Your inventory is constantly changing as products are sold to customers, arrive from suppliers, or change outlets. Inventory tracking allows you to keep track of what products you have, at what quantities, at what locations.

Using inventory tracking with Retail POS helps to:

• Automatically maintain accurate and up-to-date product stock levels as products are sold.
• Plan replenishment when required.
• Avoid accidentally overselling out-of-stock products.
• Allow customers to know what's available through your eCom store.
• Generate reporting around best-selling products.

Adding important information for inventory tracking

To make the most of inventory tracking, you need to fill out some key information for your products. You can edit products by navigating to Catalog > Products and clicking the pencil icon to edit a product. You can also edit your products in bulk using a spreadsheet.

1. On the Edit product page, scroll down to the Inventory section.
2. Retail POS will automatically generate a unique SKU code for a new product. If you already have an existing SKU/barcode for the product, you can enter it manually or use a Custom code.

   

3. In the Supplier dropdown, select an existing supplier from the list or add a new one by entering the supplier name in the search box and clicking + Add as a new supplier.

   

4. If the supplier requires a code to identify the product for purchase orders, enter it in the Supplier code box.
5. In the Supplier price box, enter the price you pay for each unit. This is important for generating reports once you start selling.

Enabling inventory tracking

Within each product, the Track inventory for this product checkbox is the most critical setting for tracking inventory. Enabled by default, it allows you to input and maintain inventory levels for your products.

If it's not enabled, the product will display an infinite stock level and can be sold regardless of stock availability.

1. Under Inventory levels, ensure the Track inventory for this product checkbox is checked.

Activating inventory tracking ensures accurate, real-time records of stock levels. Inventory levels can be corrected through a stock order.

Working with inventory levels

It’s recommended to leave Current inventory (quantity currently in stock at each outlet) blank when adding or editing a product, as inventory should be added through purchase orders for accurate reporting.

1. Enter a Re-order point, the minimum Current inventory quantity at which the product is recommended to be reordered when creating a purchase order.
2. Enter a Re-order quantity, the recommended quantity to reorder when an item reaches its Reorder point when creating a purchase order.

Integrating inventory tracking with eCommerce

Inventory is synced between all eCommerce integrations (Lightspeed eCom, Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce) and inventory tracking is maintained within Retail POS.

You can learn more about integration-specific settings by clicking the integration you're currently using below:

• Lightspeed eCom
• Shopify
• BigCommerce
• WooCommerce

Reporting and inventory tracking

Using Retail POS inventory reports will help you answer the most important questions about your products: what you have, what you need, and what products offer the best return.

Navigate to Reporting > Inventory reports. If you have advanced reporting, you can access three different reports:

• Summary report: Overview of the inventory you have available to sell.
• Replenishment report: For products you reorder regularly, helping you make quick decisions about what to order and how much you need.
• Performance report: Dig deeper into your products, categories, and outlets to understand what's performing well and how to improve profitability.

What's next?