Low stock alert app for grocery and convenience stores: reorder before you run out

Get alerts when stock falls low so you can reorder from suppliers before items sell out.

Who it's for

A grocery or convenience store on a busy lane, run by the owner with two or three boys at the counter. The shelves carry a few thousand items, from toothpaste to tea to shampoo sachets. The problem bites on a Sunday evening when a regular customer asks for her usual atta and the rack is empty, and the owner realises nobody noticed it finishing.

The problem today

Stock lives in the owner's head and in a register nobody has time to fill in the rush. The owner walks the aisles at closing, sees what looks thin, and writes a reorder list on the back of a bill. Some items get missed. Others get ordered twice and sit in the godown. When the supplier's man comes on his round, the order is made from memory in two minutes. If something was short supplied, it is noticed only when the shelf stays empty a week later. As one owner puts it: an item is over only when a customer asks for it and there is nothing to give. Regulars start buying that item elsewhere, and once they go, they buy the rest of their list there too.

What the app does, screen by screen

1. Low stock list — The screen the owner and counter staff open first, showing every item that has fallen below its reorder level, grouped by supplier so an order can be made straight from it.
2. Billing counter — Staff ring up a customer's items here, and the shelf quantity of each item comes down as it is sold, so the stock figure stays right without anyone counting.
3. Item page — Staff and owner see one item's shelf quantity, godown quantity, reorder level and supplier here, and the owner can correct a count or change the reorder level.
4. Purchase order — The owner picks items for one supplier, sets quantities and sends the order to that supplier on WhatsApp, so there is a record of what was asked for.
5. Goods received — Whoever takes the delivery enters what actually arrived against the order and marks what was short supplied, and stock goes up only by what came in.
6. Suppliers — The owner keeps each supplier's phone number, the items they bring, their usual delivery day and the dues pending to them.
7. Movement report — The owner sees what is selling fast, what has not moved in weeks and which supplier keeps short supplying, to decide what to stock and what to drop.

Who uses it and what it keeps track of

• Items — Name, brand, pack size, selling price, quantity on the shelf, quantity in the godown, reorder level and which supplier brings it. Staff see everything except the purchase rate and the margin, which stay with the owner.
• Sales — Date and time, items and quantities sold, bill amount and who was at the counter. Staff see the bills of their own shift. The owner sees every day.
• Purchase orders — Supplier, items and quantities asked for, date sent and whether it is still awaited, part received or closed. The owner makes them. Staff can see what deliveries to expect.
• Goods received — Which order it was against, what quantity actually arrived, what was short supplied, the supplier's bill number and who received it. Staff enter it, the owner reviews it.
• Suppliers — Name, phone number, items supplied, usual delivery day, and dues pending. Staff see the name and phone number. Only the owner sees the dues pending.

What it changes for the business

The reorder list stops depending on somebody's memory. The owner knows at a glance what is about to finish and orders it while the supplier's man is still standing there. Fast movers stay on the shelf, so regulars get their full list in one shop instead of walking out half satisfied. Slow movers stop getting reordered out of habit, so less money sits in the godown. Short supply gets caught on the day it happens, not a week later, and there is a record to show the supplier.

The one decision that matters

The one decision is whether the app becomes the billing counter or stays a stock book updated at closing. Billing through the app means every sale brings the shelf count down on its own, and the low stock list is correct the next morning. Keeping it a stock book means someone has to count and enter figures each night. Go with billing through the app. A stock figure that depends on someone finding time to count is already wrong by the second day, and that is exactly how the empty rack happens today. If the counter cannot bill loose and weighed items through a phone, bill the packed items in the app and let loose grains be counted weekly.

What to build first, and what can wait

Build items with shelf and godown quantities, reorder levels, the low stock list, purchase orders on WhatsApp, and goods received with short supply. That alone stops items from going missing. Leave barcode scanning, expiry date tracking, rate comparison across suppliers, customer credit khata and profit reports for later, once the staff are actually entering deliveries every day.

How BooDoo builds it

You describe the store and how you order from suppliers in plain words, and BooDoo builds it. It makes the database and the sign-in behind it, so the owner sees dues and margins while the counter staff see only what they need. The same request gives a website on its own live address for the shop computer and an Android app for your phone, which you can publish on Google Play under your own account. WhatsApp buttons let you send an order to a supplier. Later you describe the change and it is changed.

How you'll know it works

A supplier's man walks in and the owner opens the low stock list and gives him the order on the spot, instead of walking the aisles trying to remember. And a regular stops hearing that her usual item is over.

Build it

Paste this in and it gets built.

I run a grocery store with two boys at the counter. Build me a stock app for my phone with a website I can open on the shop computer. I want every item kept with the quantity on the shelf and the quantity lying in the godown separately, and a reorder level for each item. When an item falls below its reorder level, alert me and show it in a low stock list grouped by supplier. From that list let me make a purchase order for one supplier and send it to him on WhatsApp. When the delivery comes, my staff should enter what actually arrived against that order and mark what was short supplied, and stock should go up only by what came in. Bills made at the counter should bring down the shelf quantity. Keep suppliers with phone number, items they bring and usual delivery day, and dues pending that only I can see and not the staff.