Stock Management for Small Businesses India — Prevent Stockouts & Overstocking

How to manage stock levels for your Indian shop. Set reorder points, track batches, handle returns, and use free inventory management software.

The ₹5 lakh stock problem

A survey of 500 Indian small retailers found that the average shop has ₹5 lakh of inventory but 18% of it is either overstocked (slow-moving items) or out of stock (fast-moving items). That's ₹90,000 sitting idle while you turn away customers for items you should have.

5 fundamentals of stock management

1. ABC analysis

Categorize products by revenue contribution:

**A items (20% of SKUs → 70% of revenue)**: Monitor daily, never let stock drop below reorder point

**B items (30% of SKUs → 20% of revenue)**: Review weekly

**C items (50% of SKUs → 10% of revenue)**: Review monthly, consider discontinuing slow movers

2. Reorder point (ROP)

`ROP = (Daily demand × Lead time in days) + Safety stock`

Example: You sell 10 packets of Maggi per day. Your supplier takes 3 days to deliver. Safety stock = 15 packets.

`ROP = (10 × 3) + 15 = 45 packets`

Set this as the Low Stock Alert threshold in OwnStore. You get notified before you run out.

3. FIFO (First In, First Out)

Always sell older stock first. Critical for perishables, medicines, and FMCG. OwnStore's batch tracking shows which batch expires first.

4. Stock taking (physical count)

Count your actual stock at least quarterly. Compare with system records. The difference (shrinkage) tells you about theft, damage, or recording errors.

5. Supplier lead time tracking

Track how many days each supplier takes to deliver. Build this into your reorder point. If a supplier is unreliable, increase your safety stock for their products.

How to set up stock management in OwnStore

**Set opening stock**: Add products → enter current stock quantity

**Set low stock alert**: Each product has a "Low Stock Alert Qty" field

**Use purchase orders**: Every restock creates a PO → when goods arrive, mark as received → stock auto-updates

**Check alerts**: Inventory → Low Stock Alerts → shows all products below threshold

**Stock adjustments**: Inventory → Adjustments → for theft, damage, or count corrections

Start managing stock for free →