Business Insights
Shopify Inventory Management: Native Features and Gaps
Shopify tracks per-location stock, transfers, and low-stock alerts. No lot/batch/expiry, serial, FEFO, BOM, or robust POs after Stocky. Add an operations layer.
14 min read
Shopify Inventory Management Software for Every Store You Run
Shopify runs your storefront. Qoblex runs the stock, purchasing and costing behind it: orders arrive on their own, one stock figure goes back to every store and location, and a dispatch marks the Shopify order fulfilled. The accounting side posts to Xero or QuickBooks.
4.9Shopify App Store
What crosses to Shopify, and which way
Shopify keeps the storefront and the checkout. Qoblex keeps the stock, the purchasing and the cost behind them, and the two stay in step without anyone copying an order or a number from one to the other.
01Orders
Every order, and everything that happens to it
Each Shopify order arrives as a sales order with its stock allocated, and everything after follows it: edits, cancellations, split shipments, returns and refunds. An exchange comes in as a return and a new line, with no refund when no money moved.
- Stock allocated on arrival
- Split shipments, each tracked
- Returns put stock back
- Refunds, restocked or not
- Exchanges, no false refunds
Shopify order #1042
SO-2321 · Ana Silva
| Event | In Qoblex |
|---|---|
| Order placed | Allocated |
| Shipped 2 of 4 | Partly fulfilled |
| Shipped 2 of 4 | Fulfilled |
| Exchange | Return and new line |
| Refund | Refund, restocked |
One order, everything that happened to it
02Stock
One stock figure, sent to every store
Qoblex sends each Shopify location what it can actually sell: stock on hand, less what is already held for open orders, less any buffer you keep back. Each Qoblex location maps to one Shopify location, and the figure goes out whenever stock moves or an order is allocated. A wholesale order taken this morning is already out of what your store sells this afternoon.
- Each location mapped once
- Held stock left out
- Optional safety buffer
- Several stores, one stock
- Sync on or off per location
Olive oil · Stock
Sent to Shopify
| Location | On hand | Held | Sent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leeds | 120 | 18 | 100 |
| York | 40 | 4 | 34 |
Buffer of 2 kept back at each location
03Cost
Cost per item, worked out rather than typed
Qoblex works out what each unit cost you from the purchase order, with freight and duty spread across the goods they came with, and keeps a moving average as deliveries arrive. Turn on cost sync and that figure goes to the cost per item field in Shopify, in the store currency, so the margin Shopify reports starts from the real cost.
- Freight and duty in cost
- Moving average cost
- Sent in the store currency
- Updated as stock value moves
- Off until you turn it on
Olive oil · Unit cost
Cost per item in Shopify
| Per unit | |
|---|---|
| Supplier price |  £5.80 |
| Freight | £0.55 |
| Duty | £0.25 |
| Unit cost | £6.60 |
Moving average, in the store currency
04Ship
Ship from Shopify or from Qoblex
Fulfil wherever your team works. Fulfil an order in Shopify and Qoblex records the shipment against the same order. Dispatch it in Qoblex and the Shopify order is marked fulfilled, or partly fulfilled when only some lines have gone, with the carrier and tracking number, so Shopify sends the customer their shipping email. Ship part now and the rest later, from either side. Phone and manual orders taken in Qoblex can be sent to Shopify too.
- Fulfil in either system
- Carrier and tracking sent
- Partial shipments too
- Shopify emails the customer
- Phone orders sent to Shopify
Fulfilments · Today
Sent to Shopify
| Order | Carrier | Status |
|---|---|---|
| #1042 | Royal Mail | Fulfilled |
| #1043 | DPD | Partial |
| #1044 | Open |
Tracking sent, Shopify emails the customer
Everything else the Shopify connection does
Set the direction once
Choose, for products, stock, prices and cost, which way each one flows.
A price list per store
Each store takes its own price list and Compare At list, in its own currency.
Bring your catalogue across
Import products, variants and images from the store in one pass.
Past orders too
Pull in historical orders for the date range you care about.
Wholesale buyers kept apart
Orders from a B2B company create a wholesale customer with its contacts.
Fix a failed sync
The messages you may see, what causes each, and how to clear it.
When Shopify on its own is enough
Shopify tracks stock by location, takes purchase orders and holds a cost per item, and for a store that buys finished goods from a few suppliers that covers a lot. Qoblex earns its place when freight lands on the cost, you make what you sell, or wholesale and retail share the same stock.
| Feature | Shopify alone | With Qoblex |
|---|---|---|
| Stock by location | Yes | Yes |
| Purchase orders to suppliers | Yes | Yes |
| Freight and duty in unit cost | Limited | Yes |
| Made goods costed from their components | Limited | Yes |
I have been working with Qoblex inventory program, Shopify POS, and Xero accounting -fantastic integration between all 3, which is vital given that I am a small business and do not have any extra time for double entries. The integration to date has been seamless… I highly recommend this integration for any small business.
Integration ecosystem
Connect your stack
Native integrations and open APIs let you easily connect data across your existing digital toolkit. Enhance your operations without changing the workflows you’ve spent years perfecting.
Claude
OpenAI
Shopify inventory management questions
What syncs with Shopify, in which direction, and which system holds the stock figure.
What is Shopify inventory management software?
Software that runs the stock, purchasing and costing behind a Shopify store. Shopify keeps the storefront and the checkout. The inventory system takes the orders in, holds stock by location, sends each store the figure it can sell, and works out what each unit cost, including freight and duty.
Which system holds the stock figure?
Qoblex. Stock levels only flow from Qoblex to Shopify, so every store and location sells from the same figure. Each other kind of data has its own direction: product details both ways by default, prices from Shopify by default, and cost off until you turn it on.
What happens when someone buys from my store?
The order arrives in Qoblex as a sales order. The lines are matched to your products, the customer is matched or created, the store currency comes across, and stock is held at the location mapped to the one Shopify assigned. From there it is picked, packed and dispatched like any other order.
Can I connect more than one Shopify store?
Yes, each with its own location mapping, price list and currency. Stock is held once in Qoblex, so the stores cannot oversell each other. See pricing for how connections are counted.
Does Qoblex send cost to Shopify?
If you turn it on. Qoblex then sends its moving average cost, freight and duty included, to the cost per item field in Shopify, in the store currency, whenever stock value changes. Margin reports in Shopify then start from the real cost. See Shopify landed cost.
Do returns, refunds and exchanges sync?
A refund made in Shopify comes into Qoblex. Stock goes back into Qoblex when the refund restocks it and the line was already dispatched. Refunds made in Qoblex are not sent to Shopify, so refund in Shopify. An exchange comes in as a return of the old item and a new line for the replacement, and an exchange where no money changed hands creates no refund or credit note. See how refunds, returns and fulfilments sync.
Will my Shopify prices change?
Not unless you choose it. Prices come from Shopify by default. Set price sync to run from Qoblex instead and each store takes its own price list and Compare At list.
What about products I make or bundle?
Shopify sells them as ordinary products. Behind the store, Qoblex knows a bundle is a set of components and a made product is a bill of materials with a real build cost.
Can I sell on other channels too?
Yes. WooCommerce and Amazon connect as well, and wholesale customers can order from a B2B portal at their own prices. Every channel’s orders draw on the same stock.
Does this replace my accounting software?
No. Qoblex posts invoices, bills, payments and stock value into Xero or QuickBooks Online, which stays your book of record.
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