Inventory management/ order fulfilment/ with custom supplier

[TheVeganist]

Hi Community,

I am looking for an application which tracks the inventory of my products and fulfils the orders automatically towards my custom supplier. 

I mainly cooperate with startups who manufacture their products themselves. Thus, the idea is to find a software solution which is to integrate and automate the following processes.

The incoming order fulfils automatically and gets sent to the supplier accordingly

Inventory gets updated at the supplier and at my shop.

sending emails towards customer would be a plus

sending the invoice to the customer would be a plus

any integration into accounting software would be a plus


I have spent already hours to find a suitable application but without any success so far. 

The Best solution I could come up with is to set a custom fulfilment in Shopify to inform the supplier about the purchase and having Stock Sync to keep track of the inventory. However, so far as I understood, Stock sync does not deduct the inventory when a purchase is made. 

I would be grateful for any help or suggestions.

[productsync]

Hi

The process seems very similar to a dropshipping type setup and there are a few apps available for that kind of data flow.

We operate our own data app that integrates with Shopify and other platforms. The key with your setup is what your suppliers use to manage inventory and if something can be automated into them. We customise a lot of integrations for our clients as we found that there isn't a one fits all solution. The Shopify side isn't a problem. Would need to discuss further how you want to manage the supplier side. For example we have a purchase ordering system built where it automatically emails suppliers orders. We also integrate it into some ERP's so the PO gets put directly in a system. This can be automated to push each order to a supplier. 

Let me know if you would like to chat further and work through the data flows. You can DM me on here or my email is tom@channelup.io

Regards

Tom

[JoesIdeas]

I work in this space and have some ideas to add:

The incoming order fulfils automatically and gets sent to the supplier accordingly
Order Automator  app will do that - you can create rules to fulfill line items, also to send notifications if you want. So if a product comes in for Vendor A, then you can have it autofulfilled and send an email to that vendor.

My team built that so we can also customize if you need it (for example some of the points you mentioned below).

Inventory gets updated at the supplier and at my shop.
This will happen automatically on your shop. For "at your supplier", it will depend what system they are using. If they just need a notification, then nothing additional needed. If they're using software, the first step would be to see if their software allows API connection. If yes, you / we could write some code to update the inventory count on new orders within an app.

sending emails towards customer would be a plus
Shopify handles this automatically.

sending the invoice to the customer would be a plus
One idea, you could include the invoice in the order confirmation email. Or have an app send them an invoice (might be restricted to certain formats, for example, a csv would be easy but a PDF may be more difficult to generate from code).

any integration into accounting software would be a plus
Depends what the accounting software is. If they have an API then yes you can write code in an app to communicate with it when new orders come in.

Summary, anything's doable, an existing app is your best solution but if you can't find what you're looking for and need a 100% custom app feel free to reach out, my team builds both public and private apps, we solve problems like this all the time.

Hope that helps.

[bahadir_e]

Hi @TheVeganist ,

We have a supply planning app offering purchase order automation. If you haven't already given it a try, here's the link: https://apps.shopify.com/fabrikator

The automation functionality is included in the enterprise plan since it requires customisation but when you install the app please message us from the in-app chat so we can help you out during your free trial.

[POPNOD]

Hi @TheVeganist ,

We had success implementing some of our clients using Order Fulfillment Guru. It's a Shopify app that automates order routing to your suppliers. It handles order-splitting really seamlessly and you can see the split orders directly in your Shopify Admin (instead of going into another app). Many of our clients like to use Shopify as the hub of orders. Your supplier handles the shipping. The app uses your existing Shopify email & SMS notifications to notify customers of order updates (so it can be customized any way you want, including adding invoice PDFs). Since all the data is in Shopify, it can integrate into any accounting software that Shopify already integrates with (some of our clients use QuickBooks Online and Xero).

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

[JoesIdeas]

@POPNOD be careful with that app, they've been caught writing fake reviews, attacking other apps by leaving fake negative reviews, and breaking Shopify's terms of service (reference: https://speedboostr.com/shopify-partners-caught-stealing/#copyright-cork).

I personally wouldn't advise my clients to use apps with unethical developers. If they are cool to leave fake 1 star reviews on competitors and fake 5 star reviews on their own app, who knows what they will do with access to a store's data. You can't trust dishonest people.

[GhostApps]

Hi, my app Simple Purchase Orders can definitely meet your shop's needs. It allows you to set up suppliers and import products and set cost prices. You can then automatically generate purchase orders from orders your customers make and it will import all of the items they order and their address and email it to your supplier. It can also handle splitting orders into multiple POs where the items have different suppliers. This should help you reduce time spent fulfilling orders and eliminate mistakes.

Please check it out and let me know if you have any questions

[nickpnz]

Hi @TheVeganist 

Have you had a look at Unleashed, Cin7 and Dear?

These are the most common in my region and could all handle your requirements.

[Syncee_Team]

Hi @TheVeganist 

You can do that whit Syncee's Auto Order solution. You can try it for free.

https://syncee.co/

[delwin_twc]

Hi @TheVeganist! It sounds Duoplane will automate exactly those processes you've mentioned! Let me break it down for you:

The incoming order fulfills automatically and gets sent to the supplier accordingly

- Duoplane will automatically take your order from Shopify, split it up, and send each individual order item to their respective suppliers to fulfill. Once fulfilled, your suppliers will send you tracking information, and invoices, which Duoplane will automatically send back to your Shopify store, and to your customer.

Inventory gets updated at the supplier and at my shop.

- Duoplane has the capability to sync your inventory to your supplier's. This can be done in different ways, whether via a CSV file, Google Sheets, X12 EDI, and more.

sending emails towards customer would be a plus

- I'm guessing you need tracking information to be sent to customers. If you have this set up inside Shopify, Duoplane will push the tracking information to Shopify which will automatically be pushed to your customers.

sending the invoice to the customer would be a plus

- Would need some clarification on this! Shopify should already be invoicing your customers as needed. Get in contact with Duoplane to chat more about this.

any integration into accounting software would be a plus

- Yes! Quickbooks and Xeros integration is possible. Other integrations include ShipStation, Quickbooks, Xero, SkuVault, ShippingEasy, Shippo. Duoplane can be installed on Shopify, BigCommerce, Amazon, and Magento!

Best of all, their customer support is excellent, and you can get a free trial before making any commitment. Do your research to see what best suits your needs. Don't just take my word for it - check out Duoplane on the Shopify app store and read their reviews.