Inventory Solution - Looking for recommendation

[Online_Seller]

The way we order stock from a supplier doesn't match up with the Purchase Order style ordering that Shopify and most 3rd party apps are based on.

We order or stock and our supplier adds it to their manufacturing system.

Once or twice a week the manufacture sends us the items that are ready with an invoice.

I enter their invoice into Shopify as a PO (bit laborious as invoice is a pdf and Shopify don't have an import PO option).

The stock that arrives first is the stock that is finished first.  It doesn't arrive in bundles matching the original order (the conventional PO style of ordering).

I would like to order stock using something like a PO, but I want the quantities to be held somewhere that I can access (maybe a metafield).  So that I can see that whilst we only have 2 in stock we have 10 on order.

I would then like it that when we have stock arrive and I check it in (currently by using a regular Shopify PO), that it decrements the quantity of the 'ordered' items, eg: so that I can see that I now have 7 in stock and 5 on order.

I can't see any apps that allow this style of 'storing ordered stock'.  I do not want to have 8 open purchase orders and then have to wade through all of them to check in 3 items here, 2 items there, etc.  I want something that it a bit like 'ordered POs' and 'arrived POs', and the 'arrived POs' check the stock off from the 'ordered POs' starting with the oldest ordered stock first.  It might be nice if the POs for ordering could be predicted based on stock levels and sales trends.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,

Online_Seller

[PageFly-Theodor]

Hi @Online_Seller ,
This is Theodore from PageFly - Shopify Page Builder App.

There are a few ways to manage your stock situation with a supplier that doesn't use traditional purchase orders. Inventory management apps with backordering features can track ordered and received items separately. You could also use Shopify metafields to store "on order" quantities for each product. Even within Shopify, creating a single purchase order with separate lines for each item and marking it partially fulfilled for each partial shipment can help. Finally, consider apps with features like reorder point suggestions based on sales data to predict future needs.

Best regards,
Theodore | PageFly

[Online_Seller]

• If you have recommendations of any apps that work the way that I have described, then could you please suggest them.
• I know I could potentially use metafields for 'on order' quantities.  I mentioned it in the original post.
• I explicitly stated that I don't want have to check off a shipment of incoming stock across multiple different purchases orders and you've suggested it as a solution.
• Reorder point prediction is a nice to have included in the solution and is not required as a stand alone.

[Stacy_Zhuk]

Hello @Online_Seller,

I couldn't find any existing app that fully meets your needs. It is more reliable to develop a totally custom app exclusively for your needs.

If you need any consultation or assistance, don't hesitate to ask.

Best regards,
Anastasia