7 Ways To Create Inventory Lists [+Examples]

Introduction

Inventory lists give you real-time visibility into what products you have available to sell. This straightforward guide shows you seven effective ways to create and maintain inventory lists that work for your business.

What Is an Inventory List?

An inventory list tracks every product your business has in stock, from raw materials to finished goods ready for shipping. A well-designed inventory list includes product names, ID numbers, descriptions, pricing, and quantities.

Unlike static documents, inventory lists are meant to be updated regularly as products move in and out of your warehouse. With accurate inventory lists, you can monitor stock levels, maintain control over your inventory, and make your entire supply chain run more smoothly.

Why Your Business Needs Inventory Lists

Keep Your Products Organized

Without knowing what's in stock, filling orders becomes a guessing game. Inventory lists track your product movement in real time, giving you a clear picture of what's available to sell. This organization helps you avoid missing sales opportunities because you'll always know which products are ready to ship.

Monitor Performance Metrics

Inventory lists help you track key performance metrics like turnover ratio—how often items sell and get replaced within a specific timeframe. This data shows you which products move quickly and which ones sit on your shelves too long. With this information, you can prevent dead stock from accumulating and avoid the rising carrying costs that come with it.

Make Better Inventory Decisions

Sometimes products don't sell as well as expected, leaving you with excess inventory taking up warehouse space and increasing storage costs. Inventory lists provide detailed breakdowns of which items are selling and which aren't, giving you the data needed to make smart inventory decisions before overstock situations hurt your bottom line.

With rising interest rates affecting inventory costs, having a system that guides your inventory strategy is more important than ever. The right inventory management approach gives you insights across all sales channels, shows product trends, and eliminates manual spreadsheet updates.

Essential Elements of an Effective Inventory List

1. Product Name

Product names help customers identify and remember what you sell. A good product naming strategy builds brand recognition and gives personality to your merchandise. Keep names consistent across all your sales channels.

2. Product ID or SKU Number

Each product needs a unique identifier. Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) use specific sequences of numbers and letters to represent individual products. These identifiers help you locate items quickly in your warehouse and track them in your system.

3. Complete Product Description

Your product description should include all relevant details about the item. Whether in bullet points or short paragraphs, the best descriptions are clear and informative. Keep descriptions consistent between your inventory list and customer-facing content.

4. Current Price

Price represents your product's value in numerical terms. While pricing is typically set before products hit the market, you may need to adjust prices based on market conditions, competitor pricing, or changes in supply and demand. Your inventory list should always show current pricing.

5. Available Quantity

This shows the exact number of each item you have ready to sell. Tracking available quantity prevents both understocking (where you can't fulfill orders) and overstocking (where excess inventory ties up your capital).

6. Reorder Points

The reorder point is the minimum quantity that triggers a new order. Setting accurate reorder points ensures you maintain optimal stock levels—enough to meet customer demand without tying up excess capital in inventory.

7. Supplier Information

Include details about which suppliers provide each product, including contact information, lead times, and minimum order quantities. This information is crucial when you need to restock quickly or resolve issues with specific products.

8. Special Notes

Add any additional information that's important for handling, storing, or selling each product. This might include expiration dates, warranty information, special storage requirements, or seasonal selling patterns.

6 Ways to Create and Maintain Inventory Lists

1. Paper-Based Manual Lists

The simplest approach to inventory management starts with printed forms and handwritten records. This traditional method requires no technical knowledge and works reliably without electricity or internet access. With minimal startup costs, paper-based systems are immediately understandable to all team members regardless of technical background.

However, these manual lists come with significant drawbacks—they're time-consuming to maintain, prone to human error, difficult to share across locations, and offer limited data analysis capabilities.

This approach works best for very small operations with limited inventory, like a craft shop using a clipboard with printed inventory sheets to track supplies and finished products, updating quantities by hand after each sale.

2. Basic Spreadsheet Templates

Moving up the technology ladder, basic spreadsheet programs like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets offer pre-designed templates that balance simplicity with improved functionality.

These tools are budget-friendly, widely available, and familiar to most business users. Spreadsheets allow basic customization to meet your specific inventory needs and provide sorting and filtering options that paper can't match.

The main limitations include the ongoing need for manual updates, minimal automation capabilities, difficulty managing large inventory counts, and lack of real-time updates across systems.

Small to medium retailers, such as clothing boutiques, often rely on spreadsheets with columns for style numbers, sizes, colors, quantities, and reorder points, typically updating their inventory counts weekly after physical stock checks.

3. Cloud-Based Collaborative Spreadsheets

Taking spreadsheets to the next level, cloud-based collaborative options enable multiple team members to update inventory simultaneously from different locations. With internet access, these systems provide anywhere-access to current inventory data with automatic backups and version history. More complex inventory tracking becomes possible by linking between multiple sheets and departments.

While this approach solves some limitations of basic spreadsheets, it still requires manual data entry, can slow down with large inventories, offers limited integration with other business systems, and may create conflicts when multiple users edit simultaneously.

Growing businesses with inventory managed by several team members benefit most from this approach, like electronics retailers using shared Google Sheets among warehouse staff and sales teams, with separate tabs for different product categories.

4. Dedicated Inventory Management Software

Purpose-built inventory applications offer specialized tools designed specifically for stock control needs. These systems excel at data validation, error prevention, and providing sophisticated reporting capabilities that general-purpose spreadsheets can't match. Many include barcode scanning support to streamline operations.

The tradeoffs include higher costs compared to spreadsheet solutions, staff training requirements, potential limitations in customization options, and challenges when migrating existing inventory data.

Medium-sized businesses serious about improving accuracy find this approach valuable, like hardware stores using inventory software that automatically generates purchase orders when stock drops below preset levels and provides detailed reports showing seasonal selling patterns.

5. Integrated ERP Systems

For comprehensive business management, integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems connect inventory with sales, purchasing, and finance functions in one platform. These powerful systems provide enterprise-wide visibility into stock levels, enable advanced forecasting capabilities, and scale effectively as your business grows.

The significant investment, complex implementation process, inclusion of potentially unnecessary features, and requirement for dedicated IT support make this approach best suited for larger operations with complex needs spanning multiple locations. Multi-channel retailers benefit from ERP systems that automatically adjust inventory counts when orders arrive from websites, phone sales, or physical stores while simultaneously updating financial records across the entire business.

6. Automated Inventory Management Platforms

Modern cloud-based solutions represent the cutting edge of inventory management with advanced automation and integration capabilities. These platforms provide real-time inventory updates across all sales channels, automated reordering based on sales velocity, sophisticated analytics for future planning, and seamless integration with suppliers and marketplaces.

While offering tremendous advantages, these systems typically require monthly subscription costs, reliable internet connectivity, possible custom configuration, and some dependency on third-party service availability.

Ecommerce businesses and retailers with omnichannel sales strategies gain the most value, like online sellers using platforms that automatically sync inventory across Amazon, Shopify, and wholesale channels to prevent overselling while providing demand forecasting based on historical sales data.

How Flxpoint Can Help Manage Your Inventory Lists

Flxpoint offers specialized tools designed specifically for inventory management that go beyond basic inventory lists. Here's how Flxpoint can transform your inventory management:

Rich Product Data Management

Flxpoint's Source Inventory houses comprehensive inventory data from all your sources. Each SKU in the Source Inventory represents an item that can be fulfilled, complete with rich product content, quantity, and pricing data. This creates a solid foundation for accurate inventory lists.

Dynamic Pricing and Quantity Control

Unlike static inventory lists, Flxpoint gives you powerful control over pricing and quantity:

• Apply channel-specific pricing rules to automatically adjust list prices, MAP, and MSRP
• Lock pricing or quantity for specific products when you need consistent values
• Create workflows that dynamically adjust pricing based on your business rules

Owned Inventory Management

For businesses managing their own inventory, Flxpoint offers:

• Internal warehouse designation for tracking stock you own
• Stocking manifests to replenish inventory systematically
• Multiple ways to sync or manually adjust quantities
• Committed stock functionality to prevent overselling

Real-Time Inventory Updates

Keep your inventory lists current with automatic updates:

• Integrate directly with your suppliers through the Get Inventory Primary and Secondary features
• Sync quantity via integrations or API connections
• View real-time available quantity that accounts for reserved items on active orders

Advanced Search and Filtering

Quickly find the inventory data you need:

• Search by parent SKU, variant details, pricing, quantity, or bin location
• Filter to identify products that need attention, like low-stock items
• Create custom views to monitor specific inventory segments

Custom Aggregate Fields

Create specialized inventory list views with Custom Aggregate Fields (CAFs):

• Set up workflows that automatically update these fields when inventory changes
• Track available quantity (accounting for reserved items) separately from total quantity
• Use these fields in pricing and quantity rules for more accurate inventory management

Multiple Inventory Sources in One System

Flxpoint excels at consolidating inventory from various sources:

• Import inventory data from multiple suppliers and warehouses
• Create a unified product catalog from these diverse sources
• Maintain source-specific details while presenting a consistent view to customers

The right inventory management system doesn't just track products; it becomes a strategic tool for growing your business. Flxpoint provides the advanced capabilities needed to move beyond basic inventory lists to a comprehensive inventory management solution that scales with your business.

Get Started With Flxpoint Today

Ready to move beyond basic inventory lists? Flxpoint connects all your inventory sources, sales channels, and warehouses in one powerful system that grows with your business.

Transform your inventory from a constant challenge into a strategic asset that drives better business decisions.

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