How to Manage Shop Inventory (Stock)

How to Manage Shop Inventory (Stock) the Right Way

Managing shop inventory means recording your opening stock, tracking every in-and-out movement, setting low-stock alerts, valuing what's on the shelf, and (for perishables) selling earliest-expiry items first. Tukri is a mobile-first POS and inventory app for small shops in Bangladesh that keeps your stock live and accurate by appending an immutable movement history to every sale, purchase and adjustment, so the number on your phone always matches your shelf.

Why does eyeballing the shelf lose you money?

Guessing your stock by looking at the shelf feels fast, but it hides slow leaks: you run out of fast sellers, over-buy slow ones, and never notice the quiet shrinkage from theft, breakage or expiry. For a tiny single-shelf shop a paper register is fine, but the moment you carry hundreds of items the math stops adding up in your head.

Out-of-stock on a popular item sends the customer to the next shop
Cash sitting in dead stock can't buy what actually sells
Expired or damaged goods become a loss you never recorded
You can't price for profit if you don't know your true cost on hand

How do you set opening stock and adjust it correctly?

Start by entering your opening stock once for each product, your honest count on the day you begin, then let every sale and purchase move the number automatically. When you find a mismatch (damage, theft, a miscount), record a stock adjustment with a reason instead of silently overwriting the figure.

Enter opening stock per product when you add it to Tukri
Sales, purchases and returns adjust stock automatically
Log adjustments for damage, loss or recount with a reason
Buy a box/বস্তা and sell by piece/kg with pack & loose units
Import your whole product list at once with CSV

How do low-stock alerts and stock valuation help?

Set a low-stock level per product and Tukri alerts you before you run out, so you reorder the right items at the right time instead of after a customer asks. The stock valuation report tells you, at cost, how much money is actually sitting on your shelves right now.

Per-product low-stock threshold with alerts before you run dry
Stock valuation shows total cost value of goods on hand
Top-products report shows what to restock first
Live stock plus an immutable movement history for a full audit trail

How do you handle expiry for perishables (FEFO)?

For medicine, food and anything with a date, Tukri tracks each batch with its own expiry and sells earliest-expiry-first (FEFO), so old stock leaves before it spoils. Batch tracking keeps a per-lot trail of cost and expiry, which protects both your margin and your customers.

Batch & expiry tracking per lot
FEFO — earliest-expiry items sell first automatically
Per-batch cost feeds accurate profit (COGS) in reports
Ideal for pharmacy, grocery (মুদি) and restaurant stock

Frequently asked questions

How do I manage stock for a small shop?

Record your opening stock once, then let every sale, purchase and return adjust it automatically, set low-stock alerts, and check stock valuation regularly. Tukri does all of this on your phone and keeps an immutable movement history so the count always matches your shelf.

Can I track product expiry dates in Tukri?

Yes. Tukri supports batch and expiry tracking and uses FEFO (First-Expiry-First-Out), so the earliest-expiring stock is sold first automatically, which helps pharmacies, grocery and restaurants avoid loss from expired goods.

What is stock valuation and why does it matter?

Stock valuation is the total cost value of all goods currently on your shelves, and it tells you how much cash is tied up in inventory. Tukri's stock valuation report calculates this live from your real cost prices.

Do I need software, or is a paper khata enough?

For a tiny shop with a handful of items a paper খাতা is perfectly fine. Once you carry hundreds of products, a tool like Tukri pays off by giving you live stock, low-stock alerts, valuation and expiry tracking without manual counting.