Most small shops, home businesses and stockrooms don't need a full inventory system with purchase orders and warehouse modules. Many start with an inventory Excel sheet, then find it is hard to update on a phone while standing in front of the shelf. What they need is to answer three questions quickly: what do we have, where is it, and what is about to run out? A well-designed stock table on your phone answers all three.
This guide shows how to turn your inventory spreadsheet into a phone-friendly table and keep it accurate.
Signs your current method isn't working
- You find out an item is out of stock when a customer asks for it.
- Stock counts live in a notebook, an old Excel sheet, a WhatsApp chat and someone's memory.
- You re-order things you already have because nobody checked the back room.
- Only one person knows the real numbers, and they are on leave.
The columns your inventory table needs
Start small. You can always add columns later. A practical inventory table looks like this:
- Item name (Notes)
- Photo (Photo) so anyone can recognise the item, even with similar names
- Barcode (Barcode) to find or add items by scanning
- Category (Select: for example Electrical, Plumbing, Paint)
- Location (Select: Shelf A, Shelf B, Back room, Godown)
- Quantity (Number)
- Re-order level (Number), the quantity at which you should buy more
- Cost price and Selling price (Amount)
- Supplier (Notes) and Supplier phone (Phone)
In Table Notes, each of these is a column type, so the phone shows the right input: a camera for photos and barcodes, a numeric keypad for quantities, a picker for categories and locations.
Use barcodes to save typing
If your products already have barcodes, a Barcode column lets you scan them with the phone's camera instead of typing long numbers. It also prevents the classic problem of the same item being entered twice under slightly different names, because the barcode is the same each time.
Spot low stock before it runs out
The Re-order level column is what turns a list into a tool. Add a Formula column, say "Stock left", that subtracts Re-order level from Quantity. Anything at zero or below needs buying. Sort that column in ascending order to bring those items to the top, or filter it to a maximum of zero and save the filter as "To re-order". Check it before you call your supplier; the Supplier phone column means the number is right there.
Know what your stock is worth
A Formula column multiplying Quantity by Cost price gives you the value of each line, and the column total shows the value of everything on the shelves. That number is useful for insurance, for your accountant, and for noticing when too much money is tied up in slow-moving items.
Keeping the numbers accurate
An inventory table is only as good as its last update. A few habits help:
- Update at the moment of change. When stock arrives or leaves, update the quantity on your phone there and then, not at the end of the day.
- Give the right people access. Share the table with staff as collaborators. Editors can update quantities; viewers, such as a partner who only needs to check stock, can look without changing anything.
- Do a quick count regularly. Filter by Location and walk one shelf at a time. A short count each week beats a painful count once a year.
- Keep option lists tidy. Agree on category and location names once so filters keep working.
Working from the shop and the office
Staff on the shop floor update stock on their phones, and because the data syncs to the cloud, you can see the same table on a PC at tablenotes.net when you sit down to plan orders. The mobile app also works offline, which helps in a basement stockroom or godown with no signal; changes sync when the phone reconnects.
Sharing stock with customers and suppliers
The same table can produce a price list or catalogue for customers. Hide internal columns like Cost price and Supplier, filter to the items you want to show, and export a PDF with your shop's header and logo (see turning a table into a PDF report). For your accountant, export the full table as an Excel sheet.
Already tracking stock in an Excel sheet?
Import the Excel file instead of starting again, whether it came from Microsoft Excel or was downloaded from Google Sheets. Then change the column types (Number for quantities, Select for categories, Photo and Barcode where useful) and you have a phone-friendly version of the inventory spreadsheet you already know.
The takeaway
Simple inventory tracking comes down to the right columns, updating at the moment stock changes, and a saved "To re-order" filter you actually check. Move your inventory Excel sheet into a table on your phone and the whole team works from the same, current numbers.