Your stock count says 40 mugs; the kiln says 32 firsts and 8 seconds
Custom inventory management software for a Stoke-on-Trent pottery runs $45k to $110k over 3 to 6 months. You build it when Fishbowl, Cin7 or a spreadsheet can't represent stock that moves through clay, biscuit and glost stages and then splits into firsts and seconds at grading, which is exactly where your counts go wrong and ranges oversell.
Fishbowl, Cin7 and spreadsheets model stock as a single state: you have it or you don't. A Potteries range lives in four states at once. There's clay being thrown, biscuit-fired ware waiting on glaze, glost-fired stock waiting on grading, and finished firsts and seconds ready to sell. A generic inventory tool collapses all of that into one number, so the count is wrong the moment a kiln finishes and grading hasn't happened.
This is the exact pain the city's heritage makers feel: the ecommerce store reads the inventory count, sees stock that's actually still ungraded in the kiln, and sells it. The dispatch sheet and the firing schedule live in separate spreadsheets, so nothing reconciles, and a popular range sells out on paper before anyone knows how many firsts it really produced.
Budgeting a inventory management build in Stoke-on-Trent
| Project scope | Typical cost | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Stage-aware inventory core | $45k to $70k | 3 to 4 months |
| Inventory with ecommerce and dispatch sync | $70k to $100k | 4 to 6 months |
| Multi-site Potteries inventory platform | $100k+ | 6 to 9 months |
The case for owning your inventory management
Custom inventory software models the real states ware passes through: clay, biscuit, glost and graded, with firsts and seconds tracked as distinct sellable stock. Available count online only reflects graded firsts, work-in-progress value is calculated at each stage, and the firing schedule, stock and dispatch finally share one truth. That stage-aware, grading-aware model is the thing Fishbowl and a spreadsheet structurally cannot do.
- Stock moves through firing stages and grading splits firsts from seconds
- Your ecommerce store oversells because it reads ungraded counts
- The firing schedule and dispatch sheet never reconcile with stock
- You need true work-in-progress value across production stages
- You hold finished, pre-graded stock that's simply in or out
- Cin7 or Fishbowl models your goods without firing nuance
- Volumes are low enough that manual counts suffice
- You don't sell online where stale counts cause oversells
What your build should include
What we build under inventory management in Stoke-on-Trent
The engagements Stoke-on-Trent teams bring us most often: purchase order management, demand forecasting, inventory management software, stock control system, barcode scanning and multi-location inventory.
Delivery, week by week
Exactly what you get
You get inventory software that finally matches the kiln. Stock is tracked through clay, biscuit, glost and graded states, firsts and seconds become separate sellable SKUs at grading, and the count your store reads only ever shows firsts you can ship. Work-in-progress value is calculated at each stage instead of guessed, and the firing schedule, stock and dispatch share one truth. It's the backbone that a custom ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), a warehouse management system and your Shopify store all draw on.
How to choose a developer in Stoke-on-Trent
Pick a developer who can whiteboard your stock's journey from clay to graded firsts before they quote. The whole value is stage-aware, grading-aware stock, so if they model inventory as a single number, they don't understand the problem. Ask how firsts and seconds split from one production order, how the store reads only graded firsts, and for a reference where they integrated with UK couriers or marketplaces. A local team will grasp why a heritage name can't afford to oversell.
- Stage-aware stock across clay, biscuit, glost and graded states
- Firsts and seconds tracked as separate sellable items
- Online availability that only counts graded firsts, ending oversells
- Accurate work-in-progress value at every production stage
- Firing schedule, stock and dispatch reconciled in one system
- More to build and maintain than switching on Cin7
- Stage-aware modelling takes longer to validate than a flat stock list
- You own integrations to ecommerce and couriers as they change
- A single-range, single-firing maker may not need this depth
- !They model stock as one number; ask how clay, biscuit and graded stages are represented
- !No firsts-and-seconds split; ask how grading creates two sellable SKUs
- !No real-time ecommerce sync; ask how the store avoids overselling ungraded stock
- !No work-in-progress valuation; ask how stage value is calculated at month-end
- !They've never integrated a UK courier; ask for a fulfilment reference
Most Stoke-on-Trent teams pricing inventory management end up comparing notes on accounting, project management, lms too; the systems share one data spine.
Rohan advises mid-market and enterprise teams on ERP, CRM and custom software, and has led delivery on dozens of business-software builds.
Writes for Digital Heroes, shipping business software for 2,000+ brands across 55+ countries since 2017.
Frequently asked questions
Why does Fishbowl or Cin7 get our ceramics stock wrong?
Because they model stock as a single state, in or out, while your ware passes through clay, biscuit, glost and grading. The count is wrong the moment a kiln finishes and grading hasn't happened, and firsts and seconds get lumped together. A stage-aware custom system tracks each state separately so the count is real.
How does this stop our store overselling?
The store only ever reads graded firsts as available, never the whole ungraded load. So when a kiln produces 32 firsts and 8 seconds, the store shows 32, not 40. That single change, syncing only graded stock, is what ends the oversell that damages a heritage name.
Can it value work-in-progress accurately?
Yes. Because stock is tracked at each stage, the system calculates the value of clay, biscuit and glost ware, not just finished goods. That gives you a real work-in-progress figure at month-end instead of the guess a flat inventory list forces on you.
Will it connect to our ERP and store?
It should be the backbone they both draw on. Your ERP reads stock for finance and planning, your Shopify store reads graded firsts for availability, and your warehouse management system reads it for picking. A custom inventory system that doesn't integrate is just a better spreadsheet.
Is this worth it for a small pottery?
If you fire one range, one kiln, and rarely grade down, a simpler tool may do. The custom case appears the moment you run multiple ranges and kilns, grade into firsts and seconds, and sell online, because that's when a flat count starts overselling and costing you real orders.