Re: Exclusive AMA: Optimizing your Inventory Management with Shopify Experts!

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Exclusive AMA: Optimizing your Inventory Management with Shopify Experts!

Jacqui
Community Moderator
243 44 455

Shopify Community AMA Deliver Day 1 (1).png

 

Join Us for an Exclusive AMA on Optimizing your Inventory Management with Shopify Experts!

 

Date: September 10th, 2024

Time: 10 AM EDT - 12 PM EDT  

 

Inventory management and meeting demand can be particularly challenging during BFCM. This AMA will provide you with the knowledge and tools to optimize your inventory, reduce stockouts, and ensure a smooth sales period using Shopify’s solutions. Post your questions below, and the Shopify Product and Marketing team will be here to answer them during the live session.

 

What to Expect

Real-Time Q&A: Have questions about optimizing inventory, preparing for BFCM, or using Shopify’s inventory management solutions? Ask them below!

 

Expert Advice: Get direct answers from Shopify's Product and Marketing teams.

 

Community Engagement: Connect with other Shopify merchants, share experiences, and learn best practices.


How to Participate: No pre-registration needed! Join the Shopify Community on September 10th between 10 AM and 12 PM EDT. Post your questions below, and our experts will respond directly.

Read our Rules of Engagement before participating

 

*Please note, there is no video component to this AMA. This is a text based AMA. Your questions will be answered LIVE via text during the time period listed above. 

Jacqui | Community Moderator @ Shopify
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 - Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution 
- To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog
Accepted Solution (1)

Jacqui
Community Moderator
243 44 455

This is an accepted solution.

This AMA is now CLOSED. No questions posted after this post will be answered. 

Thanks to everyone who has submitted questions. Our team will do their best to answer them as soon as possible. We really appreciate all the thoughtful insights and feedback you have provided.

 

Join us again tomorrow for the next AMA in our series, Streamlining Fulfillment and Delivery

 

Still have questions about inventory management? Please post them in the community!

 

Thank you!

Jacqui | Community Moderator @ Shopify
 - Was my reply helpful? Click Like to let me know! 
 - Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution 
- To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog

View solution in original post

Replies 215 (215)

FrancisHenri
Visitor
1 0 5

Hi there! Is there a way to move "archived" products truly out of the main system? It's such a pain to have to scroll through the thousands of products we have in our system when our product list is toggled to "all". We'd love "all" to just be active & draft! Also, if the archived products could be truly moved - it would be a HUGE help when pulling barcodes.

 

We don't delete because there's always a chance a brand may bring a product back. We just don't need to see it, hardly ever. 

 

Thank you!!

Katherine

mariaacle
Shopify Staff
67 0 17

Thank you for your question and feedback @FrancisHenri ! When you are in the "All" view of your Products page, click on "Search and filter" icon on the right corner of the index, and under the "Status" dropdown make sure to only toggle "Active" and "Draft" products. This way you are excluding the archived ones.

Screenshot 2024-09-10 at 11.04.56 AM.png

Please let me know if you have any follow up question!

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

sgjess
Tourist
7 0 1

We are struggling with finding a way to manage our inventory feed and ensure shopify is updated throughout the day. We have an online store as well as two physical locations. We want something simple (to be able email our updated feed a couple times a day).  We are using an app to do this right now, but continually have Problems with it and difficulty reaching the app developers for support. We’re also pretty small so we can’t afford something that’s cost prohibitive…

 

mariaacle
Shopify Staff
67 0 17

Hello and thanks for your question @sgjess ! Are you tracking your inventory across locations in Shopify, and are you using Shopify POS for checking out customers in your physical locations?

If quantities are not updating throughout the day based on your sales, it's probably because you aren't tracking inventory with Shopify, and you haven't inputted inventory quantities for your products. Here's a helpful resource that goes into managing inventory with Shopify.

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

LouisAnthonyEnt
Visitor
2 0 0

when organizing my navigation on shopify do I have to have a mobile version and the desktop version or is that optional I'm asking because I'm fixing someone elses work and wanna get this right the website doesnt load well and im sure it has to do with how my inventory and nevigation is organized.

 

mariaacle
Shopify Staff
67 0 17

Hello @LouisAnthonyEnt ! If you are referring to their online store navigation, when organizing it you don't need to create separate versions for mobile and desktop. Shopify themes are designed to be responsive, meaning they automatically adjust to different screen sizes and devices. Here's a few tips:

Responsive design: Make sure you are using a responsive Shopify theme. These themes are built to adapt to various screen sizes, ensuring a seamless experience for users on both mobile and desktop devices.

Simplified navigation: Keep your navigation simple and intuitive. Avoid having too many menu items, as this can clutter the navigation and make it difficult for users to find what they're looking for. Use clear, concise labels for your menu items.

This doesn't seem like its related to their inventory though. If you're still experiencing issues we recommend you contact Shopify Support.

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

Jackson_McLean
Excursionist
25 0 17

Here’s a basic inventory feature I’m looking for (without needing workarounds or apps): The ability to set a minimum quantity threshold per product/variant, so that I can generate a report showing which products/variants I need to order. Having 4 lawnmowers is okay, whereas having 40 bags of our top selling soil is too few. 

SinzsNathan
Tourist
4 0 11

I believe if you use Shopify flow, you can manually set that up for all products. I have it set instantly when an item falls below a threshold I set, an email is sent to me saying what item it is and what its quantity left is at.

mariaacle
Shopify Staff
67 0 17

Hi Jackson thanks for your questions! As @SinzsNathan mentioned, with Shopify Flow you can create a custom workflow that automatically notifies you when the inventory level of a product or variant falls below your specified minimum quantity. This way, you can stay on top of your stock levels without needing additional workarounds or apps.

 

There's already an easy-to-use template that you can use called "Get notified by email when product variant inventory is low". You can learn more about Shopify Flow's inventory-specific workflows here.

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

LisaD
Shopify Partner
28 0 42

Hello!  I'd like to know if Shopify has plans to add $ prices to the Product Inventory view in the Shopify Admin?  Editing within the Inventory View could be quicker than in the Product View.  We'd also like to see product SKU added.  Columns in the Product View should be more editable, as we don't need to see Product Category or Product Type, eg, but we would like to see things that could be much more helpful such as prices, and whether or not it's visible on our channel, eg.   

Also, we'd like to see options so that the columns that are displayed in bulk edit mode are 'remembered' from one's previous settings, and they don't keep instead defaulting to Shopify's presets... The current defaults result in A HECK OF A LOT of mouse clicks and time here...  We should also be able to see such things as, more boolean searches (except search this, but not that... and multiple search fields that can be combined), and then rather than only the previous and next arrows for moving through viewing products, one should be able to see page numbers and jump to certain pages in results, so that, eg, if they have sorted alphabetically by name (or ideally if you would add SKU), then we could jump ahead to some results... 

everafther
Visitor
2 0 1

following for the answer regarding SKUs- thank you!

FishHead-Greg
Excursionist
21 0 21

Great comments, following...

petgrocer
Navigator
293 3 417

Also following.

 

And I would like to add on the product page please BRING BACK the search bar! Hiding things behind clicks is so frustrating. The upset it caused was enough to make shopify add it back on other pages - please bring back the extended search bar on the product page as well.

mariaacle
Shopify Staff
67 0 17

Hello @LisaD thank you for your question! I will summarize your use cases about search capabilities and field information and share with the relevant Product teams. Thank you for this feedback.

The one thing that is already available is "saved views" in both the Product and Inventory pages. You will see a + sign at the top of each section that will allow you to save a certain configuration and give it a custom name.

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

heythere1
Tourist
4 0 1

are there any replies from shopify yet? all i see is questions?

Jacqui
Community Moderator
243 44 455

Hey @heythere1!

 

Our team is working on replies to all the questions. You'll start to see answers posted soon. 

 

Thanks for joining us!

Jacqui | Community Moderator @ Shopify
 - Was my reply helpful? Click Like to let me know! 
 - Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution 
- To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog

cpdeancompany
Visitor
1 0 1

Hello! I am having a tough time setting up my store in regards to inventory management. We are a very custom store where we sell pool tables with lots of options that can be applied such as different wood, sights, finish and much more. We would like to be able to make one item with customizations and be able to keep track of inventory. What is the best way to work around this with the 100 variant limit within Shopify? 

mariaacle
Shopify Staff
67 0 17

Hello @cpdeancompany thank you for your question! We are aware that this is a limitation and our Product Merchandising team is actively working on a solution to increase the variant limit. For the time being, the only way you can have more than 100 variants on one product is to use a third-party app from the Shopify App Store, or customize your theme code to extract line item properties. Stay tuned for updates about this in our upcoming Editions!

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

LisaD
Shopify Partner
28 0 42

We would like to know if auto-populating a Purchase Order when product quantities get to a certain minimum will be possible soon.  Eg. when Product A dips down to only 5 available, then I'd like to auto-populate a PO to Supplier X, with quantity of 10 of Product A.... And I'd like any other products that I have selected to auto-populate to this supplier when a product minimum is reached to also appear on this same PO.  The PO need not be automatically sent, I can do it manually... Or you could allow us to have a PO sent when the cost or base price reaches a certain minimum....

FishHead-Greg
Excursionist
21 0 21

2nd that

mariaacle
Shopify Staff
67 0 17

Thank you for your question, @LisaD ! Yes, we understand that low stock management and auto-replenishment are crucial features for efficient inventory management. These functionalities, including auto-populating a Purchase Order when product quantities reach a certain minimum, are indeed on our roadmap. We can't promise they will launch in the very near future, but it is in our teams radar.

In the meantime, if you are using Shopify POS and have a Pro location, you can leverage the POS inventory management solution (at the moment it's a first party app called Stocky) which has more robust replenishment options for POs. Learn more about this functionality in this Help Center article.

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

petgrocer
Navigator
293 3 417

I am super worried about your words "at the moment". Stocky is the BEST part of Shopify inventory control. @mariaacle please confirm that you are NOT removing Stocky! It has been the most stable part of your entire organization, (and even it gets messed around with).

orkman
Shopify Partner
8 0 19

When will Shopify provide Inventory History beyond 90 days? The current limit, which has been in place since inception, is incredibly restrictive.

 

There is a long-standing, active thread about this in the Shopify Community portal with numerous customers complaining about this restriction:
https://community.shopify.com/c/shopify-discussions/can-we-access-inventory-history-beyond-90-days-i...

 

Thanks,

Kenny

GhostApps
Shopify Partner
169 2 16

 Inventory History Guardian was created to address this issue, it allows you to create inventory adjustments, add notes and see all adjustments across your store whilst being completely integrated with inventory in Shopify. It also logs the inventory level of every product variant in your store once a day to help analyse and forecast stock levels.

mariaacle
Shopify Staff
67 0 17

Great news! 🎉 We've listened to your feedback and have doubled the inventory adjustment history from 90 to 180 days!


Now, you can view a more extensive history on a product or variant's adjustment history page. This update helps you see all the events that caused inventory adjustments, such as new orders, returns, or manual changes.

Learn more about Viewing inventory adjustment history in the Shopify Help Center.

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

beedandy
Visitor
2 0 2

HI! Is there a way to track inventory for 'gift packs' made from various individual products? I track inventory of individual products, but when I make a listing for a product pack there is no way to pull from inventory of individual items. Example: I sell bar soaps, sugar scrubs and body butter. They each have their own separate listing (with inventory tracking) on my site. But I also sell a 'sample pack' that includes one of each item in it. I can track inventory of the packs, per se, but in actuality when I sell a pack, it doesn't deduct from the inventory of each of the individual items. SO when I sell a pack, inventory deducts one, but the inventory for the soap, scrub and butter in that pack stays the same (which becomes an issue that I have to constantly manually update). Hope that makes sense. Would love input or advice - or for Shopify to add that feature 🙂 

everafther
Visitor
2 0 1

following for their reply as I have the same issue. 

YH20
Tourist
8 0 33

I know exactly what you mean..we do this too. We use bundle services apps and with this, items are deducted from each of their product inventory. Perhaps shopify has a better way.

beedandy
Visitor
2 0 2

I'm so tired of downloading allllllll the apps to get the site to do what I feel like are basic things hahaha! Then you have more glitches, and have to deal with various customer service teams outside of Shopify. I feel like on an e-commerce site this should be a basic feature. same with wholesale (which I have an app for). 

 

mscmith11
Explorer
55 0 64

100%! Also, some basic features you would think are included in POS PRO you have to pay for through 3rd party apps. Not cool. also, we wonder about the security of our data through all these outside apps having access as well.

petgrocer
Navigator
293 3 417

Such as Shopify removing a perfect function (save cart) and then only giving it back to us with a paid app where they get to double dip (they collect from us and from the app developer). I do believe this is called bait and switch. I haven't checked in a while, but they didn't even remove all the big blog and helpfile posts saying why save cart was such a gem. At least remove your sales pitch for functionality that you took away from merchants.

Ottalaus
Visitor
2 0 1

Why when I update inventory levels at inventory time, the quantities do not take and after all the work the inventory shows the pre inventory values rather than the updated values

mariaacle
Shopify Staff
67 0 17

Hey @Ottalaus - how exactly are you updating inventory levels? What surface in the Shopify Admin are you using to do this? 

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

NToday
Shopify Partner
2 0 0

We sell in person (QuickBooks), Shopify, Walmart, marketplaces, and eBay. Is there a recommended solution for synchronizing all inventory? 

mariaacle
Shopify Staff
67 0 17

Absolutely, @NToday ! You can use the Shopify Marketplace Connect app to list and sync your inventory in real-time with your Shopify store. This solution will help you manage and synchronize your inventory across multiple platforms including Amazon, Walmart, and eBay, ensuring that your stock levels are always up-to-date and accurate. Regarding integrating QuickBooks and Shopify, you will need to search for a third-party app in our App Store to integrate the two. If you ever want to migrate QuickBooks POS to Shopify POS, here's a handy guide.

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

SinzsNathan
Tourist
4 0 11

I’d like to see if there was a way of adjusting COGs to have multiple costs for one item depending on the source it came from. I have multiple wholesalers I work with where some have a higher cost per item than others. I don’t want to overwrite the existing cost but add another if it came from a different supplier.

heythere1
Tourist
4 0 1

I use Quickbooks for accounting and inventory sync - they use FIFO (first in first out) for inventory and COGS calcs. That means when you buy something you set the price in the PO/bill and then when it sells it moves that value from your assets to your cogs. If the price changes it will sell all the old ones first and then change the cogs for the new batch to whatever you paid for it. You can run a detailed history to see how the price has changed over time.

petgrocer
Navigator
293 3 417

I urge you to use caution. We have items that we can buy from various vendors, with different skus and costs. Shopify claims you can do this through Stocky, and we had a help desk rep that tried to do it, and it broke our vendor list. We now have to manually re-do those items with different vendors. This is another 'basic' feature of all POS systems, but is not one that works as intended within the current model at Shopify.

mscmith11
Explorer
55 0 64

I agree, this is a huge issue we face so we have become accustomed to either changing the cost altogether (which is not correct accounting wise) or estimating. This is not good accounting procedure.  

FishHead-Greg
Excursionist
21 0 21

2nd, following

mariaacle
Shopify Staff
67 0 17

Hello @SinzsNathan thank you for your question! Apologies for the delayed response. Currently, Shopify does not support the ability to have multiple costs for a single item based on different suppliers directly within the platform. We understand that managing costs from multiple wholesalers is important for accurate financial tracking and inventory management.

This feature is definitely on our teams radar, and we are exploring ways to enhance our cost management capabilities in future updates. In the meantime, you might consider using third-party inventory management apps or external tools like accounting softwares to track and manage multiple costs for your products.

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

heythere1
Tourist
4 0 1

Hi, I sync inventory from Faire - > Shopify -> Quickbooks with orders originating from all three places. My problem is with Bundles, id like to sell bundles but all the API's seem to hate it. Is there a way to sync bundles between platforms? 

mariaacle
Shopify Staff
67 0 17

Hello @heythere1 What are you using to sell bundles - Shopify Bundles or our APIs?

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

pma_3303
Visitor
1 0 0

When I originally set up my store, I didn't add quantities to the first 200+ items and this created issues with customers buying more than I had in stock. Is there a quick way to add quantities without having to do this one by one?

ericdude4
Shopify Partner
20 1 7

Hi @pma_3303 ,

 

Shopify does provide a bulk inventory upload system which you can use to update inventory in bulk. Alternately, our app Synkro: Inventory sync provides a tool which you can use to provide spreadsheets with inventory data in bulk based on SKU & inventory levels. To learn more, see the documentation and instructions here: https://synkro-app.com/documentation/csv-batch-inventory-update

 

Eric

RCol
Shopify Staff
5 0 2

Hi @PMac ! In addition to @ericdude4 's great suggestion, you could also try out our in-Admin bulk editing capabilities. You can access the bulk editor from your Inventory or Product pages.

R Collins | Shopify 
 - Was my reply helpful? Click Like to let me know! 
 - Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution
 - To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog

petgrocer
Navigator
293 3 417

Thank you - we had no idea about the bulk edit within the admin. Super helpful!

Empiregtr
Visitor
1 0 5

Is there a way to see an individual items qty adjustment history past 90 days.  It is extremely debilitating being unable to access a full history of qty adjustments.  QB had this feature and it is absolutely necessary in order for us to effectively manage our inventory. 

mariaacle
Shopify Staff
67 0 17

Hello @Empiregtr thank you for your detailed feedback and apologies for the delay. I was sharing this information with appropriate teams on our end. We understand that having access to a longer history of inventory adjustments is crucial for comprehensive inventory management and tracking.

This feature is on our radar, and we are considering ways to extend the inventory adjustment history period in future updates. In the meantime, you might consider using third-party inventory management apps or exporting your inventory data regularly to maintain a longer history. However, to be clear, these third-party apps won’t have historical data immediately; they will start saving the data from the point of integration and keep it longer than Shopify does. I understand it's not an ideal solution, but rest assured our Product team is aware of this limitation and will address it in the future.

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

mariaacle
Shopify Staff
67 0 17

Great news! 🎉 We've listened to your feedback and have doubled the inventory adjustment history from 90 to 180 days!


Now, you can view a more extensive history on a product or variant's adjustment history page. This update helps you see all the events that caused inventory adjustments, such as new orders, returns, or manual changes.

Learn more about Viewing inventory adjustment history in the Shopify Help Center.

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.