For a physical storefront and an online store on Shopify we’re looking to o create a “buffer” or “safety stock” for our online listings. This approach aims to ensure we always have stock available, even in the event of simultaneous online and in-store sales.
To explain further, if we have 10 units of a product available, we’d like our Shopify store to only show a portion of that (e.g., 6 units available online), thus keeping a buffer to prevent stockouts from affecting either sales channel.
I’m reaching out to the community for insights or advice on how to best implement this strategy within Shopify. Is there a direct way to set up such a buffer stock level for online inventory, or will I need to rely on manual adjustments or third-party apps? If it’s the latter, are there specific apps or tools you’d recommend for managing this aspect of inventory control?
Any guidance on how to approach this, experiences with similar setups, or recommendations for apps and tools would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance for your help and suggestions!
For this you can create metafield at product level or variant level whatever is applicable which will have the count you want to have buffer, now custom edit the code of theme at main-product.liquid and JS file which will mark the product out of stock when product reach to your buffer.
Hi, I’m facing the same issue but I need a buffer per store of 2 so if stock = 3 we can sell one but if stock is 2 or 1 it will not sell online. We replenish stores weekly and this is all related to pick up orders - so I need each location to have the buffer not the product inventory overall. Is there an app either for this? I have 4 online locations offering pick up
If your true on hand inventory is 100 and you want your buffer to be 10, you can add 10 to safety stock and make 90 available for purchase. When people by 90 units of your product, the product will show as out of stock.
The one annoyance is that by default, if you add 10 safety stock to a 100 on hand units, Shopify will show 110 on hand units and 100 available. So you will need to adjust it to 100 on hand and 90 available with a few clicks.
Hi, thank you but having a stock buffer like this doesn’t consider the various stock per store. If you want a buffer per location. My developers have implemented a plan when sharing stock figures from our EPOS for each location the stock will be minus 2. Each shop online is showing stock less 2 units. That will be enough to ensure safety with pick up orders. If anyone else needs to know.
Great question and a really smart operational decision to make early. Here are the practical ways to implement buffer stock in Shopify:
Native Shopify approach
Shopify doesn’t have a built-in buffer stock setting unfortunately. The closest native option is manually keeping your online inventory count lower than your physical stock, so if you have 10 units, you manually enter 6 in Shopify. Simple but requires manual discipline every time stock changes, which breaks down quickly at volume.
Location-based workaround
If you set up your physical store and online store as separate locations in Shopify, you can allocate stock between them directly. Assign 6 units to your online location and 4 to your physical location. Shopify then manages each independently. This is the cleanest native solution without third-party apps and it scales reasonably well if your team is disciplined about location transfers.
Third-party apps worth looking at
For a more automated buffer, these apps handle it well:
→ Stocky - Shopify’s own inventory management tool, handles safety stock settings per location → Inventory Planner lets you set reorder points and safety stock buffers with more granularity → ShipHero good for combined physical and online inventory management with buffer logic built in → Stock Sync allows rules-based inventory management including percentage-based buffers
The recommended approach for your setup
Given you’re running one physical and one online channel, the location-based split in native Shopify is the cleanest starting point - no app cost, no complexity. Set it up, test it for a few weeks, and only move to a third-party app if the manual location transfer process becomes too cumbersome as volume grows.
The key thing to get right regardless of approach make sure your buffer logic updates automatically when stock changes rather than requiring manual intervention each time. That’s where most manual buffer setups break down over time.
