A multichannel inventory spreadsheet template: can one sheet track stock for every channel?
Short answer: Yes, one spreadsheet can track stock for every channel if it has four tabs: Products, Movements, Channel Stock and Reorder. Excel and Google Sheets both have a SUMIFS formula that adds up stock movements by product, so the count updates as you log sales, returns and deliveries. It works well up to a few hundred orders a month across two or three channels. A sheet cannot push the count to Shopify, Amazon or Etsy by itself, so overselling starts when you fall behind on updates.
You sell in more than one place, you want to run it all from one sheet before paying for software, and you want to know where that sheet will fail you.
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Can one spreadsheet track all your channels?
For a small seller, yes. A spreadsheet is a fine first system if you sell a few hundred orders a month on two or three channels, such as Shopify (a hosted online store platform), Amazon (a very large online marketplace) and Etsy (a marketplace for handmade and vintage goods). It costs nothing, you can build it in an afternoon, and it forces you to learn how your stock really moves.
The sheet gives you one place to see the truth. It does not give you automatic updates. A sale on Etsy does not change the number on Shopify unless a person, or a tool, makes the change. Everything below is built around making that person's job fast and hard to get wrong.
The four tabs to build
Tab 1: Products
One row per SKU. A SKU (stock keeping unit) is one sellable line, such as "blue mug, large". Keep these columns:
- SKU (unique, no spaces, never reused)
- Product name
- Supplier
- Unit cost
- Reorder point (the stock level where you reorder)
- Lead time in days (how long a delivery takes)
- Bundle flag (yes or no)
Tab 2: Movements
This is the log, and it is the most important tab. One row for every change in stock: date, SKU, channel, type, quantity, and a note. Use a dropdown for type with fixed choices such as Sale, Return, Delivery, Damage, Count fix. Both Google Sheets and Excel can add a dropdown list to a cell. Dropdowns stop spelling variants that break your formulas. Sales are logged as negative numbers, deliveries and returns as positive.
Tab 3: Channel Stock
One row per SKU with columns for Total on hand, then the quantity you show on each channel (Shopify, Amazon, Etsy), then a Buffer column. Total on hand is a formula, not typed:
=SUMIFS(MoveQty, MoveSKU, A2)
Here MoveQty is a named range (a label you give a column) for the quantity column in the Movements tab, and MoveSKU is the same for its SKU column. In Google Sheets you create one from Data, then Named ranges, and Google's help page says it makes formulas cleaner to read. The formula adds every quantity where the SKU matches the SKU in this row. Microsoft documents the formula on its SUMIFS support page, and Google documents the same formula in its SUMIFS help page. It works the same way in both.
Tab 4: Reorder
A filtered view showing only SKUs where Total on hand is at or below the reorder point. Add a column for suggested order quantity: average weekly sales times lead time in weeks, plus a small safety amount. This tab is your shopping list.
A filled-in example
These figures are made up. Say you sell a ceramic mug on Shopify, Amazon and Etsy.
| Date | SKU | Channel | Type | Qty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 1 | MUG-BLU-L | Warehouse | Delivery | 120 |
| Nov 2 | MUG-BLU-L | Shopify | Sale | -3 |
| Nov 2 | MUG-BLU-L | Etsy | Sale | -2 |
| Nov 3 | MUG-BLU-L | Amazon | Sale | -4 |
| Nov 4 | MUG-BLU-L | Shopify | Return | 1 |
SUMIFS gives a total on hand of 120 - 3 - 2 - 4 + 1 = 112. Say you split stock across channels with a buffer of 10. Shopify shows 40, Amazon shows 40 and Etsy shows 22. You keep 10 back for mistakes. Each channel can only sell what you assigned to it, so one channel cannot take the last unit while another sells it too. That split is the simplest way to avoid overselling in a sheet.
Where a spreadsheet starts to fail
- The update gap: a sale at 2pm is not in the sheet until you log it at 5pm. In those three hours, the same unit can sell twice. This is the root cause of most overselling.
- Two people editing: one person logs a sale as another logs a return, and one change is lost or a row is deleted.
- Bundles: a three-pack of mugs should take three single mugs out of stock. A sheet needs extra formulas, and they get fragile.
- FBA stock: stock held by Amazon in FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon) changes without you doing anything, as Amazon receives, ships and loses units. See Amazon FBA inventory problems for how that goes wrong.
- Speed: SUMIFS over tens of thousands of rows gets slow, and a log with 5 years of data becomes hard to open.
Any one of these is an annoyance. When you hit three of them at once, you have outgrown the sheet.
Habits that make the sheet last longer
- Log movements once a day at a fixed time, or after each shipping run.
- Run a count of your ten fastest SKUs every week and log any difference as a Count fix, with a note.
- Lock the Channel Stock tab so only formulas live there. Only the Movements tab takes typing. In Google Sheets, use Data, then Protect sheets and ranges. Google says this should not be used as a security measure, because people can still copy or export a protected sheet, so it stops accidents, not bad intent.
- Keep a dedicated Buffer so no channel can sell your last units.
- Back up the file every Friday under a dated name.
What comes after the sheet
There are two steps up. The first is a ready-made sync tool, which keeps the count and pushes it to your channels on its own. I compare those in multichannel inventory management software.
The second is moving the sheet itself into a small web app that you own. Your columns and rules stay the same, but the app reads orders from Shopify, Amazon and Etsy, updates the count at once, and can send alerts. I wrote about this path in turning an Excel sheet into a web app. If you want the full picture of what a stock system includes, see inventory management systems. A related read on joining several sheets is replacing five spreadsheets with one database.
How I'd approach this
Start with the sheet if you are under about 300 orders a month. Build the four tabs, log once a day, and use a buffer. Do not buy software while you are still learning which products sell where.
Move off the sheet when you can name the cost of staying. I use a simple test: if you were oversold twice in a month, or if you spend more than three hours a week updating the sheet, a tool already pays for itself. At that point do not rebuild the sheet in a fancier sheet. Keep the logic, because it is good, and let software do the updating.
Questions people ask
Can I track inventory for multiple sales channels in Excel?
Yes. Use a Products tab, a Movements log, a Channel Stock tab and a Reorder tab, with SUMIFS adding up the log per SKU. It works for a few hundred orders a month. Beyond that, see inventory management systems.
Is Google Sheets better than Excel for multichannel inventory?
Google Sheets lets several people edit at once, which helps a small team. Excel on a desktop is usually quicker with very large files. The formulas in this template work in both. Neither updates your sales channels by itself.
Can I sync inventory between Shopify and Amazon with a spreadsheet?
Not by itself. A sheet shows the count, but a person has to change the numbers on each channel. For automatic sync, use a sync tool or a small app. My guide to multichannel inventory software lists the options.
How do I stop overselling with a spreadsheet?
Split stock into per-channel amounts with a buffer, log sales at least daily, and count your fastest sellers weekly. This reduces overselling but does not remove it, because the sheet cannot update a channel on its own.
When should I move from a spreadsheet to software?
When you are oversold twice in a month, or when updating the sheet takes more than three hours a week. The step after a sheet can be a ready-made tool or a small web app, as described in Excel to web app.
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