Inventory Management Guides
Practical, opinionated guides to help Shopify brands run tighter inventory.
What are these guides?
Free, practical guides covering everything from weeks of cover calculations to warehouse management, dead stock identification, reorder point formulas, China importing and cost tracking. Written for Shopify brands that buy finished goods from suppliers and need real inventory clarity, not textbook theory.
Weeks Cover & Stock Health
Calculations, benchmarks, dashboards
Weeks of Cover Spreadsheet Template for Shopify
Free weeks of cover spreadsheet template for Google Sheets and Excel: columns, formulas, a CSV download and how to fill it from Shopify exports.
Christmas Stock Planning: Seasonal Weeks of Cover
A by-hand method for Christmas stock planning: work out a seasonal factor from last year, adjust weeks of cover for the peak and find your order date.
Dead Stock & Overstock
Identification, clearance, prevention
Reorder Point & Safety Stock
Formulas, calculators, automation
Reorder Point Formula: How to Calculate When to Reorder Stock
Reorder point = daily sales x lead time + safety stock. Worked examples in units and days, how to know when to reorder, and how to set it up from Shopify.
Lead Time: Meaning, How to Calculate It and How It Sets Your Reorder Date
Lead time is the time from ordering to stock ready to sell. What it includes, how to calculate it from your purchase orders, and how it sets your reorder date.
Why Shopify Brands Run Out of Stock (and What It Costs)
Why best sellers run out, how to work out the stockout date and what a stockout costs, and how to spot stockout risk in Shopify. With a worked example.
Safety Stock Formula: Days, Units and Statistical Methods
Four ways to calculate safety stock: days, fixed units, max minus average and the statistical formula, with one worked example and Shopify steps.
Warehouse Management
Organisation, picking, packing, zones
China Importing
Lead times, MOQ, quality control, customs
Barcode Scanning
Phone scanning, hardware, Shopify integration
Phone Barcode Scanning vs Dedicated Scanner: Which Is Better for Shopify Inventory?
Should you use your phone camera or buy a dedicated barcode scanner for Shopify inventory management? We compare cost, accuracy, speed and setup for small and growing warehouses.
Best Barcode Scanners for Shopify Inventory in 2026: Hardware Comparison Guide
Compare the best barcode scanners for Shopify inventory management. Covers Zebra, Socket Mobile, Tera, phone scanning, Bluetooth vs USB, and budget tiers for ecommerce warehouses.
Barcode Scanning for Shopify: The Complete Setup Guide for 2026
Learn how to set up barcode scanning for your Shopify store. Covers phone-based scanning, hardware scanners, receiving stock and picking orders, plus how to work out whether scanning pays for itself.
Shopify Inventory Management
Native limits, apps, reorder planning
How to Stop Overselling on Shopify: 7 Causes and How to Fix Each One
Overselling on Shopify damages customer trust and costs you money. Here are the 7 most common causes and practical fixes for each one, from sync delays to bundle stock errors.
Shopify Inventory Tracking Multi-Location: The Complete Setup and Management Guide
Shopify supports multi-location inventory tracking natively, but the default setup has critical limitations. Learn how to configure locations, manage transfers, set allocation rules, and handle the gaps, with a worked example of a 5-location Shopify store.
Shopify Inventory Management in 2026: What's Built In, What's Missing & What You Actually Need
Shopify's native inventory features have improved, but critical gaps remain. This guide covers what Shopify can and can't do for inventory management, the best apps to fill the gaps, and how to build a system that scales.
Demand Forecasting
Sales rates, seasonal planning
Purchase Orders & Suppliers
PO planning, suppliers, lead times
Bundles, Kits & Product Strategy
Component tracking, pricing
Multi-Channel & Multi-Location
Sync, allocation, transfers
Industry-Specific Guides
Pet, fashion, beauty, home niches
Inventory Management for Pet Products Ecommerce: The Complete Guide
Pet product ecommerce has unique inventory challenges, seasonal patterns, size variants, matching sets, perishables. Learn how successful pet brands manage stock, with worked examples.
Inventory Management for Fashion Ecommerce: Size Curves, Variants & Seasonal Collections
Fashion-specific inventory management for ecommerce brands. Covers size curve forecasting, colour variant planning, seasonal collection timing, returns rates, and markdown strategies.
Stocky Migration
Stocky shutdown, alternatives, migration guides
How to Export Your Stocky Data Before Read-Only Access Ends
Stocky stopped working on 31st August 2026 and Shopify gives read-only access for at least 90 days. Step-by-step: export purchase orders, costs, stocktakes and reports, and copy your suppliers.
Stocky Alternatives for Shopify in 2026: An Unranked Comparison
Stocky stopped on 31st August 2026. Shopify's own replacements, then an unranked table of inventory apps and systems, checked on each vendor's site.
Why these guides exist
These guides are written for Shopify brands that hold their own stock and buy from suppliers. They explain the sums behind weeks of cover, reorder points and dead stock so you can work them out yourself.
Canopy Inventory, built for and used daily by a UK Shopify brand, works out weeks of cover, reorder-by dates and suggested buy quantities for every SKU. Whether you use it or not, the guides stand on their own.
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Explore more Canopy resources
The formula, a worked example and how to work it out in Shopify.
Every formula the app uses, with worked examples.
All published articles across every inventory topic.
A disclosed, unranked comparison of Shopify's own tools and inventory apps.
The formulas behind weeks of cover, stockout and reorder-by dates and buy quantities.
Weeks of cover, stockout date, reorder-by date and buy quantity for one SKU.
Find the exact stock level at which to reorder each product.
Calculate real margin per SKU, after platform fees and freight.
What Canopy Inventory works out for you: weeks of cover, reorder-by dates and what to buy.