STOCK MANAGEMENT
Set a maximum on hundreds of products from real sales history. Each one carries its own suggested figure, drawn from twelve months of order lines.
STOCK SETTINGS
Decide what stock needs before you reorder. Cost, minimum, maximum, and run rate sit on every product record.
Pick the run rate a product should carry, and Inventory Alpha turns twelve months of that product's own orders into a maximum built around it. The figure draws only on that product's own sales. It stays a suggestion, and nothing on the product changes until you apply it.
One number per product tells you what belongs on the next order. The restock figure sits as its own column on the Stock list, the same list already open for everything else. Sort that column and every product needing stock moves to the top, the whole catalogue at once.
Update cost, stock levels, run rate, or supplier links for a whole selection in one pass. Tick the products on the Stock list, open Quick Edit, and one typed value in each field carries into every row you selected.
Set what a size or colour range should cost and hold in stock once, on the parent product. Any variation left blank inherits that figure as its own; set a variation apart with its own figure and that's what it carries from then on.
Decide which variation needs attention first, reading status against stock on the same row. Status, cost, and stock sit in the same columns the Stock list shows for every product. Opening a three-attribute variant into that list reads the same as opening a one-attribute one.
CATALOGUE SETUP
Pick a checklist step to finish next, and the Stock list filters to those products.
Filter the Stock list, then tick every simple product to include. Click Quick Edit to open the selection on its own screen. Expand Bulk Edit, type Min Stock, Max Stock, Default Cost, or Run Rate once, and the value lands in every ticked row before you save.
Click View variations on a variable product's row. Set the parent's fallback settings in the Defaults card, then save separately. Tick a variation, type into a cell for its own value or leave it blank to inherit the parent's, then expand Bulk Edit to edit several at once.
Pick a step on the Business Overview checklist. The Stock list opens filtered to the products missing that one setting, with a banner naming how many need it. Tick them, set the value, then click Back to setup to see how many steps are done.
EVERYDAY STOCK WORK
Cost value, SKU count, low stock, and out of stock follow whatever filters the list carries.
How much is inbound for one product reads straight off the Stock list's Incoming column.
Every unit's cost is the price actually paid, drawn from the purchase order it was received against.
Edit freely, Undo takes a change back, and Redo brings it forward again.
Apply the suggested maximum for every product in a single click, each row taking its own figure.
Track each product's own distance from minimum, negative the moment stock drops below it.
THE REORDER NUMBER
Reordering a product means deciding what number to bring it back up to. Open Quick Edit or the variation editor and a suggested maximum is already there for that exact product, not a round number picked from memory. Apply it and the maximum updates; leave it and nothing on the product changes. Hundreds of products can each carry a different figure, sized to what that product actually sells.
The figure comes from that product's own order lines: up to twelve months of sales turned into a monthly average, multiplied by the run rate set on the product. Nothing about another product's sales feeds into it. A product needs at least six months of history before a figure appears. Below that, or with no run rate set, the field asks for six months of sales instead. A number only appears once that product has earned it.
STOCK COMPARISON EYEBROW
Minimums, order quantities, and unit cost sit on the product itself, not in a spreadsheet you rebuild monthly.
| Capability | Default WooCommerce | ATUM Inventory | Shelf Planner | Inventory Alpha |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suggested max sized from 12 months of sales | – | – | ||
| Units to order to reach your maximum | – | |||
| Minimum and maximum levels on every product | – | |||
| One typed value fills every selected product | – | – | ||
| Parent settings every variation inherits | – | – | ||
| Unit cost taken from what you actually paid | – | |||
| Incoming units from open purchase orders | – | |||
| Multiple suppliers per product, each a cost | – | – |
WORKS WITH YOUR STACK
No data migration, no separate dashboard. Inventory Alpha installs as a standard plugin and reads your existing WooCommerce orders and products.
FAQ
No. WooCommerce keeps the product record, the SKU, and the stock quantity itself, changed only by sales, purchase-order receipts, and Inventory Adjustments. Inventory Alpha sits on top with five figures WooCommerce never tracked: default cost, minimum level, maximum level, run rate, and which suppliers sell it. Its reorder signals are derived from those five figures together with WooCommerce’s stock quantity. The Stock list carries no editable stock cell, only a selection checkbox and an icon that opens each product’s variations.
No. Reorder alerting, email, or notification does not exist in the plugin. If you want a quick yes-or-no, filter the Stock list’s Order Status column to Order Now and the red Order Now! badge marks every product below its minimum. If you want to see how far a product sits from that line, the Low Stock column gives the number: negative once it’s below the minimum, and the closer to zero it reads, the nearer it is to reorder territory.
No. Inventory Alpha holds no warehouses, locations, or bin locations. There is one stock figure per product, or per variation, and it belongs to WooCommerce, not to Inventory Alpha. Built for a single-location catalogue, not one split across sites.
Each product gets its own suggested maximum, worked out from that product’s own sales and the run rate you set. That figure sits on the Quick Edit screen ready to apply, and nothing changes on the product until you do. No date is produced.
No. Nothing on the Stock page produces a file, not on the main list, not in Quick Edit, not in the variation editor. Reports covers stock data and exports it as a CSV.
A product needs WooCommerce’s Manage stock switched on before Inventory Alpha can read its quantity. Until you switch it on, the reorder columns on the Stock list render as dashes. The Business Overview setup checklist has a step that filters straight to those products and names what to turn on. Virtual and downloadable products are automatically excluded; they never need it.
Yes, you can hide Cost for a role in Roles, and anyone assigned it stops seeing it anywhere on the Stock page. The column disappears from the list, the column picker, and the filter drawer, and the figures never reach their browser in any form. Image, name, SKU, and current stock still show for every role.
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See how the whole catalogue stands, not one product at a time. Stock above the minimum, units to reach the maximum, and incoming stock, for every product.
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