Sewing shops stock more than just fabric.
If you’re a business owner in this space, you likely sell fabric in countless colors, patterns, and styles — but you might also offer high-value equipment like sewing machines. These products can be major revenue drivers for your store, yet managing them can quickly become a challenge.
That’s where serialized inventory comes in. Tracking only quantities of sewing machines can lead to confusion, errors, and even misplaced equipment. Serialized inventory, on the other hand, tracks each individual unit, giving you a complete record of where every machine is — whether it’s on the sales floor, at the repair desk, or loaned out to a customer.
In this blog, we’ll cover what serialized inventory is, why it matters for sewing shops, and five practical steps for putting it to work in your business.
Let’s dive in.
A serialized inventory management system allows you to track each individual unit of a product within a digital system. This approach is ideal for higher-value items that come with a manufacturer serial number, like sewing machines, high-end cutters, and specialty irons.
Having a record of a specific unit is helpful if a product has a warranty or needs repairs. When a customer makes a warranty claim or requests service on a sewing machine, you can track that data directly to the unique unit and its serial number, eliminating any confusion about which specific machine the record belongs to.
As a sewing shop owner, remember that serialized inventory isn’t necessarily for all of your stock. Fabric, for example, is typically stocked by the bolt and sold in fractional yards. Since customers often purchase fabric in unique measurements, individual tracking isn’t useful.
Similarly, notions — like thread, needles, blades, rulers, and batting — are best tracked as standard quantity items, not as serialized items, due to their lower value and higher abundance.
Using serialized inventory changes the way you run your sewing store. These are a few of the tasks that benefit most from this approach.
When a customer buys a sewing machine from a small sewing shop, it usually comes with a warranty from the manufacturer. As the shop owner, you serve as a liaison between the customer and the manufacturer if the machine needs repairs — including ordering replacement parts.
By keeping a unique serial number on file for each machine, you can easily track warranty claims and repair history. At the time of purchase, record who bought the machine, its warranty coverage and duration, and its condition for future reference. Having this information on hand helps prevent misunderstandings or disputes with customers.
A serialized inventory system lets you record information about each individual unit. If a sewing machine is due for repairs, you can log the work in your system. Later, if the same machine needs additional attention, you can quickly see its service history, helping you determine the most effective way to fix the problem.
Related Read: Fabric Store Equipment: 9 Tools You Need
Some sewing shops accept trade-ins on sewing machines, meaning a customer can exchange an existing machine for store credit toward a new one. When determining a trade-in’s value, it helps to know the original selling price. A serialized inventory system lets you record that information for each individual machine.
Before setting a trade-in value, you can also review the machine’s service history. A machine that has needed frequent repairs in the past is more likely to need maintenance again.
You might offer customers a “loaner” machine while theirs is being repaired. Serialized inventory makes this much easier. When the loaner has a trackable serial number, you can always see where every machine is, helping you avoid lost or misplaced equipment.
Interested in using serialized inventory at your sewing store? Here are five steps to get started.
The first step is to determine which items in your store should be serialized. A good rule of thumb is to track anything with a manufacturer’s serial number, like sewing machines, longarms, or embroidery machines. Fabric and smaller items can remain non-serialized.
Next, choose a digital inventory management system that supports serialized inventory. Many point of sale (POS) systems include this feature, along with other useful tools like customer checkout, e-commerce, and marketing capabilities.
POS software designed for your specific industry often comes with sewing-specific features, like fractional yardage calculation, to make managing your store even easier.
Related Read: What Is the Best Fabric Store POS? 4 Top Providers
When you receive new inventory, record all relevant information in your system. First, confirm that serialized inventory is activated so each unit is tied to a unique serial number.
Let’s say you acquire a new sewing machine to sell. Create a product record and include these key details:
Verify that you received the correct quantity of machines, scan each item’s serial number, and ensure the numbers are properly recorded in the system. Once you’ve printed a price label, the machine is ready to go on the shelf for sale.
Related Read: How To Create Barcodes for Inventory: 4 Simple Steps for Fabric Stores
When a customer decides to purchase a sewing machine, scan it and open its record in the system. From there, you can update details for that specific unit and enter basic customer information to maintain a complete record. Provide a receipt — either printed or emailed — that includes the serial number as a proof of purchase.
Having a record of each machine’s serial number makes handling repairs and trade-ins straightforward.
Open a work order linked to the unit to track service history, replacement parts, estimated completion time, and other key details. If your POS system allows, you can send automated updates directly to customers.
Serialized inventory also simplifies audits and inventory checks. If your store counts come up short, the system lets you easily check whether a machine is under repair, on loan, or misplaced.
If you sell sewing machines and other high-value equipment, using serialized inventory is a must. A digital system that tracks each unit keeps a detailed record of key data, helps you manage repairs and trade-ins, and simplifies inventory audits.
While many POS platforms offer serialized inventory, a system built specifically for sewing stores includes the features your business truly needs.
Like Sew is an all-in-one, cloud-based POS solution designed for the sewing industry. Its serialized inventory feature lets you monitor every sewing machine you stock and sell. You can link work orders to serial numbers, track loaners, and ensure no machine ever goes missing.
Like Sew also includes fractional yardage calculation, making it easy to ring up custom cuts. Other products can be tracked by SKU, and because the software is cloud-based, your inventory updates automatically with each sale.
At Like Sew, we want to help you get all the features you need at a price that works for your business. Try our Build and Price tool to find the package that’s right for your sewing store!