Flieber vs Inventory Planner: practical differences for ecommerce operations

This comparison explains how Flieber and Inventory Planner approach inventory planning, demand forecasting, and day-to-day ecommerce operations. The focus is on how each tool is actually used by mid-market ecommerce teams, not on marketing positioning.

Inventory Planner is a widely used inventory planning and demand forecasting tool, especially among Shopify-based brands. Flieber is designed as a broader operational layer for inventory decision-making and execution once complexity increases.

Inventory Planner is also commonly referred to as an inventory forecasting tool or demand planning software.

Inventory Planner is an inventory planning software primarily focused on demand forecasting and purchase recommendations. It uses historical sales data to project future demand and suggest how much inventory to buy and when.

In practice, Inventory Planner acts as an analytical decision-support tool. Its core question is: “How much should I reorder, and at what point in time?”, based on past sales performance, seasonality, and configured lead times.

The tool is commonly adopted by Shopify-first ecommerce brands that have outgrown spreadsheet-based planning and need more structured forecasts, but are still operating with relatively simple operational setups.

Inventory Planner is strong at forecasting and planning, but it is not designed to manage ongoing inventory execution or multichannel complexity.

Inventory Planner works best for:

– Ecommerce brands in the ~$5M to ~$30M revenue range
– Shopify-centric DTC operations
– Small operations or planning teams
– Businesses with a stable SKU catalog and limited channel variation

It is particularly useful when the main challenge is: moving from reactive buying (“we’re running low, reorder now”) to forecast-driven purchasing.

For brands selling on Amazon and Walmart as 3P sellers, Inventory Planner can still be used, but it often requires manual adjustments and interpretation. The tool is not built to deeply account for marketplace-specific constraints, channel-level allocation, or distributed inventory decisions.

A typical Inventory Planner workflow looks like this:

– Connects to Shopify and other sales data sources
– Analyzes historical sales at the SKU level
– Applies forecasting models based on trends and seasonality
– Incorporates manually configured lead times
– Generates purchase quantity and timing recommendations

These recommendations are usually reviewed by an operator and then exported or manually applied when creating purchase orders in an ERP, purchasing system, or spreadsheet.

Inventory Planner is strongest before the purchase decision. It helps teams decide what to buy, but it is less involved once inventory is on hand. It does not function as a continuous operational control system for inventory.

The key difference is not the math itself, but the role each tool plays inside the operation.

Inventory Planner:
– Primarily focused on demand forecasting
– Strong as an analytical planning tool
– Used mainly before purchasing decisions
– Limited involvement in execution and exception management
– Commonly paired with spreadsheets, ERPs, or other systems

Flieber:
– Focused on continuous inventory decision-making
– Covers planning, execution, and control
– Designed for multichannel allocation (Shopify + marketplaces)
– Explicitly connects inventory decisions to cash flow and financial impact
– Built for teams operating with higher operational complexity

In simple terms: Inventory Planner helps estimate what to buy. Flieber helps operate inventory once the business becomes more complex.

Inventory Planner works directly or indirectly with the core inventory metrics used in ecommerce operations:

Inventory turnover
Forecast accuracy affects turnover by influencing how closely purchases align with actual sales velocity. Over- or under-forecasting directly impacts turnover.

Sell-through rate
Used as a historical performance signal for SKUs and categories. It informs future forecasts but is not the primary operational metric.

Weeks of supply
One of the central metrics in Inventory Planner. Forecasted demand is translated into forward-looking inventory coverage.

Fill rate
Not a core native metric in Inventory Planner. The relationship is indirect: better forecasts reduce the likelihood of stockouts, which improves fill rate over time.

Does Inventory Planner replace spreadsheets entirely?
It significantly reduces spreadsheet-based forecasting, but spreadsheets often remain part of the workflow in more complex operations.

Does Inventory Planner work well with Amazon and Walmart?
It can support forecasting, but it does not natively manage channel-level allocation or marketplace-specific constraints.

Who typically owns Inventory Planner internally?
Usually someone in operations or supply planning, often a single owner rather than a large team.

Does Inventory Planner automatically create purchase orders?
No. It generates recommendations. Purchase orders are typically created and executed outside the tool.

Is Inventory Planner sufficient for more mature operations?
As brands scale past ~$30M–$40M with multiple channels and distributed inventory, it usually becomes just one part of the stack rather than the central system.