Adding and managing your products
How to add retail and professional products, set SKU, barcode, cost and retail price, read stock per branch, and archive products you no longer stock.
Your product list is the base of everything else in inventory: purchase orders, stock adjustments and transfers all pick from it. Set each product up once, with the right prices, and the stock figures look after themselves from then on.
Open the product list
In the sidebar, open Inventory → Products. The list shows each product with its SKU and barcode, Category, Brand and Retail Price. Use the search box (it searches SKU, barcode and name), the All Categories and All Brands filters, or tick Low Stock Only to see products that are running short in at least one branch.
Add a product
- Press Add Product.
- Type the Product Name as it should appear to staff and on bills.
- SKU (Auto-generated if blank): your own product code. Leave it empty and StyleDesk gives the product the next code in the PRD-00001 series. Each SKU must be unique.
- Barcode: scan or type the barcode on the pack. Digits only, and no two products can share one. Leave it empty and StyleDesk generates a 12-digit number for you.
- Pick a Category and a Brand. If the one you need is missing, choose + Add New Category or + Add New Brand, type the name and press Save; it is added and selected without leaving the form.
- Enter the Cost Price (what you pay the supplier) and the Retail Price (what the client pays), for example Rs 900 and Rs 1,400. Neither can be negative.
- Press Save Product.
A new product starts with no stock. Stock arrives through a purchase order, a stock adjustment, a transfer from another branch, or the Opening Stock column when you import from Excel. Adding hundreds of products is much quicker with the import.
The product page
Click a product's name to open its page. The header shows the SKU, barcode, retail and cost price, with Edit Product and Archive buttons. Below are three tabs:
- Stock Overview: one row for each branch that holds the product, with Current Stock, Reorder Level and Shelf Location. Stock is always kept per branch, so the same product can be plentiful in one branch and short in another.
- Stock Ledger: every change to the stock, with the date, branch, type (for example Purchase Received, Sale, Damaged, Transfer In) and the quantity added or taken off.
- Cost History: the unit cost paid each time a purchase order for this product was received, and from which supplier.
Reorder level
The reorder level is the number at which a product counts as low stock in a branch. It is set per branch through Import from Excel (the Reorder Level column), with that branch selected at the top of the page. Until you set one it is 0, so a product only shows as low when it has run out. See checking stock levels for where low stock shows up.
Edit a product
Open the row's menu and choose Edit Product, or press Edit Product on its page. You can change the name, SKU, barcode, category, brand and both prices. A new cost price is also set automatically whenever a purchase order for the product is received.
Archive a product
When you stop stocking something, choose Archive from the row's menu or the product page and confirm. The product leaves the product list and is no longer offered on purchase orders, adjustments or for sale. Its past movements stay in the records.
Adding, editing and archiving products is for owners and managers. Receptionists can look through the products and their stock but not change them.