The foundation of flawless Shopify operations is effective Shopify inventory management, which guarantees on-time deliveries and satisfied clients.

Are you prepared to advance your Shopify business? Whether you’re a novice or an experienced seller, increasing sales and satisfying customers requires maintaining your inventory supplied and current.

Shopify provides the capability to monitor inventory levels for each SKU and for individual variants, just like the majority of e-commerce platforms and inventory management systems.

Along with swiftly scanning products using barcodes, you can also organize things by category, type, season, and sale.

Accurately monitoring your stock levels is one of the most crucial parts of managing any business.

For this reason, if you run an e-commerce company with a large number of SKUs, Shopify inventory management apps can be quite helpful.

These apps offer more than just automate stock management on Shopify. They aid in loss prevention as well.

Additionally, these types of features are essential to assisting you in optimizing your earnings at the conclusion of any accounting period.

What is Shopify Inventory Management?

The process of placing orders, keeping inventory, and using it for a business is known as inventory management.

Shopify inventory management also covers the processing, warehousing, and administration of components, raw materials, and completed goods.

By keeping the necessary inventory on hand to boost sales and ensure a smooth manufacturing process, inventory management contributes to the health of your supply chain.

The foundation of your business is knowing what products you have, what’s in your warehouse, and how your stock levels are being handled. This is where Shopify inventory management comes into play.

Shopify Inventory Management Basics

I’ll take you step-by-step through the process of adding inventory to your Shopify store in this article on Shopify inventory management.

I’ll show you how you can handle bulk uploads utilizing CSV files or manual changes for smaller inventory.

Manual Updates to the Inventory

Manual updates are easy and quick to perform if you have a minimal amount of items to manage.

Simply execute the following actions:

• Enter the Shopify CMS and log in.
• From the left sidebar, select “Products.”
• Choose the product for which you wish to change/update the inventory.
• Navigate to the “Available” column and enter the desired quantity of inventory.
• Click on “Save” to apply all the changes made.

CSV File Uploads in Bulk

Bulk uploads with CSV files work best for larger inventories. This is how you do it:

• Download the CSV template by selecting “Import” from the product page.
• Go back to the Shopify CMS after saving the file.
• Click “Import” once more, pick the CSV file you have ready, and select “Overwrite.”
• Double check the overview and select “Import” to upload the inventory.
• Make sure your inventory has been updated accordingly by checking it again when the upload procedure is complete.
• Go to the product page and ensure your changes are reflected in the stock quantities.

Be sure to keep in mind that CSV uploads make the process easier for bigger catalogs, while manual changes are ideal for smaller stocks.

What’re the Primary Elements of Shopify Inventory Management?

Demand forecasting: Sometimes referred to as demand planning, is the process of projecting how much inventory will be required to satisfy future demand from customers.

It helps retailers choose the ideal moment and amount to replenish their inventories. Analyzing data from a variety of sources, such as historical sales data, industry trends, and consumer behavior, is part of this process.

Purchasing & Ordering: This entails controlling the delivery of goods, negotiating with suppliers, and putting orders for fresh supply.

Stock Levels: Businesses may make sure they have adequate inventory to meet customer demand and prevent stock outs by managing the stock levels of each product (number of items in stock, reorder points, etc.).

Inventory Control: This is the process of putting procedures in place (cycle counting, inventory tracking, barcode scanning, etc.) to guarantee correct inventory levels, sustained good condition, and cost-effective organization.

Inventory Cost: Keeping track of inventory expenses, such as cost of goods sold (COGS), holding costs, and ordering costs, enables companies to make more educated decisions when investing in new inventory.

What’re the Pitfalls & Challenges of Shopify Inventory Management?

Inadequate Integration of Products: A lot of products don’t work with Shopify. Inventory management for these restricted commodities will need to be manually set up across numerous channels.

Not only will you need to handle every channel independently, but it can also be a laborious procedure that raises the possibility of overstocking or overselling.

Different Functionalities Across Channels: When your Shopify store joins a multichannel brand, it’s critical to understand inventory and other data in a broader context.

Should you wish to compare the performance of your products not only on Shopify but also on other platforms like as Amazon and Etsy, then depending solely on Shopify’s built-in inventory management services can be difficult.

Automatic Replenishment of Stock: Expanding your company’s SKU library makes it more difficult for automated inventory replenishment.

This is due to the fact that when your library grows, there is a greater chance of inventory problems like overstocking and incorrect counting.

Top 5 Shopify Inventory Management Apps

Stock Sync

One of the most well-liked Shopify inventory management tools is Stock Sync. This app has received overwhelmingly positive feedback and is heavily influenced by Google.

Using SKU information, this program can let you automatically update inventory data.

With the help of this software, you can synchronize comprehensive data, export inventory, control product prices, and more. Furthermore this application supports scheduled inventory changes.

Pros

• Simple pricing changes for products and automated scheduling of inventories.
• Enhanced capabilities for inventory management on Shopify and it has excellent shipping features.

Cons

• It isn’t very easy to set up and mapping functions are a tad difficult to use.

Extensiv Order Manager

Another inventory management tool made just for Shopify sellers is called Extensiv Order Manager.

This app is well-known for its exceptional analytics capabilities and special ability to make complex areas of Shopify inventory management easier to understand.

Extensiv Order Manager provides all the tools required to monitor the operation of your business in one location. You may quickly examine all significant data, including incoming stock, low-stock levels, and fulfillment performance measures, via its dashboard.

Pros

• An all-in-one app focused om improving business performance.
• Astounding customer support services.
• Get invaluable and accurate statistics and insights into your products.

Cons

• It’s quite expensive, despite having fewer integrations than some of its competitors.

Sellbrite

If you’re using a multi-channel sales strategy, Sellbrite, the Shopify inventory management system, may be added to your Etsy, eBay, and Amazon checkout. Sellbrite helps Shopify users sell their goods globally.

You can access a number of essential features with this useful software to enhance the functionality of your Shopify store.

Pros

• A good choice for small businesses due to its reasonable prices and integrates Fulfillment by Amazon.
• Automatically synchronize your inventory and outstanding help and customer service.
• Accommodates several warehousing locations and is appropriate for a variety of market choices.

Cons

• Sellbrite does not provide syncing for/with accounting programs.

Stocky

The excellent inventory management software, Stocky was developed especially for Shopify point-of-sale (POS) systems.

Therefore, if you’re using a point-of-sale system, you can be confident that it’s well-optimized for your system.

Stocky provides product recommendations based on profitability, assisting you in keeping your retail store’s inventory levels optimized.

In-depth reporting capabilities are also included to make sure you are making the best inventory decisions possible.

Pros

• Enables you to send purchase orders to your vendors and to build and manage them.
• Strong analytics and product suggestions supported by data.

Cons

• Can only be used for retail stores as it requires a Shopify POS Pro plan.

Inventory Planner

This software reports market trends and assists you in managing and controlling inventory for your Shopify business. Inventory Planner has a ton of incredible features.

You’ll find helpful tables and graphs that display your sales figures for a week or a month, based on the products sold and your cash flow.

Ordoro, Google Analytics, Quickbooks Online, Stichlabs, and more programs can be integrated with this tool.

Pros

• Summarizes the remaining item counts and makes a financial plan with ease.
• Sends out emails when stock levels drop and suggests prioritized products for ordering.

Cons

• The interface can be a tad overwhelming due to so much data being displayed.

What’s Inventory Forecasting on Shopify?

Businesses using the Shopify platform employ a method called “Shopify inventory forecasting” to project their future stock needs based on past sales information, trends, and patterns.

Shopify store owners may fulfill customer demand without overstocking or understocking by using this forecasting to make well-informed decisions about how much inventory to buy and maintain.

Are There Various Types of Shopify Inventory Forecasting?

There are numerous ways to slice this classification, depending on how specific you want it to be.

Nonetheless, you ought to begin examining these four broad methods for Shopify inventory management and forecasting:

Quantitative Forecasting: Using statistical techniques and past sales information from your Shopify store, this data-driven strategy projects future demand.

It usually functions well for companies who have access to a large amount of historical data on their products.

Trend Forecasting: Similar to quantitative forecasting, trend forecasting is a data-driven technique that focuses on identifying and preparing for long-term trends.

As a result, you probably wouldn’t use it to chart any sudden changes.

Graphical Forecasting: The best application for graphical forecasting is as an enhancement and supplement to quantitative and/or qualitative stock forecasting.

Using graphics in decision-making can facilitate communication, make it easier to identify mistakes or inconsistencies, and provide more clarity.

Qualitative Forecasting: This approach might be more effective for you if your historical data is lacking, restricted, or not sufficiently dependable for one reason or another.

You’re more likely to rely on expert opinions, subjective judgment, and other pertinent approaches that cannot be measured if you need to estimate demand for a new product or in a volatile market.

Why is Shopify Inventory Forecasting Critical for Your Business?

The goal of stock forecasting is to balance the numbers by estimating demand:

• Inventory In/Out
• Judicious Spending
• Production Scheduling/Planning
• Ordering Materials

Maintaining a tight ship requires striking as close to that balance as you can because it can have a significant impact on the caliber of your customer relationships as well as the long-term viability and profitability of your company.

What’re the Primary Benefits of Shopify Inventory Forecasting?

The entire range of advantages that accurate stock forecasting can offer your e-commerce firm is dependent on a number of factors, some of which may be unique to your trade, location, inventory, and other factors.

However, it’s safe to claim that the three examples that follow apply to almost any company that sells goods:

1. Minimize Overstocking: By accurately projecting demand, you can avoid carrying excess inventory by rightsizing your supply in the opposite way.
2. Minimize Stock Outs: One benefit of effective stock forecasting might be that you rarely ever have to tell customers, “We’re out of what you’re looking for.” If you can accurately predict customer demand for your items, you will always have enough inventory on hand to satisfy their demands.
3. Optimize Cash Flow: One approach to use forecasting to your advantage is to avoid paying for unnecessary stock storage. Less money spent on needless inventory equals more cash that can be invested in other areas of your company’s growth, including supply chain efficiency optimization or more assured production and procurement planning.

Best Practices to Adhere to for Your Shopify Inventory Forecasting

When it comes to adhering to tried-and-true best practices, it’s wise to follow the herd. It does help you avoid predictable forecasting errors and better position your company for growth, even while it cannot guarantee success.

Here are some suggestions to ponder:

Organize, Organize, Organize – The accuracy of the data that forms the basis of your Shopify inventory estimate greatly affects its quality.

Invest in Shopify integration solutions that can provide you with a comprehensive overview of all your demand drivers and conduct routine audits to ensure the quality of your data.

Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket – Estimating commercial demand is a difficult task that requires knowledge of several different aspects in order to produce accurate findings.

Therefore, it’s recommended that you not depend on just one forecasting technique. Learn how each one might be most effective for your goods and with your data so that you can leverage their complementary qualities.

Update Your Forecasts Frequently – It’s in your best interest to not take stability for granted, regardless of how stable the business environment may seem at any given moment.

Change is the only constant, so update your forecasts on a regular basis. Based on your specific products, you should update your Shopify inventory forecast(s) at whatever regular frequency that makes the most sense.

Final Thoughts

Shopify inventory management is the backbone of any successful ecommerce operation.

Without a handle on your stock levels and forecasting future demand, you’ll be playing a guessing game that leads to unhappy customers and lost revenue.

The right Shopify inventory management apps and forecasting tools give you powerful insights to optimize your ordering, bundling, safety stock, open-to-buy planning and more.

You can maintain that ideal balance of having just enough inventory to meet demand without overstocking.

As your business scales, your inventory needs will evolve. Be prepared to continually review and adapt your approach.

Look for new integrations, leverage more data sources, and take advantage of automation to stay efficient.

Shopify inventory forecasting is both an art and a science. It takes practice, but once you find the rhythm that works for your products and sales cycles, you’ll marvel at how it streamlines operations and maximizes your bottom line.

Mastering Shopify inventory management is one of the biggest challenges you’ll face as an online seller. But when you get it right, you’ll have a significant competitive advantage that drives sustainable growth for years to come.