I wanted to make a quick post about a new app I've created called PurchasingLens.
My store is a supermarket and deli, and I use Square Retail. I originally built the app because as my business grew, I found that ordering and restocking was taking up too much time and wasn't always done well. Vendors would also show up at my store, and it was a bit chaotic trying to pull together my notes, spreadsheets and inventory to give them my order.
I wanted something that could use the information already in Square to help with the actual purchasing side of the business — what I should be buying, when I should reorder, and which supplier makes the most sense for a product.
So I built PurchasingLens, which connects to Square and turns the existing sales, inventory and supplier information into practical purchasing recommendations. The idea is to make purchasing a little less dependent on spreadsheets, guesswork and manually going through sales history.
It's still a relatively new product and I'm actively developing it. Over the next several weeks I'm hoping to expand the functionality and add some product intelligence as well.
If anyone here is interested, you can have a look at PurchasingLens here: PurchasingLens
I'd also genuinely be interested in feedback from other Square retailers about the kinds of purchasing or inventory information you wish Square made easier to get at.
As mentioned, my own store is primarily retail. PurchasingLens does, however, understand recipes and component items, so I'm also very interested in hearing from restaurant users about whether it could be useful in that environment and what functionality would make it more useful.
Thanks!
