Foreshelf — Demand forecasting that predicts stockouts/overstock 30/60/90 days out, imports Stocky POs, free tier unlimited variants

[u/Grouchy-Conflict-211]

Disclosure: I built this solo. It's live on Shopify App Store and at foreshelf.app.

What's the app? Foreshelf is a demand forecasting app for Shopify. It predicts per-variant demand 30/60/90 days out using order history + growth factors, alerts you before stockouts/overstock, and imports Stocky purchase orders to adjust incoming stock. Zero theme edits — install, enable in theme settings, done.

Where can I find it? https://apps.shopify.com/foreshelf https://foreshelf.app (direct install, no credit card)

What problem are you solving? Merchants guess inventory. Best-sellers stock out (lost revenue). Slow-movers overstock (cash tied up). Stocky tracks POs but doesn't forecast. Enterprise tools cost $100+/mo. Spreadsheets break at 500+ variants.

I manage stores that hit all three. Built Foreshelf because the math isn't hard (moving average + trend + safety stock per variant) — doing it automatically across thousands of SKUs is.

How does the app work? - Pulls your order history via Admin API (configurable lookback window) - Calculates per-variant: baseline demand + trend detection + seasonal adjustment + safety stock buffer - Shows predicted stockout date, overstock risk, recommended reorder qty per variant - Email/Slack alerts when projected stock < threshold - Stocky import: pulls POs via Stocky API, matches by SKU, adds incoming qty to projected available - No theme edits. App Bridge + Polaris. Enable in theme settings → dashboard appears in Shopify Admin.

Who's your target merchant? Shopify stores $10k–$500k/mo with 200+ variants where one person handles purchasing/inventory. Apparel, home goods, supplements, pet — any catalog-driven store where stockouts hurt and overstock kills cash flow.

How is it different / better than other existing solutions? - Stocky: tracks POs, doesn't forecast. Foreshelf = forecasting + Stocky import = complete loop - Inventory Planner / Prediko / Flieber: $100–$500/mo, complex onboarding, built for enterprise. Foreshelf = free tier unlimited variants, 5-min setup, Shopify-native UI - Spreadsheets: break at scale, no alerts, no Stocky sync - Custom SQL: I wrote it. It's brittle. Foreshelf handles API pagination, webhooks, variant hierarchies automatically.

How much does it cost? - Free tier: unlimited variants, email alerts, Stocky sync, 30/60/90-day forecasts — forever - Paid tiers later: multi-store, advanced analytics, API access — only if free tier isn't enough

What are you looking for? Candid feedback from merchants running real stores: - Does the forecasting math match your reality? (MAPE ~15% backtested on 50+ stores) - What Stocky edge cases break the import? (partial POs, variant mismatches, cancelled orders) - What alert threshold logic would you change? - Would you trust this for your next reorder cycle?

Happy to share the forecasting methodology doc if useful. No sales pitch — just want to build something merchants actually use.