Multi warehouse inventory and shipment

studio-umbrella
Shopify Partner
55 0 14

Hi everyone,

 

I have a client that has one online store but with 3 warehouses (EU, US and Asia). We're looking for a solution that can:

 

a) Display the inventory of the products according to the users location (IP) while on the product page (basically to make sure the product is in stock)

 

b) Automatically know from which warehouse to send the merchandise from.

 

I've looked into Locations that Shopify has rolled out, but this won't work because it basically just tries to fulfill the entire order from where-ever the inventory is available, but it doesn't look like it knows how to select the closets warehouse. 

 

Another solution is to create multiple online stores & accounts (with different URLs) and use redirection based on on IP. This will probably work, but will be more difficult to maintain.

 

I've also searched for apps or other services that can do this, but didn't find anything. I hope someone out there knows of a solution that can help!! 

 

Thank you!!

 

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Replies 13 (13)

Allan
Community Manager
411 73 208

Hey, there!

 

Jason here from Shopify Support.

 

Great question. Here's my recommendation for the two features you needed.

 


@studio-umbrella wrote:

a) Display the inventory of the products according to the users location (IP) while on the product page (basically to make sure the product is in stock)


Come check out an app called Product Inventory Information. This fantastic app was created by our fellow partner, @Thomas_Lang1. It offers the exact feature you've requested on displaying the inventory of the products according to the users' locations on the product page. If you have any questions during the setup process, feel free to contact the support at info@tom-it.nl.

 


@studio-umbrella wrote:

b) Automatically know from which warehouse to send the merchandise from.

This is a bit more tricky because you're looking to build an automated fulfillment process. If you are okay with manual fulfillment, Shopify location is able to let you fulfill the orders according to the warehouse/location you've selected. The feature doesn't fulfill the entire order from where-ever the inventory is available. Instead, the system lets you choose the location to fulfill the order. That being said, it's a manual fulfillment, meaning it requires you to have a person fulfilling the order and picking the warehouse where the inventory comes from. For your reference, here's how the order management through Shopify location work.

 

If you have your heart set on an automated fulfillment, I recommend you to check out Simple Purchase Orders. This app allows you to set up an automated order fulfillment with different warehouses. It offers free a 14-day free trial period. Feel free to give it a try and see if it meets your business needs. If it doesn't, don't forget to remove the app before the trial period ends to avoid app charges.

 

Just in case if the app doesn't meet your business needs, you can reach out to Shopify Experts. One of the developers will be able to create this automate order fulfillment tailoring your business needs with a contracted fee.

 

In your case, I suggest against creating different accounts for the sole purpose of warehouses. It's going to increase your business costs (each account comes with its own subscription fees/potential app fees) and will also increase your time to manage them. It isn't efficient and isn't cost effective.

 

I hope this information helps, however, should you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reply back here and I'd be happy to help out!

 

All the best,
Jason

Allan | Shopify Community
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studio-umbrella
Shopify Partner
55 0 14

Hi Jason,

 

Thanks for the thorough explanation.

I saw that app "Product Inventory Information" while researching but it didn't seem to allow the user to select from which warehouse he'd like to ship from. It only showed what the levels are. I'll reach out to ask about it. 

 

Yes, the second part of my problem is indeed tricky. I looked into using the Locations feature but it has limitations. You mention that I can manually select from where to ship from, but when reading and watching the videos, it says it automatically selects the warehouse that has been selected as the "online orders fulfillment location" and then chooses another location IF that primary one has items out of stock. It also looks like I cannot change that location in the order through the admin - maybe only the secondary warehouse if the order has been split. Is that correct? 

 

I have another solution in mind - I've seen suggestions of creating duplicate variants, where each variant would have it's unique tag or (similar) connecting it with a warehouse location. Then based on IP, I can hide the irrelevant variants, thus showing the correct inventory for the region from which the visitor is from. The shipping cost can be calculated normally, as I can setup regional pricing  which will change according to the users address (the price isn't calculated precisely, rather there are a few general prices for the region). The only thing left is choosing which fulfillment center to use. If I would be able to even do that manually, then it would work, but as mentioned above, I'm not sure I can... What do you think of this solution?

 

I'll also reach out to the developer of that app to see if this is can help.

 

Thanks 🙂

 

 

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Allan
Community Manager
411 73 208

Hey, there!

 

No problem at all. This is the least I could do.

 

My understanding of the Product Inventory Information app is that it enables the option to have your customer select a location on the product page "ship to me", or pick up at one of the enabled locations, the selected option will be saved as a product attribute. What I failed to clarify was that this feature is currently only available with Shopify Plus. That being said, the developer is actively working on making this feature available for all plans. 

 

You're right on on the limitations of Shopify locations. It only allows you to assign the secondary warehouses on the notion of the primary warehouse is out of stock on a specific product, not the primary one. 

 

That's a very interesting solution you have in mind! I think it's brilliant! It sounds like an extension of what the Product Inventory Information app does with the pick up/shipping feature. From the information that I gathered, it looks like the IP functions may involve Shopify script, which is currently only available to Shopify Plus. That being said, since we're in the brainstorming stage, it's totally worth exploring more with the developer. Let me know how it goes! I'd love to learn from you and see how this turns out!

 

Best,

Jason

 

Allan | Shopify Community
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studio-umbrella
Shopify Partner
55 0 14

Just to let you know of this, the client chose to create two accounts because that would be the easiest for them to manage. Thanks for your help!

 

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Allan
Community Manager
411 73 208

Hey, there!

 

You're most welcome. That's a great idea. Thank you so much for the update and thank your client supporting Shopify with two stores. Wishing you all great success! 

 

Cheers,

Jason

Allan | Shopify Community
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kiloj757
Visitor
2 0 0

Hello,

I have a store I'm trying to set up very similar to what is mentioned above. Three warehouses, Claymont, DE, Clearwater, FL, and Anaheim, CA. Some of our products are very large or high quantity and require custom shipping quotes. Some of our products are actual trailers and box trucks that are turn-key ready for clients to buy in custom packages that have to be custom delivered so I was looking into purchase order options that can be manually fulfilled by a person in the shop, but still deliver the customer an estimated quote.

 

I have a couple questions. Please let me know if I should start my own thread. Sorry for jumping on an existing one. But looking for advice in case anyone has has seen similar requests.

 

What kind of information do we need for each product? We have buckets of resin/liquid but those are usually bought in bulk.

 

Is it easier to set them up individually and let the shipping calculator build an estimate based on quantity? I am afraid this may scare customers because we will occasionally get a less expensive price after we include this product on a pallet with other products ordered.

 

Is there a way to walk a customer through or set up an order for a customer and then let them complete the checkout? Maybe save a search or a couple carts that the customer can choose from?

 

Thank you in advance for any help with this. It's all fairly new to me so I'm trying my best to learn. We are also probably not opposed to hiring a Shopify expert, but have not done that before.

QQ19
Visitor
1 0 0

This does not solve the problem at all. It only allows you to set primary warehouse and others. It's ridiculous that customers should be selecting warehouses. The warehouses are dedicated to locations and can not be chosen freely. It a simple feature for Shopify and as I read through the chats it hasnt been fixed for 3 years.

DanBlack
New Member
4 0 0

Hi,

just wondering if you found a solution to this problem. I saw that Shopify now allows true multi currency, so you can set prices (not live currency conversions).

Did you find a solution so that say US customers only sees US stock and are only fulfilled from a US warehouse in $ or an EU customer only sees EU stock and is only fulfilled from an EU warehouse in Euros?

Many thanks,

Dan

DanBlack
New Member
4 0 0
Hi
Our priority/objective is -
- we want a US customer to only see the stock in our US warehouse, to invoice in $, receive money for this order in $ and only push orders from US customers to our US third party warehouse.
- we want a EU customer to only see the stock in our Belgium warehouse, to invoice in EU, receive money for this order in euros and only push orders from EU customers to our EU third party warehouse.
- we want a UK customer to only see the stock in our UK warehouse, to invoice in £, receive money for this order in £ and only push orders from UK customers to our UK third party warehouse.

Is this possible?
Many thanks
Dan

studio-umbrella
Shopify Partner
55 0 14

Isn't the checkout area still only limited to one currency unless you're on the Shopify Plus plan? 

I can't seem to find a straight answer in the docs.

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Oliver_Sjostrom
Visitor
1 0 0

Hi Dan, 

We are facing the exact same issue. 

i was wondering if you managed to find a good solution for this? 

Regards 

Oliver 

DanBlack
New Member
4 0 0
Hi Oliver.
I think it depends on your budget. If you can afford to invest in a headless platform then am sure you can get it to work. We are looking at having three cloned Shopify Stores (one for UK, EU and US) and each will have their own integration with their own third party warehouse. Not ideal, or straightforward, but seems like the best and most affordable solution at this stage. We are using https://www.coderapper.com/ for this work, so feel free to reach out to them.
Thanks
Dan

ronald_g
Explorer
58 2 4

Hi,

You can set up multi-location inventory-based routing using Order Fulfillment Guru in under 5 minutes. You can set up rules based on many attributes, such as inventory availability, shipping country, shipping method, etc. For inventory availability, you can choose from all-or-none fulfillment or partial fulfillment (which isn't currently supported natively in Shopify). You can then assign the order to any Shopify location or even another fulfillment partner. Hopefully this help!