I have consignees (retail stores) that are selling my product on consignment. I am sending them a number of items from my inventory and they provide me with a monthly report of the number of items (and description of items) sold per month. The items need to be taken out of inventory once sent off to the store but not billed for until sold. How can I manage my inventory on shopify with these types of customers?
Does Shopify have an option to track the consignment items and then invoice the consignees accordingly? Would I need to create an order for each item (multiple orders for the same retail store)?
I sell the same items directly to customers (B2C) via my website as well so I need to have both options available on the same platform.
Iām looking for the same solution! Is there an app that would provide this capability? Iām surprised that Shopify have not suggested a solution to this yetā¦
you need to create an order for the consignment stock but save it as a draft then when it sells you mark it as paid and fulfil it but obviously you donāt send it
As @MrP mentioned, draft orders would be a way to go about this. But depending on how many consignees you have and the number of draft orders that you need to manually create, it may become time-consuming to do.
The easiest way to set up a consignment store would be to use a marketplace app. We have the following options in our app store:
Each one works differently but the potential is there to automatically pay ācommissionā to your consigners. You could also let them set up an account to make it easier for them when they return. I would check directly with the app developers with regards to how the commission is paid out. I believe they use Paypal for that but they may not all be the same.
If there is anything else I can help you with, please let me know.
Thanks for your post @Mariahalfyard I am looking for exactly the same thing. Iām curious as to whether you found suitable software? If youāre interested, I also posted a post in Shopify Discussion called āConsignment software (For consigner)ā if youād like to take a look at my notes on the topic.
Hi Dirk, I am also looking for consignment software as a consigner. I appreciate your message from July 2021 and wonder if your advice has changed at all since then?
I posted a post in Shopify Discussion called āConsignment software (For consigner)ā on the 4th April 2022 if youād like to take a look at my notes on the topic.
Thanks for your solutions but the apps you provided are more applicable for Consignees. I have the same requirement as @Mariahalfyard and @KiriSchumacher where we have products that we pass over to others to sell. Creating a draft order wouldnāt work as we can only bill our consignees based on which products of ours they have sold. eg. A consignee holds my inventory of 20 shampoo bottlesā¦ and only 5 are sold in the first month, I can then only bill them for the 5 bottles, not all 20.
You might be interested to hear that in the end I transitioned to Airtable which is essentially a fancy version of Excel and costs NZ$28 per month. I am blessed in that my partner is a software developer and has spent many hours setting up Airtable up to suit my specs. Airtable is complex and thereās a lot of room for major error (like accidentally deleting all products etc!) so I wouldnāt recommend it unless youāre technically confident.
I researched an astounding number of platforms before making my decision: 35 platforms! And none of them suited, even though I have fairly basic consignment software needs. There are higher priced options out there, but my budget is NZ$200 max per month.
Most consignment apps are designed for the retailer selling the consignment goods, rather than the manufacturer of the goods (in my case I"m a manufacturing jeweller supplying to retail galleries). I used Tradegecko for many years, it really was amazing consignment software. But they no longer offer the plan.
My top consignment software pics were:
Orderhive (most similar to Tradegecko) but I found the customer service inconsistent, itās reasonably expensive, and I never managed to find out if they could cater to all my software needsā¦ they never replied to my repeat emails requesting more information.
Swim - this app is specifically for jewellers. Itās very comprehensive but its UX is challenging and would take a while to get your head around. Amazing customer service. But they donāt allow invoice dates to be backdated (this feature is essential for my business).
Tidy - this is a nice New Zealand based company but they lacked a lot of necessary features such as the ability to bulk upload / download information.
It would be sooo great if Shopify would consider creating consignment software but itās not possible at this stage because they only offer limited warehouses.
Feel free to reach out with any other Qs, I spent a huge amount of time researching the options and Iād be happy if others could benefit from what I learned.
I responded to your other post in a different discussion. I too use Airtable for my consignment items. And I like it but it is very manual and time consuming. I wish I could automate it. I am considering using WeWeb to create a tailored app for my consignment needs and have it be more affordable. Vendor Consignment is a Shopify app that might suit my needs but the reviews are mixed and Iām hesitant because of that.
Glad you found your solution. And lucky you that your spouse is a developer.
Thanks for your thoughts @lalisimone . All the best with it. WeWeb sounds interesting, if you end up going with this Iād love to hear how it goes.
Cool to hear that you use Airtable too. Weāve automated it a lot, perhaps you could hire a developer to make some Airtable automations for you?
In terms of apps that can work well with Airtable: we ended up using CloudConvert directly from extension scripts for document generation (i.e. to be able to generate pdfs of invoices and consignment transfer documents directly from the Airtable data), and weāre using Make.com for syncing the Airtable invoices to Xero.
Thank You so very much for your sharing. It really does help. Will definitely give the softwares a try and let you know if I come across others as well.
@KiriSchumacher , I wanted to thank you for all of your posts regarding inventory management for consignees with Shopify. I greatly appreciate you sharing the details of your research and experimentation. Iām currently trying to find a solution for this and I am not surprised in the least that:
Shopify canāt do this. Shocking.
99% of all software and apps are developed for the consignee.
Most of the recommendations from other users show they have zero reading comprehension.
Shopify support recommends apps for consignees (because they canāt read either).
Recommended apps are very expensive to obscenely expensive enterprise solutions.
Basically, my only option is to use a $*#!&% spreadsheet ā¦ And I have no clue how to do this and then do whatever I have to do within Shopify to manage consigned product that sells. Almost considering not dealing with consignment at all because managing it Shopify is such an unbelievable pain in the a**.
@Pburt16 Gahhā¦ I hear you. It can be so frustrating and time consuming trying to find a solution. And equally frustrating that most companies misunderstand and think that we are the retailer of the consignment goods, rather than the wholesaler. It would be wonderful if Shopify would consider building an app for our needs, then we could manage everything in one place. Wishing you all the best with it.
@KiriSchumacher Were you able to finally find a good App for this, that integrates with Shopify, or are you still using Airtable? It seems like such an easy request and Iām so surprised that no one figured it out yet. We used Lightspeed before but they closed down a few years ago. Someone suggested to use Locations in Shopify to manage inventory for the reseller network, but it doesnāt solve the issue with memoās/consignment - partial invoicing etc.
Thanks for checking, Iām still using Airtable and itās working well (after lots of initial customisation by a developer). Would LOVE shopify to cater for our needs though.
Hi @Mariahalfyard@KiriSchumacher and @Borgioni . I commented on this thread a while ago. I was and am no longer using Airtable to manage the consignment that people brought to my store. Today I am using Vendor Consignment instead. It has limitations but it does 90% of the job that I need it to do to manage consignment. Itās also far more automated than Airtable which is helpful if you donāt have developer resources at your disposal.
But in reference to both of your use cases, there is a way to track sales of your inventory in Shopify that sell at other retail locations. At one point, I was doing draft orders. It worked but not better than the solution below.
Here are the steps
Go to Shopify settings then Locations. Create a new location named after the store that sells your inventory.
for extra tracking detail and redundancy, create a customer with the name of the store. Make sure to uncheck the tax box for that customer. In my scenario, the shops that sell my inventory collect the sales tax and report it under their business entity. So your pseudo customer shouldnāt be charged sales tax. If itās different for you, then leave the box checked.
Install the Shopify POS on your phone if itās not already installed. Go through the setup steps
Once installed, switch locations to the new store that you created. Go to the settings, and set up a custom payment. What I did was create a custom payment named after the store.
When my product sells at other retail locations, I open up the Shopify POS app and switch to the corresponding location in the settings.
I always add the corresponding pseudo customer to the order, then add the products that were sold in the transaction.
for the payment type, I choose the custom payment I created for that store.
click done.
Voila your sales from the other retail locations are now tracked in your Shopify and deducted from your overall inventory. Over time, you will see in the Shopify dashboard how each retail location is performing against the rest of your sales channels.
Things to note: This method will skew your AOV (average order value) and LCV (lifetime customer value) metrics. Creating the pseudo customer is optional. I like to use it because in the event that I overlook switching locations, I have assigned the order to the pseudo customer and can track sales that way as well.
Pro tip: Once you have created the new store location, itās up to you to add/transfer inventory to that location in Shopify. It might help with understanding how much of what is where. When you run the sale in the POS app, inventory will be deducted from whichever store location itās located at.
I keep my inventory in my default location. When I run the order in POS app from a different location, itāll warn me that the inventory is sold out or not available, but I click āsell anywayā and the order goes through.
I hope this helps! Iām curious to hear how it works out for you. Feel free to ask questions.
Hi Judith - thanks for sharing your solution, this is exactly the kind of solution weāve been looking for!
The part weāre stuck on - is there a way to manage processing payment by multiple people at multiple locations? Not sure if itās a combo of your solution plus POS Pro?
Appreciate any thoughts or suggestions you might have!
I sell vintage clothing on my shopify e-commerce site, at other stores, and at popups.
My inventory is either store-owned or from consignment (people bring me things to sell. they get paid when their things sell.
I am on the basic Shopify plan with an allowance of 4 store locations.
I use the Vendor Consignment app to manage, track my consigners inventory and sales. They get access to a portal where they have their own dashboard.
I use Shopify locations to track inventory and sales where they are happening (see another comment I posted in this thread for how I set that up)
As long as all of my inventory, owned or consigned, is in Shopify, and every transaction is rung up through the POS app, it will update my inventory and the consigners.
I donāt use invoicing or memos, but there are apps that offer that functionality. It just means that your Shopify has to be your central database, connected properly to the various apps to establish the workflows and outcomes that you want to achieve.
Hope this helps.
Judith
Thereās one app that Iām exploring and might consider replacing Vendor Consignment: That is Puppet Vendor. This has more robust features than vendor consignment.
I each place that I sell I have configured a store location. From the Shopify POS app (non-pro version), I
Hi @ali_umayrest - Iām glad itās working for you. If Iām understanding your question correctly, I donāt see why not. This would have to be validated by a Shopify rep, but I believe that store locations would be accessible across all of your POS devices, as well as the pseudo customer that is assigned to the order.
I believe, however, that each POS instance would need to have the custom payment configured that corresponds to the proper location.
I looked up the difference between POS vs POS Pro. Itās possible that you would have to upgrade to POS Pro if you wanted to each person transacting sales to have a unique pin/login. If thatās not important to you, it looks like the Starter POS could work and everyone uses the same pin/login. Again, worth validating with a Shopify rep.
Whatās included in Retail - this is POS Pro
2 admin accounts
Unlimited POS logins
Simple online store
click done.