Over the last 2 weeks, Shopify started migrating everyone to the new and improved Purchase Order experience. There was no announcement or how-to instructions so it caught everyone by surprise.
Shopify’s native P.O has the below upgrades: — please add any that I might have missed in your replies
You can now upload a CSV file to create a P.O .
CSV file can include cost price so if you can export it from Shopify or an app - you don’t have to manually input it like before
The big change is separating P.Os and Receiving (as a transfer)
you now create a Transfer linked to the P.O to track and receive shipments from suppliers
this makes the P.O just a supplier invoice document.
the actual inventory movement from supplier to warehouse is tracked as a transfer
You can also create multiple shipments under a single transfer each with its own Estimated Arrival date. This reflects how it works in reality
Still no ability to email the P.O PDF to vendor though there is still the export option
These improvements could be the answer to the Stocky sunset frustration atleast for those with simple requirements. I see a lot of apps being pitched as Stocky alternatives but they lock-in stores into their own purchase order workflow. I just wish Shopify had launched this new Purchase Order upgrade at the same time they announced the Stocky sunset which would have ensured a smooth migration without stressing out everyone.
Shameless plug:
Our app IFH: Inventory Forecasting Hero is one of the first apps to support creating a native Shopify P.O directly from our app’s inventory forecast report and then including the incoming inventory automatically into the forecast.
Good summary, one thing that is really missing is the forecasting piece, and a clear outline of the pick and pack side of things. The native PO tools are getting fairly robust and for many companies this will work.
For businesses that are actually looking to have one system for the entire purchase workflow, vendor portal, AI powered forecasting alongside warehouse management with 3D bin mapping, stock takes, barcode scanning and detailed reporting - you’ll likely want a full scale WMS, which is SKUSavvy. Built to work with native Shopify, Shopify POS, and Shopify Plus.
Yep, the forecasting is a pretty big missing piece - and it can be tricky to go from Stocky to either Shopify or a paid app where the experience is different.
If it helps - with Stocky going away, and our own users asking us for a robust way to handle POs and light inventory management / reordering with Shopify; we decided to build our own solution, but for free.
We think Shopify merchants deserve a robust, stable and long term way to handle Purchase Orders (and the re-ordering/receiving processes that come with them) in a way that fits their business, and not at an additional cost.
These changes definitely make the native PO workflow much more usable.
One distinction I’d still keep though is purchase order vs supplier invoice.
The PO tells you what you expected to buy - quantity and agreed cost. The supplier invoice tells you what you were actually charged. Those numbers don’t always end up being identical.
For example, by the time the delivery arrives you can have a changed unit cost, short shipment, substituted item, additional charge, or only part of the PO invoiced.
Separating the PO from the receiving transfer solves the physical inventory side quite nicely. But I think there is still a reconciliation step between:
ordered quantity/cost → invoiced quantity/cost → actually received quantity
That’s usually the point where you want to catch a supplier cost difference before it becomes the new product cost.
Curious how merchants using the new native workflow are handling that part now - do you manually compare the supplier invoice against the PO before receiving, or adjust the PO costs first?