Effectively managing your Shopify inventory

At Stellar, we've gathered everything our clients regularly ask us about logistics and order management in our Shopify FAQ.

Managing inventory on Shopify is essential for good organization and to avoid stockouts or overstocking. Here are the steps to follow for effective inventory management on a Shopify agency:

1. Connect a product to your inventory:
   • Access your Shopify dashboard.
   • Go to "products" and select the product you want to manage.
   • Under "inventory," indicate the available quantity.
2. Set up inventory tracking:
   • Check the "track quantity" option.
   • Opt for "Shopify tracks this variant automatically" for automated tracking.
   • Set a reorder alert to be notified when stock is low.
3. Use inventory management apps:
   • Explore the Shopify App Store for tools like Stocky or TradeGecko.
   • These apps can synchronize your inventory across different sales channels and provide detailed reports.
   • They also offer advanced features such as supplier management and inventory level optimization.
4. Conduct regular inventories:
   • Schedule periodic physical inventories to verify the accuracy of your stock.
   • Quickly identify and resolve inventory discrepancies.
   • Use barcode scanners for increased accuracy and speed.
5. Optimize through reports:
   • Use Shopify reports to analyze your inventory performance.
   • Identify best-selling and slow-moving products to make informed decisions.
   • Adjust your stock levels based on seasonal trends and sales forecasts.

For example, an online clothing retailer decides to integrate the Stocky app with their Shopify store. After a few months of use, they notice a decrease in stockouts and better product rotation. Thanks to automated reorder alerts, they can anticipate orders from their suppliers, ensuring continuous availability of the most popular products. Furthermore, by using Stocky's detailed reports, they quickly identify slow-moving items and decide to promote them, thereby reducing overstocking and freeing up space for new collections.

Source: Shopify Blog - Inventory Management