Everything you need to set up inventory tracking on Shopify — from enabling native stock counts to knowing when the built-in tools stop being enough. Covers the six-step setup, what Shopify cannot do on its own, and how to choose the best tracking app for your store size.
Before adding any apps, it helps to understand exactly what Shopify gives you out of the box. The built-in tools are genuinely capable for smaller stores — but have clear limits that matter as you grow.
If you are starting from scratch or auditing your current setup, follow these six steps in order. Each one builds on the previous.
Shopify does not track inventory by default on every product. Go to Admin → Products → select a product → scroll to Inventory section → check "Track quantity." Do this for every product you want tracked. For products with variants (sizes, colours), enable tracking at the variant level.
Once tracking is enabled, enter the current quantity for every product. Go to Admin → Products → Inventory. You can update quantities inline by clicking the number, or export the inventory CSV, fill in quantities in bulk, and reimport. If you have 50+ products, the CSV approach saves significant time.
Shopify can email you when products drop below a threshold. Go to Admin → Settings → Notifications → Low inventory. You can also set this per product using Shopify Flow: trigger "Inventory quantity changed" → condition "Inventory quantity is less than [your number]" → action "Send email." Set different thresholds per product — not one number for everything.
Shopify lets you choose what happens when stock hits zero. Per product: continue selling (oversell), stop selling, or require a purchase order. For most stores, "stop selling" is the safest default. For made-to-order products, "continue selling" makes sense. Set this thoughtfully per product category.
If you have multiple warehouses, retail locations, or fulfilment centres, set up each location in Admin → Settings → Locations. Assign stock quantities per location. Shopify will route orders to the nearest or priority location based on your fulfilment rules.
Shopify's tracking only shows you what you have right now. It does not tell you what is running low relative to how fast it sells. Set a fixed weekly reminder — 15 minutes, same day — to go to Admin → Products → Inventory, sort by quantity ascending, and check anything that looks concerning.
Shopify's built-in tracking works well for small, simple catalogs. The gaps become painful as your store grows. Here is where most sellers hit the ceiling:
Shopify shows your stock count. It does not show how fast each product is selling. Without velocity, you cannot calculate days of stock remaining — the number that actually tells you if you are in danger.
Shopify alerts at a unit count threshold you set manually. 50 units of a product selling 25/day is 2 days of stock. 50 units of a product selling 1/week is almost a year. The same threshold gives you completely different outcomes depending on velocity.
Shopify cannot tell you when to reorder based on your supplier lead time and sales pace. You set the reorder threshold manually — and most sellers either set it too low (stockouts) or too high (overstock).
Products that have not sold in 60+ days do not surface anywhere in Shopify Admin. Dead stock accumulates silently until you run a manual report and notice it — which most sellers do not do regularly.
Shopify has a cost field but does not calculate or display margin anywhere in the dashboard. You are tracking revenue but not profitability — which means you could be reordering products that are losing you money.
Since Stocky was discontinued in 2026, Shopify has no native purchase order workflow. Creating, sending, and tracking POs with suppliers requires either a spreadsheet or a third-party app.
Matched to store size and budget. Debnix is our product — we have tried to represent the others accurately.
| App | Price | Velocity Alerts | Reorder Points | ABC Analysis | Dead Stock | AI Predictions | Profit Tracking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This is usDebnix 50–500 SKUs, solo sellers | $21.99/mo | ||||||
| Stockful Analytics-focused, budget | Free–$29/mo | Basic | |||||
| Prediko DTC brands, full PO workflows | $49–349/mo | ||||||
| Inventory Planner 500+ SKUs, complex supply chains | $99–299/mo |
For a deeper comparison including pricing tiers and individual app reviews, see our full Shopify inventory app comparison.
These habits separate stores with accurate, reliable tracking from stores that are always slightly surprised by their stock situation.
50 units means nothing without knowing how fast it sells. A product selling 25/day has 2 days of stock. A product selling 1/week has months. Always think in days of stock: Current Stock ÷ Daily Sales = Days Remaining.
Your Shopify SKU should match your supplier's product code and your spreadsheet reference. Inconsistent SKUs are how stock gets lost between systems — a receiving error where someone logs the wrong SKU can go undetected for months.
Shopify inventory drifts over time — unreceived shipments, damaged units not logged, fulfilment errors. A quarterly physical count against your Shopify records catches variances before they become large. See our full guide on running a Shopify inventory audit.
Shopify has a "Cost per item" field that is optional and mostly ignored. Fill it in for every product. It enables profit margin calculations and makes COGS reporting accurate. Without it you are tracking stock but flying blind on profitability.
Shopify lets you select a reason when adjusting stock manually — Correction, Received, Damaged, Theft. Always use these. Reason-coded adjustments create an audit trail that is invaluable when investigating discrepancies later.
Shopify tracks inventory automatically once you enable tracking per product. Stock counts decrease when orders are fulfilled and can increase when you log received shipments or process returns. However, tracking must be manually enabled per product — it is not on by default. Shopify does not automatically calculate when to reorder, how fast each product sells, or which products are at risk of stocking out.
It depends on your store size and what you need beyond basic tracking. For stores with 50-500 SKUs wanting AI predictions, reorder points, and profit tracking at a low price point, Debnix at $21.99/month is the most feature-complete budget option. For larger stores needing full purchase order workflows, Prediko starts at $49/month. For enterprise operations with 500+ SKUs and complex supply chains, Inventory Planner starts at $99/month.
In Shopify Admin, go to Settings → Locations and add each location. Once locations are set up, you can assign and transfer stock between them from the Inventory section. Shopify tracks stock quantities per location and routes orders based on your fulfilment priority settings. Multi-location tracking is available on all paid Shopify plans.
Shopify can send a low stock alert when a product drops below a static threshold you set manually. It cannot automatically calculate your reorder point from your sales velocity and supplier lead time. For auto-calculated reorder points, you need a third-party inventory app. The formula is: Reorder Point = (Average Daily Sales × Lead Time Days) + Safety Stock.
Inventory tracking is the foundation — knowing how much stock you have, where it is, and when it changes. Inventory management is the intelligence layer on top — knowing how fast each product sells, when to reorder, which products are at risk, and how to optimise your stock investment. Shopify handles tracking. A dedicated inventory app adds management.
When your physical count does not match Shopify, use the inventory adjustment tool in Admin → Products → Inventory to update the quantity with a reason code. Before adjusting, investigate the cause — common reasons include received shipments not logged, returns not restocked, damaged units not adjusted, or fulfilment errors. Fixing the number without fixing the process means the discrepancy will reappear.
Shopify tracks your stock counts. Debnix adds the intelligence layer — velocity alerts, auto-calculated reorder points, ABC analysis, dead stock detection, and profit tracking. $21.99/mo, 30-day free trial.
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