Inventory app for a handmade Shopify store
Restoc is an inventory app for handmade Shopify stores: it watches every active SKU against its own sales velocity and the lead time you set, then emails you when one crosses its reorder point. It is made for the maker whose catalogue has outgrown a Sunday night stock count but is nowhere near needing an ERP.
What a handmade store needs from an inventory app
An inventory app for a handmade Shopify store has to take two numbers a resale store never thinks about: how long it takes you to make the thing, and how many variants that one thing becomes on the shelf. Restoc is built around exactly those two inputs. You set a lead time per SKU, you pick a sales velocity window, and it watches every active SKU against its own reorder point and emails you when one crosses it.
The job is not forecasting. It is not demand planning. It is the thing makers say in their own words: I do not need a full ERP, I just want to know when to reorder. You already know your own pour-to-shelf span. You know your supplier is four weeks on tins and two days on labels. What you do not have is somebody watching the shelf while you are at the bench.
Why running out of a best seller hurts, and what it costs a small store, is argued on the hero SKU page. The case against the Sunday night spreadsheet is made on the spreadsheet page. This page is about the part that is specific to making things yourself: getting those two inputs right when the catalogue is small, varied, and lumpy.
Why a handmade catalogue counts bigger than it looks
A store with forty products is rarely a store with forty things to track. Three scents across two sizes is six SKUs. Add a seasonal colourway and a gift set and you are at nine. Makers cross two hundred tracked variants long before they feel like a big store, because the counting job grows with the variant list, not the product list.
Two more things make handmade stock different from resale stock.
- Your lead time is not just the supplier's. It is raw materials, plus making, plus curing, plus labelling. The number that matters is the whole span from deciding to make something to having it back on the shelf. Restoc asks you for that number per SKU, because only you know it.
- Your velocity is lumpy. A market weekend or one good post distorts a seven-day average. A slow, steady candle needs a longer view than a fast mover does. Restoc lets you pick the sales velocity window your store is judged on: 7, 14 or 30 days.
Put those two inputs together and the reorder point stops being a guess you write in a spreadsheet column and becomes a line the product crosses on its own.
How it is built to work in a small-batch store
- Connect the store once
Install through Shopify's OAuth flow. Restoc reads inventory levels and sales history from your store through webhooks plus a scheduled sync job, so your SKU list stays current without you exporting anything. It is a web app: there is no mobile app and no browser extension.
- Tell it your real lead time
Enter lead time per SKU, in days, counting everything between deciding to make or order and having stock back on the shelf. Then choose the store-wide sales velocity window: 7, 14 or 30 days.
- Read the dashboard when you want to, not because you have to
The dashboard shows current stock, days of inventory remaining and reorder status for every active SKU. One screen, every variant, scannable in a few seconds between batches.
- Let the alert find you
When a SKU crosses its reorder point, Restoc sends an email. Delivery runs through an idempotent background job, so one crossing produces one alert rather than the same warning three times in an afternoon.
- Plan the making week from one report
A weekly reorder report lists every SKU below its reorder point with a suggested order quantity. View it in the app or export it as CSV, so the batch list and the supplier order come from the same sheet.
What that changes for a maker
Every variant counted, not just every product
Reorder status is per active SKU. The 4 oz amber in the scent that keeps selling is watched separately from the 8 oz nobody buys.
The lead time is yours, not a default
Set it per SKU. A four-week tin order and a two-day label run get different reorder points, because they are different problems.
A window that suits a lumpy sales pattern
Pick 30 days and one market weekend stops rewriting your reorder point. Pick 7 and a fast mover is judged on this week.
Days of stock left, as a number
Days of inventory remaining per SKU is the figure makers plan around. It tells you whether a batch has to happen this week or can wait for the next pour.
One alert per crossing
Alert delivery is built to be idempotent. Repeated jobs do not repeat the email, so the inbox stays useful and you keep reading it.
Priced like a tool, not a platform
Starter is $29 a month for up to 200 tracked SKUs, with a 60-day free trial, billed by Shopify on your Shopify invoice rather than by a separate card payment.
Which cap fits a catalogue that is still growing
| Plan | Tracked SKUs | Alerts | Velocity window | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 200 | Store-wide: 7, 14 or 30 days | $29 a month | |
| Growth | 1,000 | Email and Slack webhook | Store-wide: 7, 14 or 30 days | $59 a month |
| Pro | 2,000 | Email and Slack webhook | Store-wide, plus a per-SKU override | $99 a month |
What it does not do, said plainly
A maker deserves the limits up front, because they decide whether this is the right tool.
- It does not track raw materials. Wax, wicks, jars, labels and blanks are not SKUs in Shopify, so Restoc does not count them. It watches finished stock and tells you when a finished SKU needs making or reordering.
- It does not forecast demand or write purchase orders. The weekly report gives a suggested order quantity. Sending it to your supplier is still your job.
- One location per plan. If you hold stock at a studio and a market stall as separate Shopify locations, that is outside what every plan covers.
- Slack alerts start at Growth. On Starter, alerts go to email. A per-SKU velocity window override is a Pro feature; on Starter and Growth the window is store-wide.
- Web app only. There is no mobile app and no browser extension.
We are not going to put a date on raw-material counts or multi-location stock, because we do not have one to give you. What is listed above is what the three plans cover. If your catalogue is under 200 variants and your question is simply when to make more, that list probably costs you nothing. If you need component tracking or two locations counted separately, this is not the tool for you, and we would rather say so here than after you install it.
Questions
Does it track each variant separately, or just the product?
Each active SKU separately. Current stock, days of inventory remaining and reorder status are shown per SKU, so a scent that is selling out is not hidden inside a product that looks healthy overall.
Can it count my raw materials, like wax, wicks and jars?
No. Restoc reads what Shopify tracks, which is finished stock. It will tell you a SKU is about to cross its reorder point; working out the components that go into the batch is still yours.
My lead time includes making and curing, not just a supplier wait. Can I enter that?
Yes. Lead time is a number you set per SKU, in days, and nothing stops you counting the full span from deciding to make something to having it back on the shelf. That is the number the reorder point is built from.
My products sell a few units a month. Will the maths work?
Choose the 30-day sales velocity window so a slow mover is judged over a month rather than a week, and set the lead time to cover your full make-and-cure span. The reorder point is built from those two numbers, not from a generic default.
How do the alerts reach me?
By email when a SKU crosses its reorder point, delivered through a background job built to be idempotent so one crossing sends one alert. Slack alerts through an incoming webhook are part of the Growth plan and above.
What does it cost to start?
Starter is $29 a month for up to 200 tracked SKUs and one location, with a 60-day free trial. Billing runs on your Shopify invoice rather than a separate card payment. The pricing page lays out all three tiers and the yearly option.
Is there a mobile app?
No. Restoc is a web app, and the alerts come to your email, which is where your phone already is.
What happens when my catalogue passes 200 SKUs?
SKU caps are enforced at sync time, so you move to Growth for up to 1,000 tracked SKUs or Pro for up to 2,000. There is a separate page on larger catalogues if you are already near that size.