Inventory how-to

How to manage inventory as a one person Shopify store

Running inventory solo means cutting manual work to the minimum and setting rules you follow without thinking.

Short answer: Running inventory solo means cutting manual work to the minimum and setting rules you follow without thinking. The core job is knowing what to reorder, how much, and by when, without checking every SKU every day.

Set reorder points once, not every week

For each SKU, work out a reorder point: daily sales x (lead time in days + safety days). When stock hits that number, it is time to order. Write these down per product so you are not guessing from memory or gut feel each time.

Batch your work into one weekly session

Pick one day a week to check stock, place orders, and follow up with suppliers. Checking daily wastes time on products that have not moved. A single weekly pass covering all SKUs is enough for most small stores, as long as you know which items have short lead times and need closer attention.

Standardise order quantities in advance

Agree case pack sizes and minimum order quantities with each supplier up front. Then your order quantity formula is simple: daily sales x (lead time + days of cover) minus what you already have on hand and on order, rounded up to the nearest case pack. Deciding this in advance means you are not negotiating or recalculating under pressure when stock is low.

Keep supplier details in one place

Store each supplier's lead time, minimum order, and contact email somewhere you can see at a glance. As a one person operation, the time you lose hunting through old emails for a supplier's MOQ adds up fast.

Step by step

  1. List every active SKU with its current on hand quantity and daily sales rate.
  2. Get lead time and safety days from each supplier and calculate a reorder point per SKU.
  3. Set a fixed weekly time slot to review stock against reorder points.
  4. Pre-agree case pack sizes and minimum order quantities with suppliers so order math is simple.
  5. Draft and send purchase orders in that same weekly session, not throughout the week.
  6. Record stock received, including partial shipments, as soon as it arrives.
  7. Review and adjust reorder points every few months as sales change.

Worked example

Say you run a candle store alone and sell an average of 4 units a day of your bestselling scent. Your supplier's lead time is 10 days and you keep 4 days of safety stock, so your reorder point is 4 x (10 + 4) = 56 units. You want 20 days of cover and currently hold 40 units with none on order, so your order quantity is 4 x (10 + 20) minus 40, which is 80 units, rounded up to your supplier's case pack of 12, giving 84 units ordered.

How SteadyShelf helps

SteadyShelf automates most of this for a single operator: it calculates reorder points and order quantities per SKU, rounds to your case packs and minimums, drafts the purchase order, and sends you one weekly reorder email instead of you checking spreadsheets daily. It does not handle stocktakes, bundles, or multi-location stock, so if your setup needs those, you will still manage them manually.

$29/month flat, unlimited products and suppliers, 30-day free trial. Run the numbers now with the free reorder point calculator.

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

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FAQ

Do I need separate software for inventory if I only have one store?

Not necessarily. A single spreadsheet with reorder points and supplier lead times can work for a small number of SKUs. Once you have enough products that manual checking takes real time each week, a dedicated tool that calculates reorder points and drafts purchase orders automatically saves more time than it costs.

How often should a solo store owner count physical stock?

A monthly or quarterly count of your top selling SKUs catches most discrepancies without taking much time. Full stocktakes are more accurate but take longer, so balance the frequency against how much time you can spare. SteadyShelf does not handle stocktakes or cycle counts, so this part stays manual regardless of what forecasting tool you use.

Let SteadyShelf do this math for every SKU

Order-by dates per supplier, seasonal forecasts and draft POs for your Shopify store. $29/month after a 30-day free trial.

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