Inventory management for a small business

The key facts

• Track four things: stock on hand, reorder levels, count variances, and the orders that consume stock.
• Start from what you have: the spreadsheet you already keep is the import file — it does not need to be perfect, just honest.
• The order matters: live quantities first, reordering second, portals and invoicing third.
• The cost line: free works alone; software (BSimple from $180/month AUD, free trial) earns its cost when a second person or a wrong quantity arrives.
• The full picture: how the inventory record works is the hub page for everything above.

What a small business actually needs to track

Not everything — four records, in order of importance:

• Stock on hand per item: the quantity you would bet money on. Everything else depends on this being true.
• Reorder levels on the items that actually sell: the minimum that triggers a purchase before the shelf is empty. Ten lines covering 80% of sales beats 500 lines covering nothing.
• Count variances: what the count found versus what the record said, adjusted deliberately — the record stays honest and shrinkage becomes visible.
• Orders against stock: what is promised, what is picked, what was invoiced. This is the record that stops overselling.

Everything else — batches, expiry, multi-location, portals — is situational. Food and drink need expiry; two locations need transfers; wholesale customers need their own ordering path.

Setting up in an afternoon

The setup that works: import the product list you already keep (spreadsheet, invoice history, whatever is honest), set quantities by counting a handful of high-value lines rather than trusting the file, set reorder levels on the fast movers, and take one order the whole way — checked against stock, picked, invoiced. If the accounting system is Xero or MYOB, push that invoice across and see it land. The examples guide walks each record; what stock management covers explains the mechanics behind them.

The spreadsheet stage is a legitimate alternative at one-person scale — the trigger to leave it is the first wrong quantity that costs real money, not a headcount. How businesses track inventory today maps the methods and their breaking points.

How BSimple fits a small business

We build BSimple, so weigh that. It carries the four records on one dataset: live stock, reorder-driven purchasing, counts from any phone browser with an audit trail, and orders from the customer portal through pick and pack to invoicing — with the Xero/MYOB handoff behind them. Batches and expiry are there for food and regulated stock; projects there for trade jobs. Plans start at $180/month (AUD), every feature in the core plans.

The honest sizing: a one-person business with low consequence can stay free and be fine. The moment a second person touches stock or an oversell costs a customer, the trial is the cheapest way to test the step — the full product, your own data, an afternoon.