Plan Smarter, Stock Better

AI for Inventory Decisions

Inventory can make or break your cash flow.

Buy too much? You’re sitting on money you can’t use. Buy too little? You’re missing out on sales when customers are ready to spend. But guess what? AI can help you thread the needle.

Try this inventory prompt:

“Act as a retail inventory planner. I’ll share last month’s sales and current inventory. Suggest what to restock or skip, and create a basic open-to-buy plan.”

Whether you run a clothing boutique, coffee shop, or farmstand, this prompt can help you stock smarter.

Wait… what’s “open-to-buy?”

In retail, open-to-buy means: How much money do you actually have available to spend on inventory, without hurting your cash flow?

AI helps calculate that by analyzing:

• What sold last month

• What’s still sitting on the shelf

• Your average product margins

• What you’ve got coming in

A boutique example:

You tell AI:

• “We sold 43 sweaters last month.”

• “We still have 17 in stock.”

• “Our average sale price was $42.”
  

AI might respond:

“Restock neutral colors in M and L. Hold off on XS and bright pink—low sell-through. Your open-to-buy this month is $800 if you want to stay within 2x inventory turnover.”

Not bad, right?

A coffee shop example:

Input your usage:

• “We used 18 gallons of oat milk and 9 of almond.”

• “We ran out of cold brew early 3 weekends in a row.”
  

AI might respond:

“Increase cold brew by 15% this weekend. Reduce almond milk order to avoid waste. Try bundling oat milk lattes on social—they’re your top mover.”

Why this matters:

🕒 You don’t have time to run spreadsheets. 📉 You don’t want to over-order. 📈 And you need every dollar working for your business.

This prompt gives you just enough insight to act smarter without getting buried in data.