Inventory by store type

Inventory management for Shopify patio furniture stores

Patio furniture stores live and die by a few busy months. SteadyShelf helps you order the right sets, cushions, and replacement parts before the spring rush hits, instead of after.

The inventory problems patio furniture stores run into

  • Bulky, variant-heavy SKUs. A single dining set can have frame color, cushion fabric, and table size options, each one a separate SKU that needs its own reorder math.
  • Container shipping and freight delays. Many frames and sets come from overseas factories by sea freight, and a delay at port can push your order-by date earlier than you think.
  • Cushion and fabric restocks separate from frames. Replacement cushions, umbrella canopies, and covers often come from different suppliers than the frames, so they need their own lead times and order points.
  • Short selling season, long lead time. You may only sell heavily for 10-12 weeks, but ordering frames from overseas can mean committing to stock months in advance.
  • Floor samples vs sellable stock. Showroom and floor model units are not available to ship, so your on-hand count needs to reflect what's actually sellable, not just what's in the building.

Seasonality and demand

Patio furniture sells overwhelmingly in spring and early summer, with a smaller bump before major holidays like Memorial Day and July 4th in the US, or the equivalent start-of-season dates elsewhere. Demand drops hard in fall and winter, except for clearance and a small uptick in warm climates. Because lead times on sets and frames can run long, especially from overseas factories, you need to place your main season orders in late fall or winter, well before you see any spring sales data. Using last year's seasonal sales pattern per SKU, not just a flat average, matters a lot here since a single month can be your entire year for a given style.

Suppliers, lead times and minimums

Suppliers generally split into overseas factories for frames and full sets, domestic distributors who hold regional inventory, and smaller workshops for cushions, umbrellas, and replacement parts. Overseas factory orders often take several weeks to a few months by sea, with MOQs set in full containers or pallet quantities, so case packs might mean a minimum of a certain number of sets per style and color. Domestic distributors usually ship faster, in days to a couple of weeks, but may have smaller per-order minimums or reorder in case packs of cushions or accessories.

Worked example

Suppose you sell a 4-piece sectional set and average 2 sets a day during peak season. Your overseas supplier has a lead time of 45 days, and you want 14 days of safety stock, so your reorder point is 2 x (45 + 14) = 118 sets. If you want 30 days of cover beyond the lead time, your order quantity target is 2 x (45 + 30) = 150 sets, minus what you already have on hand (20) and on order (40), giving you 150 - 60 = 90 sets to order. Since the supplier's case pack is 10 sets per color, SteadyShelf would round that up to 90 sets, already a clean multiple.

Try it with your own numbers in the reorder point calculator, or size your buffer with the safety stock calculator.

A simple system to start this week

  1. List every variant as its own SKU, including frame color and cushion fabric combinations.
  2. Enter each supplier's honest lead time, including factory production time plus shipping, not just shipping alone.
  3. Separate floor samples and showroom units from sellable on-hand counts.
  4. Set safety stock days higher for overseas frame suppliers than for local cushion suppliers.
  5. Place main season purchase orders in fall or winter based on last year's seasonal curve, not current slow-season sales.
  6. Review the weekly reorder email closely during the two months before peak season starts.

How SteadyShelf fits patio furniture stores

SteadyShelf fits patio furniture stores well for forecasting seasonal demand per SKU, tracking separate lead times for frame suppliers and cushion suppliers, and generating purchase orders rounded to case packs. It does not handle multi-location transfers, so if you move stock between a warehouse and a showroom, you'll need to track that separately. It also doesn't track landed cost, so duty and freight on overseas containers still need to be calculated outside the app.

$29/month flat, unlimited products and suppliers, 30-day free trial.

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More: inventory management by store type · inventory glossary · Stocky alternatives

FAQ

We sell furniture sets as bundles made up of a frame, cushions, and sometimes a table purchased separately. Can SteadyShelf manage that as one bundle SKU?

No. SteadyShelf does not do bundles. You'll need to forecast and reorder the frame, cushions, and table as separate SKUs, even if you sell them together as a set on your storefront.

Do we need to track expiry or shelf life on cushions or UV-treated fabric?

SteadyShelf doesn't track expiry or lot dates. Fabric and foam don't usually expire in the traditional sense, but if you rotate stock to avoid UV fading or discoloration on shelf, you'll want to manage that manually with your own labeling or notes outside the app.

We have a warehouse and a retail showroom on the same Shopify account. Can SteadyShelf tell us when to move stock between them?

No. Multi-location transfers are not something SteadyShelf does. It forecasts and reorders from suppliers based on total inventory, but moving stock between your own locations needs to be handled outside the app.

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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