As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly choose commercial shelving for your stockroom.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 1 hour until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open a floor plan or measure the stockroom, then record the internal length, width and height, door openings, obstructions, fire exits, access routes and floor condition.
   2. Gather a stock list with the dimensions and weight of the heaviest items, the quantity needed per shelf or bay, and how items will be loaded and removed.
   3. Add your budget, delivery postcode, preferred materials, adjustability, environmental conditions and any requirement for anchoring or installation.
   4. Paste those details into the prompt, then ask the model to use current UK manufacturer and supplier pages and to cite every specification it reports.
   5. Open each cited product page and compare the drafted dimensions, load ratings, materials, warranty and availability with the page, marking any item the source does not confirm.
   6. Send the purchase brief and the unanswered safety questions to shortlisted suppliers or a competent installer, then confirm the room, floor, anchoring, access and installation method before ordering.

   Prompt

   Help me choose commercial shelving for a UK stockroom. Do not make the final safety or compliance decision and do not invent any product specification, price, stock status or legal requirement.
   
   Use these details:
   - Room internal dimensions and any doors, pillars, radiators, fire exits or other obstructions: [paste details]
   - Required shelving footprint, aisle and access constraints: [paste details]
   - Items to store, including dimensions, weight per item and maximum quantity per shelf or bay: [paste details]
   - How stock will be loaded and removed, including manual handling or equipment: [paste details]
   - Required shelf adjustability, materials and protection from damp, dust or temperature: [paste details]
   - Budget, delivery area and target installation date: [paste details]
   - Existing supplier or brand requirements: [paste details]
   
   Research current UK commercial shelving products and cite the manufacturer or supplier page for every factual specification. Separate confirmed facts from assumptions and unknowns. Produce:
   1. The key requirements and any missing measurements or weights.
   2. A shortlist of suitable shelving systems, with dimensions, stated load ratings, materials, adjustability, price only where published, delivery information only where confirmed, and links to sources.
   3. A comparison table showing which requirements each option meets, does not meet or cannot be checked against.
   4. Questions to send to each supplier about load ratings, anchoring, floor suitability, installation, inspection and returns.
   5. A purchase brief I can send to suppliers.
   6. A final section titled 'Checks before ordering' that tells me what a competent person or installer must confirm on site. Do not recommend an option where a critical safety fact is missing.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.