Inventory and pricing: AI on Excel for what to stock and when to mark down

Three ways to see it

1. 1

   What you need: any Excel file or Google Sheet with three columns - Date, Item, Quantity Sold. That's it. No fancy software. Even if you write your sales in a copy and your beta types it in once a week, that works. Six months of data is enough to start. One year is better.

2. 2

   How to ask AI. Open ChatGPT (the paid Plus version is better here because it can read Excel files, but the free version works if you copy-paste the data). Upload or paste your sales sheet. Then type: 'Yeh meri pichhle 12 maheene ki sales hai. Mujhe batao: (1) kaun se 5 items sab se zyada bikte hain, (2) har item ka peak season kaun sa hai, (3) kaun se items 2 maheene se nahi bike - inhein kis maheene markdown karoon, (4) agle 3 maheene ke liye mujhe kya order karna chahiye aur kitna.'

3. 3

   AI gives you a table with answers. It will say things like: 'Brown leather wallet - peak in November and December, order 80 units in October. Embossed wallet - peak only in Eid week, order 30 units 3 weeks before Eid, do not stock other times. Item X has not sold in 67 days, mark down 25 percent in next 7 days or it will sit till Eid clearance.' You read this with your shopkeeper sense. If it matches your gut, follow. If something looks wrong, ask AI 'why did you say this' and it will show its reasoning.

The why-tree

Try this with Claude

Your three steps for this week. Action one: open Excel or Google Sheets and start entering your last 6 months of sales (date, item, quantity). If you have a beta or beti, ask them to do it - one evening's work. Action two: paste it into ChatGPT and ask the four questions from this lesson. Action three: pick one slow-mover the AI flagged and mark it down this Friday. After 2 weeks, count how much you cleared. Compare to last year's same item that sat for 6 months. The rupee difference is your proof.