Getting started
Skucast turns Shopify into a real back-office for inventory teams — demand forecasting, purchase orders, receiving, RMAs, and vendor tracking, all in one place.
What Skucast is (and isn't)
Skucast is a back-office for inventory. It reads your Shopify sales and inventory and gives you four things Shopify doesn't:
- Forecasting — what to reorder, and when, using a method built for parts. See how it works →
- Purchase orders — create, email, receive, and reconcile POs with your vendors.
- RMAs — track returns to vendors through to credit received.
- Vendor performance — lead time, on-time %, and a reliability score per supplier.
It is not a storefront, a POS, or an accounting system — it sits alongside Shopify and makes your purchasing decisions for you.
Installing Skucast
- Install from the Shopify App Store. Click Add app → Install. Skucast uses Shopify's managed install, so it grants the inventory permissions automatically — no separate password screen.
- It opens inside Shopify admin. Skucast runs embedded in your Shopify dashboard. You'll land on the Skucast dashboard.
- It pulls your history. On first load Skucast reads your recent sales + inventory so the forecaster has data to work with. Larger stores take a few minutes.
- Start your trial. You're on a 14-day free trial — no charge until it ends, cancel anytime.
Your first 10 minutes
Do these four things and Skucast is working for you:
- Open the Forecaster. Inventory → Forecaster. You'll see every SKU classified (smooth, lumpy, seasonal, new, dead) with a reorder recommendation. Skim the "needs reorder" rows. What the columns mean →
- Add your suppliers + lead times. Orders → Suppliers. Lead time is the single biggest input to when Skucast tells you to order — set it for your top vendors. How →
- Fill in your Business Identity. Settings → Business Identity (name, address, phone, website). This prints on your POs and RMAs. More →
- Create your first PO from a forecast. On a "needs reorder" row, click Create PO — it pre-fills the SKU and quantity. How →
The dashboard tour
| Card | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| KPI strip | Today's revenue, orders today, unfulfilled value, week revenue — your pulse. |
| Today's Action Items | Your short daily to-do: stockout risks, overdue POs, drafts to review. More → |
| Cash & Commitments | Open PO value, overdue POs, money committed to inbound stock. |
| Top Sellers | Your best movers over the last 30 days. |
| Unfulfilled orders | Open orders waiting to ship. |
Plans & the free trial
Skucast is $99/month with a 14-day free trial. Billing runs through Shopify (it appears on your normal Shopify invoice), and you can cancel anytime from the app. The core Skucast Inventory plan includes forecasting, purchase orders, RMAs, suppliers, the scorecard, and reports. Specialized add-ons (serialized/dealer inventory, AI, extra sales channels) are optional. See add-ons →
Staff logins & roles
Add your team under Admin → Settings → Users. Two roles:
- Admin — full access, including settings and approvals.
- Staff — day-to-day use; you choose which pages each person can see.