How to Create a Simple Inventory System in Excel Using Barcodes
Written by Tomasz Lichosik
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If you are still typing SKU numbers into a spreadsheet by hand, you are paying for it twice — once in time and again in the typos that creep in around item four hundred. You do not need a pricey ERP to fix that. A plain spreadsheet plus a barcode scanner gets you most of the way to a real inventory system. Here is how to build one in five steps.
1. Plan the spreadsheet first
Before generating a single code, set up a clean source of truth in Excel — one table, one row per item:
- Product ID (SKU) — a unique value per item, e.g.
PROD-001. - Product name — the human-readable label.
- Current stock — quantity on hand.
- Location — where it lives, e.g.
Shelf A-1. - Reorder point — the level at which you restock.
Keep the Product ID alphanumeric with no spaces or odd symbols; some older scanners stumble on them.
2. Generate the barcodes
Now turn those IDs into something a scanner can read. A lot of people reach for a "barcode font" in Excel — these look amateurish and fail to scan the moment the size or margins are slightly off.
The reliable route is to generate proper SVG barcodes for each SKU, so every code is standard-compliant and crisp. Create one per SKU on BarcodeReady and download them as SVG to keep the edges sharp through printing.
3. Print and label
Move from screen to shelf:
- Print onto adhesive label sheets such as Avery.
- Put one label on each item, or on the shelf location where it is stored.
- Test-scan a sample before doing a thousand, and confirm the scanner drops the right Product ID into Excel.
4. Wire up a scanning station
Here is where it starts to feel automatic. A barcode scanner behaves like a keyboard: it "types" the value and presses Enter.
Make a second sheet called Scanner Log, click a cell in the Product ID column, and scan — the ID lands in the cell and the cursor jumps to the next row. To pull in details automatically, use a lookup against your main sheet:
=XLOOKUP(A2, Products!A:A, Products!B:B)
That tells Excel: take the scanned ID in A2, find it in the Products sheet, and return the matching name from column B. The same idea fills in stock levels or locations.
5. The daily rhythm
With that in place, day-to-day use is quick:
- Receiving: scan the item, add to the stock count.
- Shipping: scan the item, subtract from the count.
- Stocktake: scan what is on the shelf and compare the totals to spot discrepancies.
When to outgrow Excel
A spreadsheet is a great starting point, but it has a ceiling. Plan to move to dedicated inventory software when several people need to scan at once (Excel handles simultaneous writes poorly), your catalogue passes a few thousand SKUs, or you need live sync with an online store like Shopify or WooCommerce.
Until then, Excel plus barcodes is the fastest and cheapest way to put real structure around your stock. Generate the codes you need on BarcodeReady and start scanning.