Shopify Inventory Management: Beginners Guide

If you're a business owner who's just getting started with Shopify, you're probably wondering how to manage your inventory. This guide will teach you the basics of inventory management in Shopify, so you can keep your stock under control and avoid running out of products. Read on to learn more!

What Is Shopify Inventory Management?

You've undoubtedly heard of Shopify a million times, whether you're a novice or a seasoned entrepreneur with years of experience in the eCommerce industry. Shopify is known for being a one-stop-shop that has everything you need to set up an online business in just a few simple steps.

Shopify does have a slew of features that cater to a wide range of business sizes. Medium and small organizations may take advantage of analytical insights and analytics, faultless inventory control, and more with one of three basic price options.

What To Watch Out For In A Shopify Inventory Management Solution

Because Shopify is such a popular eCommerce solution, inventory management software abounds. The important thing is to discover the proper solution for your logistics plan. To identify the best inventory management system for your Shopify business, take into account your current tech stack as well as your current Shopify fulfillment process.

Multi-channel monitoring, reporting tools, inventory forecasting tools, and the capacity to maintain inventory levels in real-time throughout your distribution system are some of the capabilities to search for. Here's a list of things to keep an eye out for:

Simple Integration And Setup

Whatever solution you select should be simple to set up and integrate with Shopify directly. You could spend a lot of time on the setup process if you don't have a complete integration, which raises the chance of things going wrong.

Although you may manually link inventory management software to your Shopify store, many choices offer a simple integration that can be set up in a matter of minutes.

Facilitates Inventory Distribution

You'll need a system that lets you track and manage inventory levels across different warehouse or fulfillment center locations from a single dashboard if you want to divide inventory across several warehouse or fulfillment center locations.

You must synchronize the inventory management system with warehouse management software for the dispersed inventory technique to perform correctly (WMS); it allows for real-time inventory data and visibility throughout the fulfillment process.

Makes Use Of Cutting-Edge Inventory Management Methods

Because inventory management entails so much, it's critical to find software that helps track inventory data while automating time-consuming inventory activities.

Seek inventory management software that uses cutting-edge approaches to help you better manage your distribution network by decreasing human errors and eliminating manual labor.

Inventories Are Replenished Using A Computerized System

The more stock you have, the more tracking you will need to do. Your stock levels will vary more and flip over more rapidly with more orders. Constantly tracking when inventory has to be replenished can be time-consuming and result in significant variances.

Having real-time and previous data allows you to see which items are moving slowly and rapidly, so you can make more informed judgments about when to replenish inventory.

When inventory levels fall under a given pre-defined threshold, some inventory applications help to create automatic reorder alert points, allowing you to control inventory better.

Multi-Channel Compatibility

As your firm grows, you'll be able to sell through many channels, known as multi-channel commerce. This involves selling things through Amazon, Facebook, and Walmart through your website.

You may utilize Shopify as the hub of your sales while still controlling all of your stock in one location if you use an inventory control technology that manages inventory across numerous sales channels.

You must synchronize the inventory management system with warehouse management software for the dispersed inventory technique to perform correctly (WMS); it allows real-time inventory data and visibility throughout the fulfillment process.

Top Challenges Of Shopify Inventory Management

Some companies must move merchandise far more rapidly than others. Possessing too much inventory on hand may be a business expenditure that affects income and leaves you with extra stock to unload at the end of the season.

In contrast, not having adequate inventory for order fulfillment can result in a considerable loss of potential sales and harm your brand's reputation among customers. You want to count on a reliable inventory management system to reduce the business costs of too much stock and risk losing market share if you can't compete with purchasing demand. Your inventory control system should keep track of every single product and synchronize with each outlet you sell on as quickly as possible.

Furthermore, Shopify does not notify you when stock levels are low. It would help if you were told when your inventory runs out to place further orders. You would like an inventory control system that lets you automate buy orders and never have to notify a client you're out of stock.

The silo mindset produced by Shopify inventory is yet another critical difficulty for eCommerce companies. The data is restricted to only product-related information. As a company owner, you understand that each moving element is reliant on another business function; therefore, seeing and managing your inventory in isolation from other areas of the firm can be counterproductive.

Final Words

Running an online store may be challenging and time-consuming. Thanks to Shopify inventory management, your everyday selling will no longer be time-consuming. This function will help you keep track of your items and orders, alter inventory as needed, and manage transfers from other vendors. In addition, Shopify inventory management includes an inventory analysis report to assist you in determining a selling plan for each product category.