Inventory software for hardware and tool stores

Inventory software for a hardware or tool store has to cope with things an ordinary online store doesn't anticipate. There are thousands of product codes; some goods are sold by the piece, others by weight or volume; one customer buys two screws and another two pallets of tiles at a trade price. And there are dozens of suppliers, each with their own price list.

If the stock is in one program and the online store in another, all of this gets entered twice. Below is what inventory software for a hardware or tool store needs to do, what to ask the vendor, and how it works on the NUNDINAE platform, where the online store, till and inventory management are one application.

Hardware store inventory software: what it must do

Thousands of products without manual work

In a shop with a large range you can't enter every product by hand. Two things matter most: how products and codes get in, and how you find them again later.

In NUNDINAE, EAN codes can be imported in bulk from the supplier's price list: two columns side by side in Excel (SKU;EAN), saved as CSV or pasted straight into the box. The result shows unrecognised SKUs and invalid codes, so you can see straight away what didn't get read in. If you leave the SKU of a new product empty, the system assigns the next code in the same format as the existing ones.

The product list is paginated and can be sorted by any column — so you can find, for example, every product without an EAN in one click. Search finds a product by name, SKU or barcode.

Goods-in and stocktake with a barcode scanner

When a pallet arrives, you click "Receive goods (scanner)" and beep each product. Each scan adds one item, the quantity can also be corrected by hand in the table, and unknown codes stay on the list in red. Once saved, the goods are immediately on sale online too.

For a stocktake there's a CSV import in the form SKU;quantity or EAN;quantity — the quantity is the new level, not an amount to add. You correct a single product from the stock check: beep it, type the actual quantity and save. Every change goes into the history together with the reason and who made it — delivery, sale, write-off, counting error. Stock can't be changed without a reason, which means at the end of the month you can see where the goods went.

Any USB or Bluetooth barcode scanner that works as a keyboard will do. Working in the stockroom with a phone camera, you don't have to run back to the computer. Goods-in and stocktakes are covered in more detail in inventory management with a barcode scanner.

Litres, grams and pieces

Not everything sells by the piece. Loose oil or tinted paint goes by the litre, bulk goods by the gram. In NUNDINAE price and stock use the same unit: if you sell in grams, the price is the price of one gram (to up to four decimal places) and stock is in grams. The same applies to litres. The quantity on an invoice can be a fraction — for example 4.5 litres — and exactly that amount comes off the stock.

With variants you can offer the same product in different volumes or lengths: a 1 l, 3 l and 10 l tin is one product with three options, each with its own price, EAN and stock level.

Trade customers and retail customers

In a hardware store it's normal for a construction company to get a different price from a private customer. In NUNDINAE you assign a customer to a customer group, which affects prices and how VAT is shown (for example trade customer). Shipping methods and promotion conditions can also be set by customer group. Changing a customer's group is a separate permission — not every member of staff can give a customer a better price on their own.

Purchase order for suppliers, by brand

A large range means something is always running low. The dashboard shows low-stock alerts: how many products are out and how many are running low. You can set a separate threshold for each product — higher for a fast-moving pack of screws, lower for a slow-selling tool.

The purchase order groups all low-stock products by brand together with a suggested quantity. If you've recorded an order quantity from the supplier for a product, it suggests that; otherwise enough for the available quantity to rise to twice the threshold. You adjust the quantities, print it or download it as CSV, and send it to the supplier.

Till and online store from the same stock

In a hardware store the till is often the main sales channel and the online store the second. In NUNDINAE the till sells from the same catalogue and the same stock: beep a product, it goes into the basket, and the same product again increases the quantity. Payment can be cash, card, gift card or several at once; at the end of the day you close the till day with a summary by payment method.

An online order takes goods from the same stock and sets them aside immediately. If the last item is sold at the till, it can no longer be ordered online at that same moment — the online store works with today's stock level, not yesterday's.

Product information the buyer needs

For a tool, the buyer wants to know the technical specifications and how to use it. In NUNDINAE you can add attributes to a product, which the shop shows on the product page below the description under their own heading — for example "Technical data" or "How to use". The shop assistant (if you switch it on) recommends, based on what the customer says, only products that are currently in stock.

Questions before choosing inventory software

• Can EAN codes be imported from the supplier's price list?
• Are goods-in and stocktakes done with a barcode scanner?
• Can you sell in litres and grams, not just pieces?
• Can trade customers be given different prices?
• Is the purchase order put together by brand?
• Do the online store and the till use the same stock level, or is an integration needed?

If your shop and online store currently run in different programs, also read online store and stock for a retail shop. If it sounds like a fit, order NUNDINAE or ask for a demo — I'll show it to you using your supplier's price list.