Inventory app for a Shopify electronics and accessories store
If you sell cables, chargers, cases, adapters or audio accessories on Shopify, your SKU count grows faster than your revenue, and Shopify tells you what stock you have but not when it runs out. Restoc is built to watch every active variant, work out when it crosses its reorder point, and send you the list before the shelf is empty.
How an electronics and accessories store watches stock today
Accessories catalogues grow by multiplication, not by addition. One case in five finishes across four handset generations is twenty lines. One cable in two lengths and three connector combinations is six. Add chargers by wattage, adapters by port, screen protectors by model and a few audio SKUs, and a store doing modest revenue is already tracking several hundred variants.
Shopify's inventory screen holds all of them, and it answers one question: how many are left right now. It does not answer the question you act on: how many days that number buys you at the rate the SKU is selling. So the job gets done by hand. Most merchants in this category do one of three things:
- Export inventory to a spreadsheet every week or two, paste in recent sales, and sort by whatever looks thin.
- Watch a short mental list of hero SKUs, usually the cable and the charger that bring customers in, and hope the long tail behaves.
- Find out from a customer email, or from a sold-out product page, that the best-selling connector variant went to zero on Thursday.
What makes this category harder than it looks
Velocity ranges wildly inside one catalogue. A USB-C cable can turn over daily while a legacy adapter sells twice a month. One blanket low-stock number set across the catalogue either fires constantly on the fast movers or never fires on the slow ones.
Lead time is long, and it is yours to know. Stock that ships from an overseas supplier by sea is counted in weeks. Air freight on a forgotten reorder is the expensive way to fix a missed window. No tool can infer that wait from your store data, which is why Restoc asks you for it per SKU rather than guessing.
Product generations end. Some variants should never be reordered again, because the handset they fit is two years old. A tool that only shouts when stock is low is not useful here. You need the stock position and the runway in front of you, so the reorder decision stays yours.
The cheap SKU carries the basket. The item most likely to run out is often the low-margin attach item that got the customer to the checkout in the first place.
How Restoc works on an accessories catalogue
- Install on your Shopify store
Restoc installs through Shopify's OAuth flow. It pulls your inventory levels and sales history, then keeps them current with webhooks and a scheduled sync job. It is a web app: no mobile app, no browser extension.
- Tell it your supplier lead time
Enter lead time per SKU. The 30-day wait on a container of cases and the one-week top-up on a local cable order then produce different reorder points. Next, pick a sales velocity window of 7, 14 or 30 days.
- Let the reorder point compute itself
The engine combines the velocity it measures in your chosen window with the lead time you entered, per SKU, and recalculates as sales move. It is a tested pure function, not a judgement call that drifts.
- Read the dashboard by days, not units
Every active SKU shows its current stock, its days of inventory remaining, and its reorder status. That is the view that separates the 40-unit adapter sitting on three months of cover from the 40-unit cable with nine days left.
- Take the alert when a SKU crosses
When a SKU crosses its reorder point, Restoc emails you. On Growth and above it can also post to a Slack webhook. Delivery runs through an idempotent background job, so one crossing produces one alert, not a repeating drip.
- Order from the weekly report
The weekly reorder report lists every SKU below its reorder point with a suggested order quantity. Read it in the app or export it as CSV, the format a supplier order or a purchase order template will accept.
- Decide what not to reorder
The report suggests a quantity. It does not know that the model a case fits is being retired. Restoc is built to hand you the stock position and the runway, so that call stays with the person who knows the roadmap.
What matters when the catalogue is cables, cases and chargers
Days of inventory remaining, per variant
Not a stock column you have to interpret. Each active SKU carries its own runway, so the fast-moving connector variant stops hiding behind a healthy-looking parent product.
A reorder point that respects your lead time
Lead time is a per-SKU input. A SKU you restock from a domestic distributor and a SKU on a long overseas order get different trigger points from the same sales data.
One alert per crossing
The alert job is idempotent. A SKU that crosses its reorder point tells you once by email, and by Slack on Growth and above, rather than filling your inbox every time the job runs.
A weekly order list you can hand over
The weekly report collects the SKUs below their reorder point with suggested quantities, in-app and as a CSV export. One person can run the order even if someone else watched the week.
Room for a compatibility matrix
Tracked SKU caps are 200 on Starter, 1,000 on Growth and 2,000 on Pro, enforced at sync time. Variant counts in this category climb quickly, so pick the tier by variants, not by product titles.
Different windows for different movers
The sales velocity window is 7, 14 or 30 days store-wide. Pro adds a per-SKU override, the setting for a catalogue where cables and legacy adapters do not sell at the same tempo.
Choosing a velocity window for this catalogue
| Window | Fits this kind of SKU | What to watch for |
|---|---|---|
| 7 days | Fast movers: the headline cable, the charger in the bundle, the case for the current handset | Reacts quickly to a spike, so a promo week can pull the reorder point up sharply |
| 14 days | Mid-tempo lines: audio accessories, mounts, multi-port adapters | A reasonable default when you are not sure, and the one to start on |
| 30 days | Slow and lumpy: legacy connectors, niche wattages, end-of-life model fits | Smooths out quiet weeks, so a genuine step up in demand shows later |
What Restoc does not do
We would rather you find this out here than after installing.
- No demand forecasting. Restoc measures the velocity it can see in your window and applies your lead time. It does not model seasonality, a product launch, or a Black Friday spike before it happens.
- No purchase orders sent to suppliers. The weekly report exports as CSV. Placing the order is still your email, your portal, or your supplier's own system.
- One location per store. Every plan tracks a single location. If you split stock between a 3PL and a back room, the numbers are not separated for you.
- Web app only. There is no mobile app and no browser extension. Alerts reach your phone by email, or by Slack on Growth and above.
- Slack starts on Growth. Starter sends alerts by email.
- Sign-in is email and password. No single sign-on and no two-factor authentication today.
Catching a reorder point early is how you avoid paying for air freight, or losing the sale on an attach item. We will not put a number on what your stockouts cost: we cannot see your margins.
Plans, by how many variants you track
Starter, $29 a month
Up to 200 tracked SKUs at one location. Reorder point per SKU from your sales velocity and lead time, the 7, 14 or 30 day velocity window, email alerts on crossing, the weekly reorder report with CSV export, and the days-of-inventory dashboard. $290 a year pays ten months for twelve.
Growth, $59 a month
Up to 1,000 tracked SKUs, five times Starter's capacity, enforced at sync time, plus Slack alerts through an incoming webhook alongside email. Sized for a catalogue with a real compatibility matrix: cases, finishes and handset generations add up fast. $590 a year pays ten months for twelve.
Pro, $99 a month
Up to 2,000 tracked SKUs, everything in Growth, and custom reorder rules: a per-SKU sales velocity window override for catalogues where fast cables and slow adapters need different maths. $990 a year pays ten months for twelve.
Questions
Do colour and connector variants each count as a SKU?
Yes. Restoc tracks stock, days of inventory remaining and reorder status per active SKU, so a case in five finishes across four models is twenty tracked SKUs. Count variants, not product titles, when you pick a tier: the caps are 200 on Starter, 1,000 on Growth and 2,000 on Pro, and they are enforced at sync time.
Can it tell me to stop reordering an end-of-life accessory?
No. Restoc does not forecast and it does not know your product roadmap. It shows current stock, days of inventory remaining and reorder status per SKU, and the weekly report suggests an order quantity for anything below its reorder point. Whether a variant for a retired handset gets another order is your call.
My supplier takes weeks. Does the app know that?
Only because you tell it. Lead time is a merchant input per SKU, and the reorder point engine combines it with the sales velocity measured in your chosen 7, 14 or 30 day window. Enter the real wait, including shipping, and the trigger moves earlier for that SKU.
Can I get the alerts in a Slack channel?
On Growth and Pro, yes, through an incoming Slack webhook you configure, alongside email. Starter sends alerts by email only. Either way, delivery runs through an idempotent background job, so one reorder-point crossing sends one alert.
Does it split stock across a warehouse and a 3PL?
Not today. Every plan covers one location, so the numbers you see are a single stock position per SKU. If your accessories stock is split across sites, that is worth knowing before you install.
Can I hand the ordering to someone else?
The weekly reorder report lists the SKUs below their reorder point with a suggested order quantity, viewable in the app and exportable as CSV. That file is what you pass to whoever raises the order, without them needing to read the dashboard first.
When can I use it, and what does the trial cover?
Restoc is on a waitlist while it is finished. Every plan carries a 60-day free trial that is built to let at least one full weekly reorder cycle complete before the first charge, and annual billing is offered at signup at ten months' price for twelve.