Applying inventory to Parent Product and not variants

[ChikaraConsult]

Hi All

Appreciate this has been asked before - ive search the forum, seen similar questions but no real solutions on alot of threads from a few years ago - so hoping a solution is out there now.

I have a client who sells coffee.  Scenario:

He has Columbia Coffee and has 20kg of it in stock.  
On his website he sells this coffee with 2 variants:

• Firstly the size - either 250g or 1kg bags
• Secondly by bean size: Whole Bean / Espresso / Aeropress / V60 / Pour Over / French Press

the trouble is, he has to apply an inventory to the variants individually - whereas he would like to sell the variants in whatever volume based on the parent product inventory is. 

So for example, he has 20kg of the coffee - he could sell "80 bags of 250g coffee" or "20 bags of the 1kg coffee" - the bean size does not matter for stock inventory. 

Is there an app that i can set up the product and variants - but apply the stock inventory to the "parent" product and it calculates the stock from this across the sizes automatically?

hope this make

[Sushant]

Hi @ChikaraConsult ,

I believe "Invento: Virtual inventory Pro" app can solve this use case.

In this app, there is a feature of Phantom Sets. A Phantom set defines how a base material product or parent(actual coffee) is connected to the end sellable variants(250gram pack, 1 KG pack, etc.)

Once this setup is done, whenever the inventory of the child items is changes, the same adjustment will reflect across all connected variants and the base material or product will always contain the total available quantity of the product.

[Easify-Jennifer]

Hi @ChikaraConsult 

Looks like you're managing inventory by weight – totally makes sense for coffee.

You can try Easify Inventory Sync. It lets you link all size variants to a shared stock (e.g. 20kg), and auto-deducts the right amount (e.g. 0.25kg for a 250g bag). Super helpful for setups like yours! Here's how it works:

1. Create your products: Your main product with size variants and base product for inventory tracking. Set your base product (used for inventory tracking) with the total quantity (e.g. 5000g — since Easify doesn’t support decimals), then hide it so customers won’t see it.

2. Set Up Bundle Groups: Use the app to create Bundle groups that connect your base product with your main product. Here’s how to set up a bundle group for your product:

• Master Product: Main product - 250g variant
• Component Product: Base Product with the Quantity per Bundle set to 250

Do the same with other size variant

3. How It Works:

• The inventory for your main product will be automatically calculated based on the base product’s inventory.
• When 250g main product is purchased, the inventory of base product will be reduced automatically by 250. The app will then recalculate the available quantities for your main product based on the updated base product inventory, ensuring accurate inventory tracking.

This app is straightforward, and I believe it will work well for you. Reach out to Easify if you need any assistance! 🤗

[Anonymous]

Hi @ChikaraConsult 

This is a typical situation for coffee sellers and other businesses that sell the same product in various bag sizes or grind types, but store it as one bulk inventory. It can be really inefficient and risky to manage stock separately for each variant when it’s all coming from the same supply.

I recommend using Sumtracker as it is a fantastic solution for this!

Centralized Bulk Inventory:
With Sumtracker, you track your Colombian coffee as one total bulk amount — say, 20kg. Then, your product variants (like 250g or 1kg bags) automatically draw down from this bulk stock based on the size ordered.

So, if someone buys a 1kg bag, 1kg is deducted from your bulk. If they buy two 250g bags, 500g is deducted. This happens automatically — no more manual updates for each size.

Flexible for Grinding Options:
Grind type doesn’t affect the stock level, so you can keep offering Whole Bean, Espresso, V60, etc., without messing up inventory. Sumtracker focuses only on the size attribute for accurate stock control.

Highly Rated & Shopify Recommended:
Sumtracker has an outstanding 4.9-star rating on the Shopify App Store and is recommended by Shopify for stores needing smarter inventory management, bundles, and shared stock setups.

You can take a look here: Sumtracker Inventory Management on Shopify

Hope this helps, let me know if you’d like any tips for setting it up for your client!