For catalogs past a few hundred SKUs

Stock keeping unit software: SKU management software and SKU tracking system

A spreadsheet can list your SKUs. It cannot tell you which 40 need reordering this week, which 200 stopped selling in spring, and how much cash those 200 are sitting on. Storekeeper answers that for every SKU, every day.

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One SKU per line: name, units on hand, average weekly sales

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SKU On hand Forecast d Cover Status

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A live preview of Storekeeper's forecasting engine on fictional sample dataon the rows you pasted. The full product connects to your POS and store and runs this continuously.

The short answer

SKU management software keeps one record per stock keeping unit, with quantity on hand by location, sales velocity, supplier, lead time and cost, and turns those records into decisions: reorder, expedite, mark down or discontinue. Basic inventory apps stop at the count. Good stock keeping unit software also forecasts demand for each SKU, calculates its reorder point and safety stock, and ranks the catalog so slow SKUs surface before they become dead stock. Storekeeper does all of that from $49 a month, priced by location and channel rather than by SKU count.

Where tracking stops

SKU tracking system options, job by job

Most teams start in a spreadsheet, move to a counting app, and hit the same wall around 500 SKUs: the numbers are right, but nobody knows what to do with them.

Job	Spreadsheet	Basic inventory or counting app	SKU management software (Storekeeper)
Quantity per SKU and location	Manual, stale by Tuesday	Yes	Yes, across stores, warehouses and sales channels
Demand forecast per SKU	Only if someone builds and maintains formulas	Rarely	Yes, 30, 60 or 90 days, with trend and seasonality
Reorder point per SKU	One flat number typed in once	A static threshold you set	Recalculated from demand, lead time and variability
Slow and dead SKUs	Found at year-end count	A report you have to remember to run	Flagged automatically with the dollars tied up
SKUs about to stock out	Found when a customer complains	Low-stock alert at a fixed level	Warned when stock will run out inside the supplier lead time
Turning it into a purchase	Copy, paste, email the supplier	Manual PO	Draft purchase orders grouped by supplier

The gap widens with catalog size. At 80 SKUs an owner can hold the important numbers in their head. At 800, with size and color variants and two sales channels, nobody can, and the cost shows up twice: empty shelves on the SKUs that sell and full shelves on the ones that do not.

What you get

SKU management software that decides, not just counts

Six jobs a growing catalog needs done for every SKU, recalculated as sales come in.

SKU tracking across every location

One ledger for stores, warehouses, Shopify and marketplaces, with a per-location split for each SKU. When one site is overloaded on a SKU another is short of, you get a transfer suggestion.

A demand forecast for each SKU

Each SKU gets its own rate and trend instead of a category average. A variant that took off last month forecasts hotter; one that is fading forecasts cooler. Details on our demand forecasting software page.

Reorder points that keep up

Reorder point and safety stock are sized per SKU from forecast demand and supplier lead time, so steady sellers carry a thin buffer and volatile ones a thicker one.

SKU rationalization in dollars

SKUs that stopped moving are flagged with the cash they freeze. That turns "we have too many SKUs" into a ranked list of what to mark down, bundle or discontinue. See how we treat dead stock.

Stockout warnings in time to act

The dangerous SKU is the one that runs out before a normal order could arrive. Those are flagged separately with an expedite quantity, so the call to the supplier happens today.

Draft purchase orders

Reorder suggestions roll up by supplier into draft purchase orders with quantities and expected arrival dates. Buying 300 SKUs becomes a review, not a day of work.

How it works

From a messy SKU list to a daily buy list in four steps

No migration project. Most catalogs are running the same afternoon.

Bring in your SKUs

Connect your store or import the item list with SKU, description, supplier, cost and quantity on hand. Duplicate and orphan SKUs show up at this step, which is often the first win.

Add sales history

Six months of sales per SKU is enough to start. Twelve months lets the forecast see seasonality, which matters for apparel, gifts and anything with a holiday peak.

Set supplier lead times

Enter a lead time once per supplier. Every SKU from that supplier inherits it, and you can override a single SKU that ships from a different factory.

Work the verdicts

Every SKU comes back as healthy, reorder with a quantity, stockout risk, or dead stock with its dollar value. Approve the POs and plan the markdowns.

Who uses it

Who needs stock keeping unit software

The trigger is rarely a SKU count. It is the week you run out of a best seller while the stockroom is full.

Ecommerce brands with variant sprawl

Twelve styles in six sizes and four colors is 288 SKUs, and demand is never even across them. Per-variant forecasts stop you reordering the whole size run when only the medium sold through.

Wholesalers and distributors

Thousands of SKUs, dozens of suppliers and lead times measured in weeks. A static reorder point fails first where lead times are long, which is why our wholesale inventory software page starts there.

Multi-store retailers

The same SKU sells differently in each store. Seeing it per location, with transfer suggestions, moves stock to where it sells before anyone places a new order.

Businesses cutting SKU count

When a finance lead asks for a leaner catalog, the answer needs numbers: which SKUs earn their shelf space and which only tie up cash. The dead-stock ranking gives that list in dollars.

Before you import

Four SKU rules that keep any system accurate

Software amplifies whatever SKU list you give it. These habits make the forecast trustworthy from day one.

One SKU per thing you reorder separately

If a medium and a large are bought and sold separately, they need separate SKUs. Merging them hides the fact that one sells three times faster than the other.

Keep codes short and readable

Uppercase letters, no leading zeros (spreadsheets strip them), and no look-alike characters such as O and 0. A code like TEE-BLK-M survives every export.

Never reuse a retired SKU

A recycled code inherits the old product's sales history, and the forecast for the new product starts from somebody else's demand.

Same SKU on every channel

When Shopify, Amazon and the POS use different codes for one item, demand splits into three weak signals. Map them to one SKU so the forecast sees the full picture. Our SKU guide covers numbering in more depth.

Compare before you buy

SKU management software compared

Entry prices from each vendor's own pricing page. Where a vendor quotes only, we say so.

Tool	Starting price	Per-SKU forecasting	Best for
Storekeeper	$49/mo ($39 billed yearly)	Included on every plan	Catalogs where the hard part is deciding what to buy and what to cut
Zoho Inventory	$29/mo (annual)	Basic reorder levels	Small teams already on Zoho apps that need low-cost tracking
inFlow	$129/mo (annual)	Reorder points you set	Small warehouses that want barcode scanning and orders in one app
Katana	$299/mo Core	Planning and forecasting sold as an add-on	Manufacturers tracking raw materials and finished goods SKUs
Cin7 Core	$349/mo Standard	ForesightAI add-on, priced on sales volume	Multichannel brands that need wide integration coverage
Fishbowl	$229/mo Essentials (annual)	Included on the $729/mo Scale tier	QuickBooks-centered warehouses that want a full system

If barcode receiving and bin locations are the first requirement, inFlow or Fishbowl will serve you better, and our best inventory management software comparison ranks the full field. If your counts are already reasonable and the pain is knowing which SKUs to reorder and which to drop, that is the job Storekeeper is built around.

Frequently asked

SKU management software questions, answered

What is SKU management software?

SKU management software keeps a record for every stock keeping unit, including quantity by location, sales history, supplier, lead time and cost, and uses it to drive decisions. Beyond tracking counts, stronger tools forecast demand per SKU, calculate reorder points and safety stock, draft purchase orders and flag slow or dead SKUs so the catalog stays lean.

What software is used to track SKUs?

Small businesses usually track SKUs in an inventory management app such as Zoho Inventory, inFlow, Sortly or Storekeeper, often connected to Shopify, a POS or QuickBooks. Larger operations use a warehouse management system or an ERP such as NetSuite. The right choice depends on catalog size, number of locations and whether you need forecasting or only counts.

Can I track SKUs in Excel?

Yes, up to a point. A spreadsheet works for a few dozen SKUs in one location if someone updates it daily. It breaks down with variants, multiple channels and long supplier lead times, because reorder points stay static and nobody sees a stockout coming. Most teams move to software somewhere between 200 and 500 SKUs.

How do you manage a large number of SKUs?

Rank them. Give every SKU a demand forecast and a reorder point, then sort the catalog by revenue and by cash tied up in stock. Put your attention on fast movers at stockout risk, reorder the healthy middle on rules, and review the slow tail for markdown or discontinuation every quarter. Software makes that ranking automatic instead of a quarterly project.

How much does SKU management software cost?

Published entry prices run from about $29 a month for Zoho Inventory Standard billed annually to $349 a month for Cin7 Core Standard, with inFlow Entrepreneur at $129 and Fishbowl Essentials at $229 (both billed annually) and Katana Core at $299. Storekeeper starts at $49 a month with per-SKU forecasting included. Watch for order caps, user seats and forecasting sold as a separate add-on.

What is SKU rationalization?

SKU rationalization is the process of deciding which SKUs to keep, consolidate or discontinue based on sales, margin and the inventory investment each one requires. The goal is a smaller catalog that earns more per dollar of stock. It needs per-SKU sales velocity and stock value, which is why dead-stock reporting in dollars is the usual starting point.

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