What you need to run it
Short answer: probably nothing. It runs in a browser, and the phone in your pocket already scans QR codes. Everything below is an upgrade, not a requirement — and we don't sell any of it, so there's nothing here we're pushing.
Start with what you have
A phone or tablet, and any printer you already own
Inventory Factory prints through your device's normal print dialog, so any printer that's already set up will produce tags on plain label sheets or even paper in a sleeve. Phone cameras read QR codes natively. This is a real starting point, not a compromise — run a rack this way for a week before buying anything.
When you're ready to make it faster
A 2D imager — USB, keyboard-wedge
A keyboard-wedge scanner types into whatever field is focused. No drivers, no app, works the same on Windows, Mac, Android and iPad. Plug it in, click the tag field, pull the trigger.
Anything that prints natively from a browser
This is the one specification that actually matters, and it's the one nobody lists clearly. The app drives your operating system's print dialog, so the printer must support native printing — AirPrint on Apple, Mopria on Android. Ignore the word "wireless" in a product title: on most sub-$100 label printers it means Bluetooth plus a required manufacturer app, and a web app cannot drive those at all. A plain USB label printer attached to a computer works perfectly and is often the cheapest path.
Size for 4 × 2 inch stock. That's what the tag layouts are built around.
Thermal transfer, synthetic — not direct thermal
Direct thermal labels fade. In a shop — heat, sunlight through a bay door, forklift traffic, a sleeve dragged across a rack — they can become unreadable in months. Thermal transfer uses a ribbon and lasts years. Pair it with synthetic label stock rather than paper if material lives outside.
Direct thermal is fine for pick labels that get thrown away the same day. It is the wrong choice for a rack tag meant to still be legible next winter.
Two setups that work
Phones and your existing printer
QR labels, phone cameras, print through the office printer onto label sheets. Good enough to run a real rack and find out whether this fits your shop.
A 2D imager and a native-print label printer
Scanner at the receiving bench, 4 × 2 thermal transfer labels on synthetic stock, phones out on the floor for lookups. This is the setup most shops settle on.
Things to be careful of
All-in-one Android handhelds with a built-in printer
They look ideal and mostly aren't, for two reasons: the built-in printer is usually driven by the manufacturer's own SDK rather than Android's native printing, so a web app can't reach it; and they're typically 58 mm receipt width, too narrow for a 4-inch tag. A rugged Android scanner paired with a separate network printer does the same job and actually works.
Still not sure?
Tell us how your shop runs and we'll tell you what we'd buy. We don't sell hardware, so the answer is just the answer.
We don't take affiliate commission on anything listed here and we don't resell hardware. Recommendations are based on what we've actually run.