Clothing Store Inventory: How to Track Stock by Color and Size

1Why Is Clothing Inventory Different?

If you sell a T-shirt in four colors and five sizes, you really have twenty separate stocks. A style that shows 40 units in total may have sold out of its best-selling size; when a customer asks for that size, the total doesn't help.

That's why clothing stock is kept at variant level: each color and size combination carries its own quantity and, if needed, its own barcode and price difference. Sales, returns, exchanges, counts and orders all happen at this level.

2Set Up Products With Their Colors and Sizes

• Choose the colors and sizes. When you add the product, set the colors and sizes you'll sell; each combination becomes a variant.
• Enter stock cell by cell. In the color × size table, type how many of each color and size you have.
• Add price differences. For variants priced differently, such as larger sizes, add a price difference on top of the main price.
• Add a photo per color. A photo for each color makes picking the right product easier at the register and in the stock list.

3Variant Barcodes and Labels

Give each variant its own barcode and scanning it at the register puts the right color and size in the cart; the cashier doesn't have to pick them. A variant without a barcode can still be sold: find the product, then choose its color and size.

Print a label for each color and size with the product name, color, size, barcode and price. Labeled products don't get mixed up on the shelf, in the stockroom or during a count.

4Color and Size in Sales, Returns and Exchanges

A size with no stock can't be sold; the last units and sold-out sizes are visible on the selection screen. A return is matched to the receipt it was sold on, and the item goes back into the stock of the right color and size.

In a size or color exchange, the returned item and the new item go into the same cart. If there's a price difference, it's collected from or paid to the customer; if not, the exchange ends without any money changing hands and both variants' stock stays right.

5Keep an Eye on Low and Sold-Out Sizes

• Critical level. Decide the minimum you want left of a size; a size that reaches it gets flagged.
• Count by color and size. Count variant by variant; that's how you find stock that adds up in total but not by size.
• Sales report. Seeing which colors and sizes sell best lets you split your next order across sizes correctly.

We cover how to split an order across sizes separately: our size curve post shows how to build a size split from your own sales.

6Color and Size Stock in PratikKasa Apparel

In PratikKasa Apparel, you set up a product with its colors and sizes; each color-size combination is a stock of its own. The main price is on the product; if a size costs more or less, you add a «Price Difference». On the phone, you can enter variant barcodes one by one with «Scan in Order». A product you added without variants can be split into colors and sizes later; existing stock is spread across sizes and the total stays the same.

Sizes below the critical level and sold-out sizes are marked in the stock list and in the color × size table. You count stock by color and size; on the phone, you count by scanning with «Count by Barcode». You print labels on label printers that use TSPL commands: over the network or USB on Windows, over Bluetooth on the phone.

On Windows, Reports › Apparel includes the Color × Size Heat Matrix, the Size Breakdown, Best-Selling Variants and Variant Stock Health; Variant Stock Health lists sold-out sizes.

The drawings in this post are based on the screens of PratikKasa 2.1.0.