to check numbers or run calculations.

It is a low-tech way to avoid stockouts on items you do not want to track closely in a system. It works best for steady, predictable items, not for things with changing demand.

Example

A candle store keeps glass jars in a storage box. They place a card halfway down the box, at 100 jars. When they reach that card, they reorder 200 jars, which is one case pack from the supplier. They never count jars one by one, the card does the job.

Common mistakes

• Using kanban for products with uneven or seasonal demand, where a fixed trigger point does not match actual usage.
• Forgetting to move or reset the card after receiving new stock, so the signal stops working.
• Relying on kanban alone for finished goods sold online, where demand shifts faster than a physical card can reflect.

Kanban and SteadyShelf

SteadyShelf is built for forecasting and ordering finished goods sold on Shopify, not for managing physical kanban cards on raw materials or supplies.

SteadyShelf is launching on the Shopify App Store. Join early access to get the install link first.

Related terms

Reorder point · Two-bin system · Par level · Replenishment · Safety stock

Full inventory glossary

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