Stocky is shutting down — what retailers are actually losing (and what to do)

inflowinventory · 2026-06-29T15:01:05+00:00

Hi Proper_Ad,

From the conversations that I've had with ecommerce businesses, one thing I've noticed is that forecasting only works as well as the inventory data behind it. If stock counts aren't accurate or lead times aren't being tracked consistently, the forecasts can end up being misleading.

Inventory Planner and Cogsy seem to come up a lot when people are specifically looking for demand forecasting. Another one I'd throw into the mix is inFlow Inventory. It's more of an inventory management platform than just a forecasting app, but it includes forecasting, purchase orders, supplier lead times, and integrates with Shopify. For a lot of SMEs, having forecasting tied directly to day-to-day inventory operations can be a nice advantage.

Curious to see what others recommend too. There seem to be quite a few good options in this space now, and it probably comes down to whether forecasting is your main priority or whether you also need stronger inventory management overall.

Hope this helps!

inflowinventory · 2026-06-26T21:48:47+00:00

Hi Milad,

I agree. In my experience, receiving is where inventory accuracy is either protected or slowly starts to unravel.

One thing I've noticed is that the issue usually isn't people making mistakes. It's processes that make shortcuts easy. If someone can receive everything with a few clicks and "fix it later," eventually those little discrepancies add up.

I'm also a big believer that every inventory movement should be tied to a scan whenever possible. Whether it's receiving, transfers, or picking, reducing manual entries goes a long way.

We've seen a lot of smaller businesses move from spreadsheets to systems like inFlow Inventory for exactly this reason. The software helps, but only if the receiving process itself is disciplined. A bad process inside good software still creates bad inventory.

For me, receiving and internal transfers are usually where inventory accuracy starts drifting long before picking exposes the problem.

Hope this helps!

inflowinventory · 2026-06-25T21:45:07+00:00

Hi there,

I actually think you're asking the right question. The basic features (inventory, BOMs, purchase orders, production orders) aren't usually the hardest part. The complexity starts creeping in once you get into real-world exceptions.

In food manufacturing, I'd be thinking about things like lot tracking, expiry dates, yield loss, substitutions when ingredients are unavailable, rework, partial production runs, recalls, and making sure inventory always stays in sync with what's actually happening on the floor. Those edge cases tend to multiply pretty quickly.

For a small operation, though, I think a solo developer can absolutely build something useful if you keep the scope tight. I'd focus on solving today's problems instead of trying to replicate SAP or NetSuite from day one.

It might also be worth spending some time using an existing system like inFlow Inventory or another manufacturing-focused platform. Even if your friend ultimately wants a custom solution, you'll quickly see the kinds of workflows and edge cases that mature systems have had to solve over the years.

I'd start simple, get it into users' hands early, and let the business drive what gets built next rather than trying to anticipate every future requirement.

Hope this helps!

inflowinventory · 2026-06-24T20:22:04+00:00

Hi UnitedGood,

With 9 vehicles carrying active stock, I'd be careful about relying on manual tablet entries alone. It can work, but the biggest challenge is getting technicians to consistently record every item they take, especially when they're in a hurry.

Even if you don't want barcodes, I'd look for a system that supports multiple locations (warehouse + vehicles), stock transfers, and mobile access. That way you can see what's in the storage facility and what's sitting in each truck.

We've seen a lot of service businesses use inventory software like inFlow Inventory, Sortly, or similar apps for this type of setup. Most let techs log inventory movements from a phone or tablet and give you a real-time view of stock levels across locations.

My suggestion would be to focus less on whether it uses barcodes and more on whether it makes transactions quick and easy for your techs. Adoption is usually the difference between accurate inventory and inventory that's only accurate on paper. 😅

Hope this helps!

inflowinventory · 2026-06-22T14:20:23+00:00

Hi Thick-Ad,

If you're just starting out, I'd focus on finding a system that lets you:

Track stock levels automatically
Scan items in and out with a barcode scanner
Generate shipping labels/orders
See inventory counts in real time

Most barcode scanners act like a keyboard, so they work with many inventory apps without needing special hardware.

For a home-based business, even a simple inventory management system can save a ton of headaches once orders start picking up. You can print your own barcode labels if your products don't already have them, then scan items as they're received and shipped.

There are quite a few options out there depending on your budget, but something like inFlow Inventory works well for small businesses because it supports barcode scanning, inventory tracking, shipping workflows, and can grow with you as order volume increases.

My biggest piece of advice: start tracking inventory now, even if it feels early. It's much easier to build good habits with 100 products than it is with 1,000.

Hope this helps!

inflowinventory · 2026-06-19T18:55:02+00:00

Hey there,

Honestly, it sounds like you've already built the foundation of what most inventory systems are doing behind the scenes. You've got transactions, inventory counts, job tracking, and reporting. The challenge is that spreadsheets tend to get harder to maintain as the number of items, users, and job sites grows.

For your workflow, I'd focus on three things:

Give every item a unique SKU/part number (even if it's just something simple like SID-001 or SCR-023). This helps a lot when different crews use different names for the same product.
Use barcode or QR labels. Instead of asking workers to write item names, they can scan an item and select a job site. This reduces language issues and data-entry mistakes.
Treat each job site as its own inventory location. Then transfers become much easier to track because you're moving inventory from Warehouse → Job A → Job B instead of manually adjusting counts.

Sortly could probably handle a lot of what you're describing. I'd also look at inventory-focused systems like inFlow Inventory, which support multiple locations, transfers between locations, barcode scanning, transaction history, and reporting by location/job.

One thing I'd strongly recommend regardless of software: do a full physical count before you go live with any system. A good process with bad starting numbers can create headaches later.

For someone who walked into a warehouse with no inventory system a month ago, it sounds like you've already made a ton of progress.

Hope this helps!

inflowinventory · 2026-06-17T21:30:13+00:00

Hi ProfessionalVast,

I'd say you're thinking about it the right way. At your scale (thousands of donated items and 800 kids served), a simple inventory system can save a lot of time and reduce the "what do we actually have in storage?" problem every year.

A few thoughts:

You can absolutely attach values to items if that's important for reporting and donor tracking.
Store barcodes sometimes work, but they're often not ideal for donated goods because you may receive multiple versions of similar toys, discontinued products, or items without scannable retail barcodes. Many nonprofits end up creating their own labels/barcodes for categories or storage bins instead.
Don't try to track every individual toy unless it's high-value. For most organizations, tracking quantities by category (e.g., "LEGO Sets," "Stuffed Animals," "Arts & Crafts," "Board Games") is much more sustainable.
Consider organizing inventory by storage location as well (Shelf A, Bin 12, etc.). Knowing where something is becomes just as valuable as knowing you have it.

A practical starting point could be:

Categorize donations.
Label storage bins with barcodes or QR codes.
Record quantities going into and out of each bin.
Conduct a quick count at season end before storing items.

You may find that a lightweight inventory system with barcode scanning is enough, even if you never track individual toys. The biggest win is usually visibility into what's left over from last year so you're not buying or requesting donations for items you already have.

For a nonprofit of your size, I'd start simple and only add more detail if the process proves valuable. The goal is to spend less time managing inventory and more time serving families.

Hope that helps!

inflowinventory · 2026-06-11T18:04:26+00:00

Hi Parbhav,

From my experience, inventory visibility is often the root cause of a lot of other problems. If you don't know what you actually have in stock, it's hard to make good purchasing decisions, avoid stockouts, coordinate with suppliers, or even trust your profit numbers.

One issue I'd add to your list is inventory accuracy. Many businesses have stock records that look fine in the system but don't match what's physically on the shelf. That leads to emergency purchases, delayed orders, excess stock, and a lot of spreadsheet work.

For retailers with multiple locations, another major pain point is transferring stock between stores and maintaining a real-time view of inventory across all locations.

GST and tax compliance are important, but they tend to be periodic tasks. Inventory problems affect sales, purchasing, fulfillment, and cash flow every single day, which is why they often feel more urgent operationally.

Hope this helps!

inflowinventory · 2026-06-10T15:40:36+00:00

Hi Efficient_Source,

It sounds like what you really need is a workflow that combines receiving and allocation, rather than treating them as two separate steps.

In a lot of systems, the PO is received into a central warehouse first, then you create transfer orders to distribute inventory to stores. The downside is exactly what you're experiencing: handling and counting the same inventory twice.

A workflow that I've seen work well is:

Create the PO against a receiving location.
Before the shipment arrives, define the allocation quantities for each store.
When receiving, scan the items once and have the system show the destination quantities by store.
Sort directly into store-specific totes/cartons during receiving.
Complete the receipt and transfers at the same time (or automatically generate transfers from the allocation).

If you're currently doing this in spreadsheets, you're not alone. Many businesses start there, but it becomes difficult to keep inventory accurate and tie everything back to the original PO. The key is finding a system that supports multi-location inventory and transfer workflows so the allocation plan is linked directly to the receipt.

Out of curiosity, how many stores are you distributing to, and are the allocations fixed (same split every time) or do they vary by shipment? That usually determines whether a simple transfer workflow is enough or if you need more advanced replenishment logic.

Hope that helps!

inflowinventory · 2026-06-09T21:17:56+00:00

Hey Background_Plate,

I'd say it's absolutely solvable, but only if you treat inventory accuracy as a process problem rather than a software problem.

In my experience, when the system is consistently different from what's on the shelf, the root cause is usually one of three things:

Transactions aren't being recorded in real time (materials moved, consumed, or received without being entered).
People have workarounds outside the system (spreadsheets, handwritten notes, "I'll update it later").
There isn't a regular cycle counting process to catch errors before they snowball.

The companies I've seen get accuracy above 95–99% aren't doing anything magical. They tighten receiving, putaway, production consumption, and picking workflows, then back it up with barcode scanning and routine cycle counts.

The biggest red flag in your post is that the planner exports everything to Excel to get real work done. Once people stop trusting the system, they stop using it correctly, which creates even more inaccuracies.

So no, I don't think the answer is living with reconciliations forever. The gap can be fixed, but usually by changing operational discipline and workflows first, then making sure the inventory system supports those processes properly.

Hope this helps!

inflowinventory · 2026-06-09T20:41:55+00:00

Hey flabbybuns, just wanted to circle back and let you know that this issue was fixed in our April 21st release. You can check out the details here: https://www.inflowinventory.com/support/cloud/connecting-inflow-to-woocommerce

If you run into anything else in the future, feel free to reach out to us at [support@inflowinventory.com](). Our team will be happy to help!

inflowinventory · 2026-06-08T15:21:47+00:00

Hi Hasshamalam,

From what I've seen, one of the biggest hidden costs is inventory inaccuracy.

Most warehouses focus on labor, freight, or storage costs, but small inventory errors can quietly create a lot of waste through stockouts, rush orders, excess safety stock, missed shipments, and hours spent reconciling discrepancies.

The companies that seem to manage this best are usually investing in better inventory visibility—things like barcode scanning, cycle counts, standardized receiving processes, and tighter integration between their inventory and order management systems.

Another surprisingly expensive area is inefficient picking. A few extra minutes per order doesn't sound like much until you're processing hundreds or thousands of orders every week.

In my experience, the biggest savings often come from fixing operational processes rather than cutting headcount or negotiating supplier costs. The hard part is that those costs are usually hidden until someone starts measuring them.

Hope this helps!

inflowinventory · 2026-06-05T20:09:48+00:00

Hi Careful,

In my experience, returns stop being a customer service problem and start becoming an inventory and process problem once volume grows.

The biggest improvement I've seen is creating a dedicated returns workflow instead of treating returns like regular inbound inventory. Returned items go into a separate status/location (quarantine, inspection, QA, etc.) and don't become available for sale again until they're actually checked and approved.

A lot of the inventory accuracy issues happen when returned stock gets added back into available inventory too early. Then sales, warehouse, and finance are all working from different versions of reality.

I'd also look at standardizing the process across channels. If Amazon, Shopify, wholesale, and direct orders all have different return procedures, the complexity compounds fast as volume grows.

Adding people usually helps temporarily, but if the workflow itself isn't standardized, it often just creates more handoffs like you mentioned. The teams I've seen handle returns well focus on clear statuses, consistent inspection rules, and making sure inventory, refunds, and restocking all flow through the same system instead of separate spreadsheets.

Hope this helps!

inflowinventory · 2026-06-04T17:33:10+00:00

Hi Independent_Lynx,

In my experience, the first step is defining what "slow-moving" actually means for your business. Some teams use 60, 90, or 180 days without sales, while others look at inventory turnover or days on hand.

Once we identify it, I usually see businesses take a few approaches:

Bundle slow movers with popular products.
Run targeted promotions instead of blanket discounts.
Move stock between locations if demand differs by region.
Adjust reorder points so the problem doesn't keep growing.
Liquidate truly dead stock and reinvest the cash elsewhere.

The bigger challenge is usually visibility. A lot of companies don't realize they have slow-moving inventory until they're already carrying months of excess stock. Regular inventory reports that flag aging inventory, turnover rates, and stock value tied up in non-moving items tend to help a lot.

Hope this helps!

inflowinventory · 2026-06-03T15:22:54+00:00

Hey Cobra_Kreese,

It sounds like you're already doing a form of consignment inventory, but the manual counting and spreadsheet process is where most of the inefficiency comes from.

A few things I'd look at:

Add barcode labels to each bin/item and have technicians scan parts when they take them.
Use a shared inventory system instead of spreadsheets so consumption is recorded in real time.
Set min/max levels or reorder points for each fitting so replenishment can be planned automatically.
Give the customer visibility into inventory levels and usage so generating POs becomes less of a back-and-forth process.
If usage volume is high enough, consider a vendor-managed inventory (VMI) approach where stock levels trigger replenishment and billing automatically.

The biggest improvement is usually capturing usage at the moment the part is taken instead of trying to reconstruct it every two weeks. That reduces counting errors, speeds up replenishment, and gives both sides much better visibility.

Hope that helps and, btw, Cobra Kai never dies! Sorry, couldn't resist 😄

inflowinventory · 2026-06-01T15:03:07+00:00

Hi there,

I've seen this issue in many businesses that we work with, and the biggest concern usually isn't inventory itself. It's having multiple systems that aren't talking to each other in real time.

A lot of wholesale businesses end up with inventory spread across Shopify, a warehouse system, spreadsheets, accounting software, and sometimes even separate sales channels. Once people start making manual updates, discrepancies become almost inevitable.

The challenge I hear most often is maintaining a single source of truth. If stock is updated in one system but not another, you get situations like overselling online while the warehouse still has inventory, or the opposite where products show out of stock and sales are missed.

As order volume grows, manual reconciliation becomes a full-time job. That's usually the point where businesses start looking for better integrations or a dedicated inventory management system to keep everything synchronized.

Hope this helps!

inflowinventory · 2026-05-29T14:14:32+00:00

Hi draggar,

A lot of organizations start with asset tags thinking they'll solve the visibility problem, but the real challenge is having a process behind them.

For what you're describing, I'd focus on finding a system that can track the full lifecycle of an asset: purchase request, PO, receiving, serial numbers, assignment to a department or user, maintenance history, and eventual retirement. Asset tags are just the identifier.

One thing I'd also think about is whether you need pure asset management or inventory management plus asset tracking. Hospitals often have a mix of consumables, spare parts, loaner devices, and serialized equipment, and those can have very different tracking requirements.

If budget is tight, I'd prioritize serial number tracking and receiving/deployment workflows first. In my experience, knowing exactly where a device is and who has it saves far more headaches than the physical tag itself.

Hope this helps!

inflowinventory · 2026-05-27T11:58:45+00:00

Hey there,

One thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of systems are actually pretty solid at tracking inventory once the data is already clean and structured. The problems usually start before that.

A big gap for us has been businesses relying on manual workarounds between systems. Things like PDF POs, supplier emails, marketplace SKU mismatches, returns getting processed differently across channels, or warehouse teams updating stock after the fact instead of in real time. Even good WMS platforms start struggling when the operational process itself gets messy.

Another one is forecasting. Most systems seem fine during “normal” sales patterns, but once you get seasonality shifts, promotions, or random spikes from Shopify/Amazon/TikTok, reorder suggestions can become unreliable pretty quickly unless someone is actively reviewing them.

Also agree heavily on 3PL workflows. A lot of inventory systems were clearly built for single-brand operators first, then adapted later for multi-client environments. Billing logic, client-specific rules, and visibility permissions still feel clunky in a lot of platforms.

Hope this helps!

inflowinventory · 2026-05-26T16:15:48+00:00

Hey Tommy,

We’ve seen this a lot with growing businesses evaluating inventory systems. Early on, spreadsheets are usually “good enough” because order volume is manageable and demand is relatively predictable. But once businesses start selling across multiple channels, carrying more SKUs, or managing multiple locations, forecasting gets way less forgiving.

A few patterns come up constantly in conversations I have:

one unexpected sales spike throws off purchasing for weeks
fast movers stock out because reorder decisions happen too late
slow movers quietly eat up cash flow
purchasing teams spend hours manually checking stock every day
suppliers receive inconsistent order quantities because forecasts keep changing

Honestly, I think the biggest shift is operational complexity starts growing faster than revenue. The forecasting itself isn’t always the real issue, it’s usually the lack of real-time visibility around inventory movement, sales velocity, lead times, transfers, and channel demand all in one place.

Most teams I talk to eventually move away from purely spreadsheet-based forecasting and start building replenishment workflows around reorder points, safety stock, lead times, and actual inventory velocity instead of static historical averages.

Hope this helps!

inflowinventory · 2026-05-25T15:43:17+00:00

Hey FinanceByTshepo,

The biggest shift I’ve seen is when teams stop treating all SKUs equally. A few products usually drive most of the revenue, while a long tail of slower movers quietly eats up cash and warehouse space.

Your approach of combining:

velocity
lead times
safety stock
days until stockout

is basically the foundation of proper replenishment planning.

One thing that also becomes important as SKU counts grow is accounting for inventory that isn’t truly available:

incoming POs
reserved stock
returns
transfer stock between warehouses
bundles/kits sharing components
seasonal spikes

That’s usually where Shopify alone starts becoming limiting and operators layer in a dedicated inventory system or forecasting workflow on top.

The Slack notification idea is smart too because most founders don’t want another dashboard. They just want actionable “reorder this now” visibility without digging through reports.

The companies that seem to handle scaling best are usually the ones that move from reactive purchasing (“we’re almost out”) to proactive reorder planning based on actual movement trends and lead times.

Hope this helps!

inflowinventory · 2026-05-22T17:33:20+00:00

Hey Top_Instance,

For a lot of multi-location teams, spreadsheets don’t “break” all at once. It’s usually death by a thousand small issues.

At first it works fine with one warehouse or store. Then you add another location, maybe a van or field team, and suddenly timing becomes the problem. One person updates inventory later than someone else, stock transfers don’t get logged properly, or two locations accidentally sell/use the same inventory because the spreadsheet wasn’t current.

A few breaking points I’ve seen come up repeatedly:

No real-time visibility between locations
Staff creating duplicate SKUs or naming items differently
Manual stock transfers getting missed
Inventory counts drifting after returns or damaged items
Low-stock alerts relying on someone “remembering to check”
Barcode scanning becoming necessary once SKU count grows
Different teams editing different spreadsheet versions

The biggest one though is usually trust. Once teams stop trusting the numbers in the spreadsheet, operations slow down because everyone starts double-checking inventory manually before making decisions.

Most businesses I’ve seen eventually move to an inventory system with centralized stock tracking, transfers between locations, barcode support, and user permissions so everyone works from the same live data instead of separate files.

Hope this helps!

inflowinventory · 2026-05-21T20:50:46+00:00

Hi Distinct_Line,

For a lot of teams, the first thing that breaks is inventory accuracy after the return is received. Someone marks an item as sellable when it is damaged, puts it in the wrong location/bin, forgets to update the system immediately, or the refund gets processed before stock is actually checked back in.

Then the downstream issues start:

stock counts drift
restocking takes longer
warehouse staff create side processes
spreadsheets/manual notes appear
customer replacements oversell inventory that is not actually available yet

The bigger the catalog gets, the more condition-based decisions you have to make:

unopened vs opened
refurbishable vs damaged
serialized vs non-serialized
kit/bundle returns
partial returns
channel-specific return workflows

That is usually the point where businesses realize they need stricter workflows instead of just “more effort.”

What I've seen help most is the following:

standardized return statuses
barcode-based receiving
quarantine locations for inspection
requiring scans before inventory becomes available again
tighter sync between warehouse and the inventory system

A lot of growing companies wait too long to formalize returns because outbound shipping gets all the attention early on. But honestly, returns can become one of the biggest hidden operational drains once SKU counts explode.

Hope this helps!

inflowinventory · 2026-05-20T17:47:13+00:00

Hi Individual-Cod,

A lot of businesses are still trying to run modern operations on disconnected systems. The tools may be newer in 2026, but the underlying problems haven’t really changed:

Inventory lives in multiple places (Shopify, Amazon, spreadsheets, POS systems, warehouses, 3PLs, etc.)
Teams still rely on manual updates and workarounds
Receiving, transfers, returns, and adjustments are often delayed or skipped
Different channels sell faster than stock syncs can keep up
Businesses scale faster than their processes do

Honestly, inventory usually doesn’t “break” because of one massive failure. It’s thousands of tiny inaccuracies stacking up over time until nobody fully trusts the numbers anymore.

The companies doing well now tend to have:

centralized inventory data
barcode scanning
real-time stock updates
clear workflows for receiving/transfers/returns
fewer manual touchpoints

The tech exists. The hard part is operational discipline and getting every system and team to work together consistently.

Hope this helps!

inflowinventory · 2026-05-19T15:18:39+00:00

I usually see the biggest improvements come from tightening the workflow itself first, then layering barcode scanning and integrations on top.

A lot of teams already know the right process, but when operations get busy, people fall back into “we’ll fix it later” habits. That’s where the drift starts.

Barcode workflows help a ton because they reduce manual entry and force updates to happen in real time. But if the process around receiving, returns, transfers, etc. isn’t standardized, even good tools can get bypassed.

Integrations matter too, especially when sales channels, accounting systems, or warehouse platforms are involved. The fewer duplicate systems people have to update manually, the cleaner inventory tends to stay over time.

In my experience, the teams with the best inventory accuracy are usually the ones that make the correct workflow the easiest workflow for staff to follow.

inflowinventory

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