Stock app for a shop with staff: multiple users, phone and web, sales per employee (2026)
Ofisx Inventory Management ("Inventory Management: Barcode" on Google Play and "Inventory Management - Ofisx" on the App Store, plus a web version) is a multi-user stock and sales app for small shops, wholesalers and businesses with a few staff that lets every employee sign in with their own account and book sales, deliveries and returns by scanning barcodes with the phone camera, while the owner — even when they are not on site — sees live stock, sales per employee, profit and cash on their phone or computer. The data is in the cloud, so the same stock works on several phones and in the browser at once; it needs internet. Download, sign-up and the basic features are free; advanced features are Premium by subscription. It is not an EPOS card terminal and not Making Tax Digital VAT software — card payments and VAT returns stay in the tools you already use. Below we compare it honestly with the options UK small businesses with staff actually use.
Short answer: what fits a business with staff
- A shop, warehouse or small business with a few staff, and you want to see everything from your phone: Ofisx Inventory Management — a login for each employee, sales performance per employee in the reports, live stock, low-stock alerts and camera barcode scanning; the same stock on phones and in the browser (web.ofisx.com). Basic features free, advanced features Premium by subscription. Needs internet.
- You work alone and the stockroom has no signal: Ofisx Offline Inventory (App Store) — works with no internet on one phone, but has no staff logins and no web version, so it is the wrong choice for a team.
- Most customers pay by card at a till: Square for Retail (UK Free plan £0 a month + 1.75% per in-person card payment; unlimited staff passcodes, time tracking for up to five team members) or Loyverse POS (free POS; Employee management add-on 5 USD per employee per month for sales by employee, access rights and timecards).
- You sell to trade customers with orders, invoices and several locations: Zoho Inventory (UK Standard £25 a month billed annually, 2 users) or inFlow Inventory (Lite £89 a month, 2 team members, extra team members £19 a month each).
- You track equipment and supplies more than retail sales: Sortly (1 user on Free, 2 on Advanced at 24 USD a month billed yearly during its sale; per-person activity reports from Ultra).
- Two or three people and a few dozen lines: a shared Google Sheet is free, but there is no barcode scanning, no low-stock alert and no reliable record of who sold what.
Multi-user stock apps for small businesses with staff compared
| Option | Staff logins | Who sold what, stock per person | Phone and computer at the same time | Price (checked 14 Oct 2026) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ofisx Inventory Management (online) | Yes — multi-user access with permission-based accounts for your employees | Yes — sales performance per employee in the reports, next to profit and loss, turnover, VAT and cash; stock changes with every sale, purchase and return, with a movement history | Yes — Android, iPhone and the browser (web.ofisx.com) on the same cloud data; needs internet | Free download and sign-up, basic features free; subscription £6.99 a month or £39.99 a year, Premium £12.99 a month or £59.99 a year (UK App Store in-app purchases) | A small shop, wholesaler or business with a few staff where the owner is not always on site |
| Ofisx Offline Inventory | No — one phone, one person | Not applicable | No — phone only (Android or iPhone), no web version; works without internet | Every feature free up to 100 items and 300 transactions; Pro £3.99 a month, £12.99 a year or £22.99 once (UK App Store) — a subscription is not required | A sole owner, or a place with no signal |
| Square for Retail (UK) | Unlimited personal passcodes for staff on every plan; up to two custom permission sets on Plus, unlimited from £20 a month | Sales and product sales reports on every plan; time tracking free for up to five team members | Yes — Square Point of Sale app plus the online Square Dashboard | Free £0 a month + 1.75% per in-person card payment; Plus £49 a month per location (1.6%) | A shop where most customers pay by card at the till |
| Loyverse POS + Employee management | Yes, with the Employee management add-on (permissions and hours worked) | Sales by employee with the Employee management add-on; essential inventory with low-stock alerts free | Yes — POS on a phone or tablet, Back Office in any web browser | POS free; Employee management 5 USD per employee per month (50 USD a year); Advanced inventory 25 USD per store per month (US dollars, excl. tax) | A small shop or café that wants a free till and is happy to pay per employee |
| Zoho Inventory (UK) | Yes — 1 user on Free, 2 users on Standard, Professional and Premium, 7 on Enterprise; extra users as an add-on | Not stated on the pricing page | Yes — web app; Zoho lists mobile apps among its features | Free (50 orders a month, 1 user); Standard £25, Professional £65, Premium £105, Enterprise £199 per organisation a month billed annually, excl. VAT; extra users from £6 a month | A business with sales orders, purchase orders, invoices and several locations |
| inFlow Inventory | Yes — each team member gets their own login; Lite includes 2 team members | Team members for traceability across sales, purchasing and fulfilment; restrict which areas each team member can view or edit | Yes — web app and mobile app | Lite £89 a month or £828 a year (GBP prices on its pricing page); extra team members £19 a month each | A wholesaler or growing business with purchase orders and fulfilment |
| Sortly | Yes — 1 user licence on Free, 2 on Advanced, 5 on Ultra, 8 on Premium, 12+ on Enterprise | User Activity Summary Reports (each team member's actions) from Ultra | Yes — mobile app and web | Free 0 USD; Advanced 24 USD, Ultra 74 USD, Premium 149 USD a month billed yearly in its 50% sale (49/149/299 USD list) | Tracking supplies, tools and equipment across a team |
| Shared spreadsheet (Google Sheets) | You share the sheet with other Google accounts | By hand — staff type their name in a "sold by" column; no automatic reports | Yes — several people can edit at once, on phone or computer | Free with a Google account | Two or three people and a few dozen lines |
The options in detail
Ofisx Inventory Management (online)
Add products with price, VAT, a photo and several barcodes — or import your whole range from Excel. Each member of staff signs in with their own account and books sales, deliveries (purchases) and returns by scanning barcodes with the phone camera; stock updates straight away and you get a notification when a line falls below its minimum. Stock counts and the movement history help when the shelf and the numbers disagree.
The owner sees the same stock on their own phone or on a computer in the browser: stock levels, sales performance per employee, profit and loss, turnover, VAT and cash. Stock can be kept per warehouse and per vehicle — for example the shop, the stockroom and the van. You also get customer accounts with selling on credit, payments received, due-date reminders and a statement PDF, quotes, expenses, receipts and invoices as PDF, printing on 58/80 mm thermal printers and an e-catalogue customers can order from on WhatsApp. 21 languages and 75+ currencies.
The honest limits: it is cloud-based, so without internet staff cannot book a sale. It is not an EPOS card terminal, not MTD VAT software and has no marketplace sync. Which features are in which plan is shown in the Google Play and App Store listings.
Ofisx Offline Inventory
The sister app for a single phone, with the data stored on the device and backed up to Google Drive or iCloud. It does not suit a business with staff — there are no employee logins and no way to check stock from another device. More in our offline inventory apps comparison.
Square for Retail (UK)
Square is a till and card payments first, with stock control built in. Staff clock in with their own passcode, the Free plan includes time tracking for up to five team members, and custom permission sets (for example, who can give refunds) are included up to two on Plus or cost from £20 a month. Cost of goods sold and inventory adjustment reports are Plus features.
A strong fit if the counter already runs on card payments: you pay through the card fees until you need Plus.
Loyverse POS + Employee management
Loyverse runs the till on a phone or tablet you already own, with a browser Back Office, for free. To see sales by employee, set access rights or record timecards you add Employee management, priced per employee; free sales analytics cover only the last 31 days unless you add Unlimited sales history (5 USD per store per month). Each add-on has a 14-day free trial.
The pricing page is international and billed in US dollars.
Zoho Inventory (UK)
Zoho Inventory is order and inventory management for businesses that sell to trade customers or online, with purchase orders, barcode generation and scanning, and several locations. Plans are limited by orders per month, users and locations.
More than a shop with a couple of assistants usually needs, and every extra person counts against the user limit — but a good fit if you already use Zoho Books.
inFlow Inventory
inFlow is inventory and order management for wholesale and B2B, with sales orders, purchasing, fulfilment and barcoding. Each team member has their own login, which inFlow says increases traceability across sales, purchasing and fulfilment.
The most expensive starting point in this comparison for a small shop, and Lite covers one location.
Sortly
Sortly is built for tracking items, supplies and equipment with photos, barcodes and low-stock alerts, rather than for ringing up retail sales. Customisable user access is on Advanced and above; the report showing what each team member did is on Ultra and above.
Prices are in US dollars; on 14 October 2026 the page showed a 50% flash sale on yearly plans. More in Sortly alternatives.
Shared spreadsheet (Google Sheets)
A shared sheet is a common first step: everyone sees the same list, including on their phone. The trouble starts when three people sell during the day — nobody takes stock off straight away, there is no barcode scanner and no low-stock alert, and you cannot rely on it to show who sold what. You can import the same sheet into an app later — see spreadsheet or app?.
How to choose a stock app for a team
- Does every member of staff get their own login? — One shared "shop" login, or one spreadsheet for everyone, will not tell you who sold something or who booked a delivery in. Look for a separate account per person. Then check whether the price goes up with each person: Loyverse charges per employee, Zoho, inFlow and Sortly limit users per plan, and Square limits free time tracking to five team members.
- Can you see what each person sold when you're not in the shop? — This is usually the real question. You want a report of sales per employee and a stock figure that changes with every sale, on your own phone. In Ofisx, sales performance per employee sits in the reports next to profit and cash; in Loyverse it comes with the paid Employee management add-on; in Sortly the per-person activity report starts on Ultra.
- Phone on the shop floor, computer in the office — at the same time — Staff need the app on a phone by the shelf or the counter; you may prefer a big screen for reports and imports. Check that the same data is live on both, not synced once a day. Ofisx runs on Android, iPhone and web.ofisx.com on one cloud account.
- Barcode scanning instead of typing — When several people book sales, typing product names leads to mistakes and duplicates. A camera barcode scanner, several barcodes per product and a stock count with a movement history keep the numbers honest — and show where a difference came from.
- More than one place: shop, stockroom, van, second branch — If stock sits in more than one place, check that you can keep it per location. Ofisx keeps stock per warehouse and per vehicle; Zoho and inFlow limit locations by plan; Square's Plus plan is priced per location.
- Internet on site — Cloud apps — the only way for several people and the owner to see the same stock live — need a connection. If the shop has weak signal, test it in the stockroom first. An offline app works without internet, but only on one phone.
- Card payments and VAT returns stay separate — A stock app and an EPOS till solve different problems. If most customers pay by card, keep your card reader or a till such as Square or Loyverse. VAT returns under Making Tax Digital go through your bookkeeping software — a stock app's VAT report helps you check figures, it does not file them.
What Ofisx Inventory Management does not do
- Ofisx Inventory Management is not an EPOS till or card terminal: it does not take card payments. Printing on a 58/80 mm receipt printer is for receipts only.
- It is not MTD-compatible VAT software: it shows VAT in reports but does not submit VAT returns to HMRC. Use your bookkeeping software for Making Tax Digital.
- It has no sync with online marketplaces or web shops such as Amazon or eBay.
- Advanced features are Premium by subscription: the free version is enough to start, not necessarily for everything.
- It is cloud-based and needs internet — without a connection staff cannot book a sale. Ofisx Offline Inventory works without internet, but on one phone, with no staff logins and no web version.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best inventory app with multiple users for a small UK business?
If your staff sell and book deliveries on their phones and you want to see stock and each person's sales from anywhere, Ofisx Inventory Management fits: a login per employee, camera barcode scanning, sales performance per employee in the reports, and the same stock on Android, iPhone and the web; basic features are free, advanced features are by subscription. If you need a card-taking till with staff timecards, look at Square for Retail or Loyverse with its per-employee add-on. If you run sales orders and purchase orders across locations, Zoho Inventory or inFlow.
How can I see what my staff sold when I'm not in the shop?
Give each member of staff their own login rather than a shared one, have them book every sale in the app (scanning the barcode), and open the reports on your own phone. In Ofisx the reports show sales performance per employee alongside profit, turnover, VAT and cash, and stock levels change with every sale, so you can see the shelf position without being there. A shared spreadsheet cannot do this reliably — anyone can type over a figure.
Is there a stock app my staff can use on their own phones?
Yes. Ofisx runs on Android and iPhone, so staff can install it on a shop phone or their own and sign in with their own account; the owner can use the same account in the browser at web.ofisx.com. Loyverse, Square, Sortly, Zoho and inFlow also have mobile apps. Ofisx Offline Inventory is the exception: it runs on one phone only, without staff logins.
Do I pay for every member of staff?
It depends on the vendor. Loyverse charges 5 USD per employee per month for Employee management; inFlow Lite includes 2 team members and charges £19 a month for each extra one; Zoho Inventory includes 2 users on Standard; Sortly includes 1–8 user licences depending on the plan. Square gives unlimited staff passcodes but free time tracking only for up to five team members. For Ofisx, the plans and what they include are shown in the Google Play and App Store listings.
Can the same stock be on my phone and on the computer at the same time?
With a cloud app, yes. Ofisx keeps the data in the cloud, so the same account works on several phones and in the browser at once — staff book sales at the counter while you check reports at home. This needs internet on every device.
Is a shared Google Sheet enough for a shop with staff?
For two or three people and a few dozen lines, perhaps. But nothing takes stock off automatically when you sell, there is no barcode scanning or low-stock alert, and you cannot rely on it to show who sold what. Many shops start with a sheet and later import it into an app via Excel.
What if there is no internet in the shop or stockroom?
Multi-user cloud apps, Ofisx Inventory Management included, need a connection to book sales and share stock. If one person runs the business alone and there is no signal, Ofisx Offline Inventory works with no internet on one phone — free up to 100 items and 300 transactions — but it has no staff logins and no web version, so it is not a solution for a team.