Articles

• Can AI build an inventory app for my shop if I can’t code? (2026 guide)

  Yes. Here is what a small-shop inventory app needs, how it compares with a spreadsheet or an off-the-shelf tool, and how to build one with AI in an afternoon.

• Reorder point formula, with worked examples (2026)

  How to calculate a reorder point and safety stock for each item in a small shop, with worked numbers for steady sellers, unreliable suppliers and weekly ordering.

• Cycle counting for a small shop: a practical schedule and process (2026)

  How to set up cycle counts in a small shop: which items to count how often, a worked weekly schedule, how to run a blind count, and how to measure inventory accuracy.

• How to create SKUs: a naming system that scales (2026)

  A practical SKU naming system for small shops: the structure, a code dictionary, worked examples for variants and bundles, and the rules that stop SKUs breaking later.

• Inventory valuation: FIFO, LIFO and weighted average explained with one example (2026)

  FIFO, LIFO and weighted average cost worked through on the same year of purchases, with what each does to profit and tax, and the IRS and IFRS rules a small shop should know.

• Dead stock: how to find it, clear it and stop buying it (2026)

  How a small shop can spot dead and slow-moving stock with three simple measures, decide between markdown, bundle, liquidation or donation, and change buying so it doesn’t build up again.

• Barcode basics for small shops: UPCs, in-store labels, scanners and printers (2026)

  When a small shop needs GS1 barcodes and when its own labels will do, what GS1 US charges, which barcode types to print, and how to choose scanners and label printers.

• Inventory shrinkage: how to measure it, what causes it, and how to reduce it (2026)

  How a small shop can calculate its shrink rate, split known from unknown losses, find where stock is going, and the receiving, counting and till controls that reduce it.

• Best inventory management software for small business (2026)

  Seven inventory tools for small shops, workshops and stockrooms compared on what they do well, what to watch and what they cost, with prices taken from each vendor’s own pricing page in November 2026.

• Best free inventory apps for small business (2026)

  Seven genuinely free ways to track inventory in a small shop or stockroom, with each free plan’s real limits on items, users, orders and features, taken from the vendors’ own pages in November 2026.

• Floot vs Sortly: ready-made inventory app or one you build yourself? (2026)

  Sortly is a ready-made inventory app priced by items and users; Floot is an AI app builder for making your own. What each does, a head-to-head table, a year of costs worked out, and when each is the better choice.