Abstract is the operating system for businesses that make, stock and ship. Quotes, orders, purchasing, warehouse, manufacturing, tills and reporting on one database, built and supported in the UK.
Eight kinds of business run on Abstract. Each gets the same database and a different front door: the modules, the workflows and the demo that matter to them.
Every channel in, every parcel out, one stock figure.
Shopify and trade orders land in one queue with the customer's notes, get allocated per line and per warehouse, picked in waves that cannot double-pick, and leave with a Royal Mail or FedEx label. Returns, credits and refunds flow back the same way.
- Orders from every Shopify store arrive already routed through Action Center rules
- Kits sell at the stock of their lowest component, so a bundle never oversells
- Pick waves built from carrier cut-offs; scan-verified so a line is never picked twice
- Royal Mail and FedEx labels printed from the order; shipments pushed back to the channel
- Store-collection orders tracked to the till
Orders arrive from your Shopify stores, the sales desk and the till. They are allocated per line, picked in waves, shipped on Royal Mail or FedEx and invoiced into Xero. Purchasing and works orders feed the same stock. Anything that goes wrong lands in Action Center.
Not slides. Each object below is an animated slice of the real workflow, and most of them you can try below.
Stock that cannot lie.
What is on a batch move still counts. Kits show the stock of their lowest component so you never oversell. Every warehouse, bin and batch is one number, not three spreadsheets.
- Batch moves counted in ATP and exceptions
- Serial, batch and bin aware
- Negative-margin and negative-stock guards
A pick that cannot be picked twice.
Pick Control releases waves, watches every picker and every bin live, and turns a short shelf into a reallocation instead of a stopped floor.
- Waves from cut-offs, channels and carriers
- Exceptions with the fix suggested
- A picker league your team will actually check
A scanner that says no.
Warehouse Mobile runs receiving, picking, counts, batch moves and merging bins on Android. Scan a bin someone else already picked and it blocks you, with their name and the time.
- Merge bins, move allocated stock with them
- Goods-in, counts and moves by scan
- Same roles and permissions as the web app
See the problem before it is one.
The scheduler puts every works order against real work-centre capacity. Drag a job and capacity, sequence and due dates react; a late delivery shows up as a material date before anyone starts the job. The forward planner sets months of demand against the purchase orders already due.
- Capacity in hours per work centre
- Warnings for overloads and late jobs
- Raise purchase order lines from the demand gap
One queue for everything that went wrong.
Late purchase orders, short picks, refund requests, negative-margin quotes and orders at risk of shipping late arrive in Action Center with the context and the fix. Ask the assistant only when you want to; it uses one AI action from your monthly allowance and is never billed.
- Routing rules per source and severity
- AI drafts cached and capped, never on the hot path
- Audit trail on every decision
A till on the warehouse's stock.
Abstract POS runs your stores with several users per till, store collections for web orders, and end-of-day, all on the same database as the warehouse. No sync job, no second stock file, and the till keeps selling if the connection drops.
- Store collections marked fulfilled back to Shopify
- Returns, vouchers and end-of-day
- Batch-move transfers stay counted
A whole range from one template.
Product Forge generates every size, colour and season variant with codes, EAN-13 barcodes and prices, then maps them to your Shopify stores. Seasons, brands, groups and sizes are real masters, so ranges roll over cleanly.
- Size × colour × season matrices
- Valid barcodes generated, not typed
- Channel mapping carries images and prices
Reports you build, not request.
Reports Studio is a builder, not a list: pick the module, drag the fields, add tiles, schedule it to land in inboxes as PDF and XLSX. Sell-through by range, margin by customer, capacity by work centre.
- Dynamic tiles and drill-through
- Schedules and exports
- Every module, one builder
Sell, stock, buy, make, move, retail, run, connect. Tap an industry to see what matters to you; anything marked Try it opens a live demo.
Six real workflows on demo data, same logic as the product. Each one ends with something you made: an order dispatched, a wave packed, a range generated, a till closed.
A trade quote, converted, allocated across two warehouses with a kit exploded, dispatched with a carrier label. · 4 moves · 90 seconds
| Line | Qty | Unit | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
TNT-RIDGE2 Ridge 2 tent | 2 | £166.32 | £332.64 |
KIT-CAMP Camp cook kit (bundle) · BOM | 6 | £69.52 | £417.12 |
| Net (after 12% trade) | £749.76 | ||
| VAT 20% | £149.95 | ||
| Total | £899.71 | ||
| Margin (kit costs rolled up) | 47% | ||
A trade quote, converted, allocated across two warehouses with a kit exploded, dispatched with a carrier label.
4 moves · 90 seconds02Pick ControlRelease a wave to three pickers, watch every bin go live, resolve a short pick without stopping the floor.
1 click · 40 seconds03SchedulerDrag works orders across four work centres. Capacity, sequence and fabric arrival push back.
Drag & drop · 60 seconds04Product ForgePick sizes, colours and a season. Watch a full variant matrix generate with codes, barcodes and prices.
3 picks · 20 seconds05Action CenterTriage a morning's exceptions: a late PO, a short pick, a Shopify refund, a negative-margin quote.
5 decisions · 60 seconds06Abstract POSScan items at the till, take a payment, hand over a store collection. Stock moves in the same database.
Scan & pay · 45 secondsThe typical stack is an accounting-led ERP plus a warehouse add-on, a POS, a shipping tool, a BI tool and a pile of spreadsheets. Here is what that looks like against one database.
| Capability | The stack you would otherwise stitch together | Abstract |
|---|---|---|
| Stock across warehouses and stores | ERP + separate WMS | ✓ |
| Batch moves counted in stock | Often in limbo | ✓Counted in exceptions and ATP |
| Quote → sales order → BOM works order | ERP + manual re-key | ✓ |
| Pick waves with live scan status | WMS add-on | ✓ |
| Mobile scanning app | WMS vendor, per device | ✓Android |
| EPOS sharing warehouse stock | Separate POS + sync | ✓ |
| Workshop job queue from the till | Job-card tool | ✓ |
| Works orders, work centres, scheduler | MRP add-on | ✓ |
| Shopify stores | Connector per channel | ✓ |
| Royal Mail and FedEx labels | Shipping tool | ✓ |
| Xero two-way sync | Included or extra | ✓ |
| Report builder with schedules | BI tool | ✓ |
| Workflow automation | Zapier-style tool | ✓ |
| Exceptions queue with AI drafts | Email and memory | ✓ |
| Multi-entity groups | Enterprise tier | ✓ |
| Migration priced up front, run by the product team | Partner day rates | ✓ |
Customers, suppliers, products, stock, open orders and history, migrated by the people who built Abstract, with your team trained before go-live. Coming from another ERP, an accounts package or spreadsheets: self-serve imports are free, guided and full migrations are priced up front, never as a surprise.
Anything else, ask from inside the product: support tickets land with the engineers who build it.
Every price published, migration priced up front, and six demos to run before you talk to anyone.