Inventory management for a Shopify shoe store, size by size
If you sell shoes on Shopify, inventory management is not a style-level job, it is a size-level one. Restoc watches every variant in your catalogue, works out a reorder point per size from your sales velocity and your supplier lead time, and emails or Slacks you the moment a size crosses it.
How a footwear brand tracks stock today
Most shoe brands on Shopify run one of three systems. A spreadsheet exported from the admin on a Monday, with a column per size and a typed note about what the factory last said. A sort of the variant list in Shopify admin by inventory, scanned quickly, usually on a Friday. Or memory, which holds up until the week it does not.
A style is sold out long before it reads zero
A shoe is not one product. One style in one colour is eight to fourteen variants, more again if you carry half sizes or a second width. Sales never spread evenly across that run. The middle sizes go first and the tails sit. By the time the style's total inventory looks low, the sizes that actually sell have been gone for a fortnight, and the stock you still own is the smallest and the largest.
Lead time is the other half of the problem
Footwear lead times are rarely measured in days. A factory slot, a production run, a freight leg: by the time a reorder lands, the season can have moved on. That makes the reorder point, not the zero, the number worth watching. What you need to know is when a size has only enough cover left to survive the wait.
What a spreadsheet cannot do
A spreadsheet is a photograph. It is right on the morning you built it and wrong by Wednesday, because it does not watch anything. Nothing in it fires when the 9 crosses the line. Checking a few hundred variants by eye every week is the kind of work that gets skipped in exactly the weeks the store is busiest.
The workflow on a shoe catalogue
- Connect the store once
Restoc installs through Shopify OAuth and pulls your inventory levels and sales history, then keeps up through Shopify webhooks and a scheduled sync job. It is a web app only: no mobile app, no browser extension.
- Choose the sales velocity window
Pick 7, 14 or 30 days store-wide. Thirty days suits a core range that ticks over steadily. Seven tracks a drop while it is moving. On Pro you can override the window for a single SKU when one style behaves nothing like the rest.
- Enter the lead time per SKU
You type what your supplier actually takes, because the factory knows and the app does not. Lead time is a merchant input per SKU, so a reorder you can refill from local stock and one that needs a production run are not treated the same.
- Restoc computes a reorder point per size
The engine combines the velocity window with that SKU's lead time to produce a reorder point for every variant. It is a tested pure function, so the number is the same every time it runs, size by size across the whole run.
- An alert fires on the crossing
When a SKU crosses its reorder point you get an email, and a Slack message through an incoming webhook on Growth and above. Delivery runs through an idempotent background job, so one crossing is one alert, not a stream of repeats.
- Order from the weekly report
The weekly reorder report lists every SKU below its reorder point with a suggested order quantity, viewable in the app and exportable as CSV. That is the size run you send to your supplier, written out rather than reconstructed from memory.
What matters when you sell footwear
Every size is its own SKU
Each tracked variant carries its own current stock, its own days of inventory remaining and its own reorder status on the dashboard. The 9 is not hidden inside a style total.
The middle of the run gets its own alert
Fast sizes cross their reorder point first, and that is the alert you get first, while the style still looks healthy in aggregate.
Long lead times are an input, not a guess
A ninety day production lead time pushes that SKU's reorder point up accordingly. You set the figure per SKU and change it when the supplier changes.
Slack for whoever raises the order
On Growth and Pro, alerts also post to a Slack webhook alongside email, so the person who talks to the factory sees the crossing without logging into anything.
Days of inventory remaining, per variant
The dashboard shows current stock, days of inventory remaining and reorder status for every active SKU, which is the view a size run needs more than a total.
A cap that matches a variant-heavy catalogue
Plans are priced against tracked SKU counts of 200, 1,000 and 2,000, and the cap is enforced server-side at sync time, so you know what you are paying for before you connect.
Count your variants before you pick a plan
Footwear catalogues look small and count large. A brand with a dozen styles can carry more tracked SKUs than a homeware store with a hundred products, because every size and every width is a separate variant with its own stock number.
So do the multiplication first: styles, times sizes in the run, times colourways. Restoc's three tiers are capped at 200, 1,000 and 2,000 tracked SKUs, and the cap is enforced server-side when your store syncs rather than discovered later on an invoice. The table below is worked arithmetic to show the shape of the decision, not a measurement of any store.
Worked arithmetic: variants against plan caps
| Catalogue shape | Tracked variants | Plan that covers it | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 styles, 8 sizes, 1 colourway | 96 | Starter, up to 200 tracked SKUs | $29 / month, or $290 / year |
| 25 styles, 8 sizes, 2 colourways | 400 | Growth, up to 1,000 tracked SKUs, adds Slack | $59 / month, or $590 / year |
| 40 styles, 10 sizes, 3 colourways | 1,200 | Pro, up to 2,000 tracked SKUs, adds per-SKU velocity overrides | $99 / month, or $990 / year |
What Restoc does not do
We would rather you find the limits here than after installing.
- It does not place orders. Restoc gives you the SKUs below their reorder point and a suggested order quantity, in the app and as a CSV. Sending the order to your factory stays your job.
- It does not forecast a size curve. The engine works from your recorded sales velocity and the lead time you enter. It will not tell you to buy more 9s next season.
- One location per store. Every plan is scoped to a single location, so there are no separate reorder points for a warehouse and a shop floor today.
- Web app only. There is no mobile app and no browser extension. Alerts reach your phone as email or as a Slack message.
- Sign-in is email and password. No single sign-on, no two-factor authentication yet.
When any of that changes, this page changes with it.
Questions
Does Restoc track each shoe size separately?
Yes. Every Shopify variant you track is its own SKU, with its own current stock, its own lead time, its own reorder point and its own alert. A size crossing the line triggers an alert for that size, not for the style.
How many SKUs does a shoe catalogue actually use?
Multiply styles by sizes in the run by colourways, and add widths or half sizes if you carry them. Twelve styles over eight sizes in one colour is 96 tracked SKUs, which fits Starter's cap of 200. Two colourways across twenty-five styles is 400, which needs Growth's 1,000. Caps are enforced at sync time.
Can I set a different lead time for different styles?
Lead time is entered per SKU, so a style you refill from a local stockist and a style that needs a production run can carry different figures. Restoc uses your number rather than estimating one.
Which sales velocity window suits footwear?
The window is store-wide and can be 7, 14 or 30 days. Thirty days smooths a steady core range. Seven reacts faster during a drop. Pro adds a per-SKU override when one style sells on a completely different rhythm to the rest.
Can the alerts go to Slack?
Yes, on Growth and Pro. Alerts post to an incoming Slack webhook you configure, alongside the email alert. Starter sends email only.
Does it cover a warehouse and a retail shop separately?
Not today. Every plan is limited to one location, so reorder points are computed against your store's inventory level rather than split per location.
Will Restoc raise the purchase order with my factory?
No. The weekly reorder report lists the SKUs below their reorder point with a suggested order quantity and exports to CSV, so the size run is written out for you. Placing and tracking the order stays with you and your supplier.
When can I install it?
Restoc is still being built, so there is no install link yet. Join the waitlist and we will tell you when it opens. Every paid plan is built to start with a 60-day free trial, with billing handled by Shopify on your Shopify invoice.