Managing Products & Inventory
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Module 04 — Managing Products & Inventory
Audience: Customer Success & Sales Agents
Goal: Guide customers through adding products, managing stock levels per branch, using barcodes, and handling bulk uploads.
1. Overview
Products are the items a business sells. Inventory is how much of each product is available at each branch.
In SmartSell:
- Products are created at the business level — one product record is shared across all branches
- Inventory (stock) is tracked separately per branch — adding 50 units at Branch A does not affect Branch B
This means: first you create the product, then you assign stock quantities to each branch.
2. Accessing the Product Catalog
From the Business Detail screen, tap Product Catalog (or the Products KPI card at the top).
The Products List screen opens showing all products for the business, with:
- Product image or initial avatar
- Product name
- Category (if assigned)
- Selling price
Use the search bar at the top to filter products by name. Results update after a short pause as you type.
Scroll to the bottom to load more products (the list is paginated).
3. Adding a Single Product
From the Products List screen, tap the menu icon (⋮) in the top-right corner and select Add New Product.
The Create Product screen opens with the following fields:
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Product Image | No | Tap to pick from phone gallery or take a photo |
| Product Name | Yes | The name shown in POS search and on receipts |
| Selling Price | Yes | The price charged to customers |
| Cost Price | No | Your purchase cost. Used to calculate profit margin in reports |
| Description | No | Optional product description |
| Barcode | No | The product's barcode number. If scanned from the product, enter it here |
| Initial Stock | No | Starting stock quantity for the default branch |
Tap Create Product to save.
Agent Note: Encourage customers to always enter a Cost Price — without it, the profit reports will not show meaningful data. Explain: "If you know what you paid for it, enter it here. SmartSell will automatically calculate your margin."
Agent Note: The Initial Stock field sets the starting quantity at the default branch only. For other branches, stock must be added separately through the Manage Stock screen.
4. Viewing & Editing a Product
Tap any product from the Products List to open the Product Detail screen, which shows:
- Product image
- Name and category
- Description
- Pricing section: Selling price, cost price, profit margin (%), and price with tax
- Stock information: SKU, barcode, and barcode image (if available)
To edit the product, tap the pencil icon in the top-right corner. The Edit Product screen opens with the same fields as the Create Product screen, pre-filled with current values.
5. Bulk Uploading Products (Excel)
For customers with many products, bulk upload via Excel is the fastest way to get started.
From the Products List screen, tap the menu icon (⋮) → Bulk Upload (Excel).
Steps:
1. Download the provided Excel template (link shown on screen)
2. Fill in the template with product data (name, price, cost, barcode, etc.)
3. Tap Select File and choose the completed Excel file from the device
4. The upload begins — the screen shows a progress tracker:
- Queued → waiting to start
- In Progress → currently processing (shows current / total items)
- Success → completed successfully, shows count of created and skipped items
- Failure → something went wrong, error message shown
The screen polls for progress every 2 seconds automatically.
Agent Note: If rows are skipped, it usually means a required field was missing (most often Product Name or Selling Price) or a duplicate barcode was detected. Ask the customer to check those columns in their Excel file.
6. Bulk Image Upload
If a customer has product images they want to add in bulk:
From the Products List screen, tap menu (⋮) → Bulk Image Upload.
This screen allows uploading multiple product images at once, which are then matched to products by filename or product name.
7. Managing Stock per Branch (Adding Stock)
After products are created, stock levels must be set per branch.
From the Business Detail screen, tap Manage Stock.
The Stock Management screen opens:
- Select the branch from the branch selector at the top (if the business has multiple branches)
- Use the search bar to find a product by name, SKU, or barcode (minimum 2 characters required)
- Tap any product from the results
- An Add Stock modal appears with:
- Quantity field (required — must be a positive whole number)
- Notes field (optional — e.g. "from supplier invoice #123") - Tap Submit to save
The stock is added immediately and a movement record is created automatically.
Agent Note: When a customer says "my stock is wrong," this is where to direct them. They should search for the product and add or correct the quantity. There is also a Stock Reset feature for larger corrections — covered in Module 09.
8. Viewing Stock Movements
Stock movements provide a full audit trail of every stock change — inbound, outbound, adjustments, and sales deductions.
From the Business Detail screen, tap Stock Movements.
The screen shows a list of movement records, each displaying:
- Product name
- Movement type (color-coded: green for inbound, red for outbound)
- Quantity change (+/-)
- Balance before and after the movement
- Reason or notes
- Reference number
- Date and time
- The user who recorded the movement
Filters available:
- Branch selector
- Movement type filter (inbound, outbound, adjustment, etc.)
- Search by product name or SKU
Use case for agents: When a customer reports that stock numbers don't match, pull up Stock Movements and filter by product and branch to trace exactly what changed and when.
9. Low Stock Alerts
SmartSell notifies the business when stock for a product at a branch falls below its reorder point (threshold). This threshold is set per product per branch.
Low stock alerts are visible:
- As push notifications on the mobile app (if notifications are enabled)
- In the web portal under the inventory alerts section
In the Manage Stock screen, products at or below their reorder threshold are displayed with a yellow or red stock indicator next to them.
10. Product Stock Status in POS
When browsing products in the POS, each product card shows a stock status indicator:
- Green = Stock is above the reorder point (healthy)
- Yellow = Stock is at or below the reorder point (low)
- Red / Empty badge = No stock available
Cashiers can still process a sale even when a product shows as empty — SmartSell does not block sales based on stock levels. However, the stock count will go negative, which flags a discrepancy for the manager to investigate.
Summary
| Task | Where |
|---|---|
| Add a product | Products List → Menu (⋮) → Add New Product |
| Edit a product | Product Detail → Pencil icon |
| Bulk upload products | Products List → Menu (⋮) → Bulk Upload |
| Add stock to a branch | Business Detail → Manage Stock |
| View stock movements | Business Detail → Stock Movements |
| View all products | Business Detail → Product Catalog tile |
Previous Module → 03 — Creating & Configuring a Business
Next Module → 05 — Point of Sale (POS) Operations