Reading Time:
6 min read
Category:
Operations
Six Shopify stores, two subscription platforms, zero unified visibility. I built an inventory management system with 24 AI copilot tools to bring order to the chaos.
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From Our Blog —
From Our Blog —
From Our Blog —
From Our Blog —
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Scaling E-commerce Operations Across 6 Stores with AI
The Chaos of Multi-Brand E-commerce
Imagine running six separate Shopify stores. Each one represents a different brand. Some use one subscription platform, some use another. Each store has its own inventory tracking, its own reporting, its own way of doing things. Now multiply that by suppliers, warehouse locations, and purchase orders — and you've got a full-time job just keeping track of what's in stock.
That was the situation. A product company with six active storefronts, multiple subscription billing platforms, and a team that was spending hours every day switching between admin panels, copying numbers into spreadsheets, and hoping nothing fell through the cracks.
What I Built
A unified inventory management system that connects to all six stores and consolidates everything into a single platform. Not a read-only dashboard — a fully operational system where the team can manage inventory, track suppliers, generate purchase orders, and make decisions without opening six different browser tabs.
Real-Time Shopify Sync
The system syncs with each Shopify store, pulling inventory levels, product data, and order information into a central database. Changes propagate automatically. When a product sells on any store, the numbers update across the system.
Warehouse and Supplier Management
Full warehouse tracking with supplier profiles, lead times, and automated purchase order generation. The system knows which suppliers provide which products, tracks delivery timelines, and flags when reorder points are approaching.
17 Interactive Dashboards
I built 17 different dashboard views using MUI X Premium and Recharts. Inventory levels by store, by product, by warehouse. Sales velocity. Supplier performance. Purchase order status. Each dashboard exists because someone on the team asked a question that previously took 30 minutes of spreadsheet work to answer.
24 AI Copilot Tools
I built 24 AI-powered copilot tools directly into the system. These aren't chatbots. They're purpose-built tools that handle specific operational tasks:
- Inventory rebalancing suggestions across stores based on sales velocity
- Automated purchase order drafting based on current stock levels
- Anomaly detection for unusual inventory movements
- Natural language queries against operational data
- Supplier communication drafting
The Stack
- Next.js + TypeScript — 62 API routes, 87 handlers
- Neon Postgres — 21 tables modeling the full operational domain
- MUI X Premium — Enterprise-grade data grids and charts
- Recharts — 17 interactive chart components
- Shopify API — Real-time sync across all stores
- Vercel — Deployment with 10 cron jobs for automated operations
The Hard Part Wasn't the Code
Building the technical system was straightforward. The hard part was understanding the business well enough to model it correctly.
Which stores share inventory and which don't? How do subscription orders affect available stock differently than one-time purchases? What does the warehouse team actually need to see first thing in the morning?
These questions don't have technical answers. They have operational answers. And you only get those answers by having lived inside the operations. That knowledge shaped every table in the database, every dashboard layout, every AI copilot tool.
Results
The team went from managing six separate store admin panels to one unified system. Daily inventory reconciliation that used to take over an hour now happens automatically. Purchase orders that required checking multiple spreadsheets now generate with a single click based on real data. Total infrastructure cost: roughly the price of a mid-tier SaaS subscription.
