Managing inventory and stock levels – Product Management – Shopify platform

Managing inventory and stock levels is crucial for ensuring you have accurate product availability information and preventing overselling or stockouts. Here’s how you can manage inventory and stock levels in the Shopify platform:

1. Access the Product Details: In your Shopify admin dashboard, go to “Products” and select the product for which you want to manage inventory.
2. Enable Inventory Tracking: In the product details page, scroll down to the “Inventory” section. Ensure that the “Track quantity” option is enabled. This allows Shopify to track the stock levels for the product.
3. Set Initial Stock Quantity: Specify the initial quantity of the product you have in stock. Enter the number in the “Starting inventory” field. This establishes the baseline stock level for the product.
4. Manage Stock Availability: Under the “Inventory” section, you can choose how to manage stock availability when it reaches zero. You have a few options:
   • “Continue selling when out of stock”: Allows customers to purchase the product even when it’s out of stock. However, this can lead to backorders or delayed fulfillment.
   • “Prevent selling when out of stock”: Disables purchasing when the product is out of stock, preventing overselling. Customers will see the product as unavailable.
   • “Shopify tracks this product’s inventory”: Allows Shopify to manage stock availability automatically based on the quantity you specify.
5. Set Stock Thresholds: You can set a low-stock alert to receive notifications when the stock level reaches a specific threshold. This helps you proactively restock inventory to avoid running out. Enter the desired threshold quantity in the “Inventory policy” section.
6. Manage Stock Keeping Units (SKUs): SKUs are unique identifiers for each product variant. If you’re using variants, you can assign unique SKUs to track inventory for each variant. Managing SKUs can help you accurately monitor and fulfill orders for specific variants.
7. Adjust Stock Levels: If you need to adjust the stock levels for a product, go to the inventory section of the product details page and update the quantity in the “Inventory quantity” field. You can increase or decrease the quantity based on inventory restocking or sales.
8. Bulk Edit Inventory: If you have multiple products or variants to update, you can use the bulk editing feature in Shopify. Go to the “Products” page, select the products you want to edit, click on the “Edit products” button, and make the necessary inventory adjustments.
9. Inventory Reports: Shopify provides various inventory reports to help you track and manage stock levels effectively. These reports include stock available, stock sold, and stock on hand. You can access these reports in the “Analytics” section of your Shopify admin dashboard.

By actively managing inventory and stock levels in the Shopify platform, you can ensure accurate product availability information, prevent overselling or stockouts, and provide a seamless shopping experience for your customers. Regularly monitoring and updating stock levels helps you maintain inventory control and make informed purchasing decisions to meet customer demand.