Inventory by size and color: a practical guide

The unit is the variant, not the style

“I have 20 boots” doesn’t help when the customer asks for size 8 in black. In shoes and clothing, what you sell, count and reorder is the variant: style + color + size. Each variant has its own stock.

1. Define the style

   The name or the supplier’s reference, always the same. “Andes boot”, not sometimes “Andes” and sometimes “black boot”.

2. List colors with fixed names

   Black, Honey, Sand… Decide once what each color is called and stick to it. “Brown” and “chocolate” for the same thing double your inventory.

3. Define each style’s size run

   Shoes: 5 to 11, for example. Clothing: S, M, L, XL or numeric. If a style also has a length (trousers), that is one more dimension: style + color + size + length.

A short code for each variant

A code avoids confusion at the till and in messages. A simple rule: STYLE-COLOR-SIZE, fixed abbreviations, no spaces.

If you already use supplier barcodes, keep them too, but make sure each variant has exactly one.

The matrix for each style

To see a style at a glance, lay it out as a matrix: colors in rows, sizes in columns. It is the fastest way to answer “do you have it in 8?” and to see what is missing.

Here, black size 8 has a single pair and honey size 8 is sold out. That is what needs saying before anyone offers it from memory.

The first count

1. Count one style at a time

   Finish a style before starting the next. If you can, do it with the store closed, or freeze sales of that style while you count it.

2. Count pair by pair, checking the actual size

   The box says 8, but there is a 9 inside more often than you would think. Open the boxes.

3. Two people: one counts, one writes

   When done, the second person recounts a few random variants. If they don’t match, recount the style.

4. Set damaged items apart

   Anything that can’t be sold goes to a separate stock (“damaged” or “display”), not to available.

One stock for every channel

The last pair gets sold twice when the store, the Instagram DMs and the website each keep their own count. The rule:

• Nobody offers an item without checking stock, even if they “know” it’s there.
• Every sale comes off stock right away, whether in store, by message or online.
• A hold comes off available stock with a deadline. If it expires unpaid, it goes back.

Size exchanges and returns

A size exchange is two movements: the returned size comes in and the new one goes out. If you only record the outgoing pair, the returned size vanishes from inventory even though it is on the shelf.

Before putting a pair back into available stock, check it is in sellable condition. If not, it goes to “damaged”.

Reorder by size, not by style

A whole style rarely sells out: some sizes run out and others stay. If you reorder “the style”, you pile up the sizes that don’t move.

1. Once a week, review variants that are sold out or down to one pair.
2. Note which sizes of each style run out first: that is your real size curve, which may not look like the one your supplier suggests.
3. Ask your supplier for the curve you actually sell, if they allow it.

Count a little every week

Instead of one big annual count, count a few styles every week, starting with the best sellers. When a variant doesn’t match, find the cause before fixing the number:

• A hold that was never taken off stock, or expired and never came back.
• A size exchange recorded halfway.
• A sale rung up with the wrong size.
• Loss or theft: if it keeps happening on the same style, that is a signal.

Photos per color

Keep one photo of each style in each color, named with the same code (without the size). Answering a DM with the right photo takes seconds and saves the “what does it look like in brown?” you get ten times a day.

What software can do (and what it can’t)

Our shoe-store system tracks the register and stock by style, color and size; every sale in store, by message or online comes off the same stock, and a held order can no longer be sold on another channel.