Shopify Inventory Management: A How-to Guide

Key takeaways

Accessing the Products page from your Shopify administrative dashboard will help you manage your current inventory.

• You’ll manage five inventory states for your products: products on hand, products available, committed inventory, unavailable inventory, and incoming inventory.

• Update product states and quantities on your Shopify dashboard to maintain a clear overview of your inventory.

• You can view your inventory adjustment history in Shopify for the last 180 days. 

Learn more about how to use Shopify’s inventory management system to track your inventory. If you’re ready to develop your e-commerce skills, consider enrolling in the Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce Professional Certificate. In as little as six months, you’ll have the opportunity to learn how to measure marketing performance and attract and engage customers using digital marketing channels. Upon completion, you’ll have earned a career credential to share on your resume and LinkedIn profile.

Understanding inventory states in your Shopify store

The products in your store are assigned one of five possible inventory states to help you manage your inventory:

• On hand includes all inventory you have at a location, which factors in all committed, unavailable, and available inventory.

• Available inventory isn’t yet committed to an order and is readily available for you to sell.

• Committed inventory includes all units that are part of a purchased yet still unfulfilled order.

• Unavailable inventory refers to in-stock units that are reserved for a draft order or are unavailable for purchase.

• Incoming inventory is stock that’s on its way to your shop or warehouse and is not yet available for sale.

How to manage inventory in Shopify

To get an inventory count for all of your products, visit the Products page in your Shopify admin, which will provide an inventory count for all the variations of each product offered in your store. You can also go to the Inventory page and use search filters to count and sort your inventory by specific criteria.

Read more: How to Add Products to Shopify

How to adjust inventory quantities for products with variants

Follow these steps to make any adjustments to the different variants of your inventory quantities:

1. Go to Products > Inventory page. 

2. Adjust On hand or Available quantities.

3. Update quantities of specific variants.

4. Save your inventory adjustments.

Here’s a look at these steps in greater detail:

1. Access the inventory page.

From your Shopify admin, visit the Products page, where you can then select the Inventory page. You can select a specific location from the drop-down menu if you have multiple locations.

2. Find the product you’re looking to adjust inventory for.

Search or filter your way through the list of products until you find the correct one. You can adjust the On-hand or Available quantities of one or more variants of the same product.

3. Adjust one or more variants.

If you wish to adjust a single product variant, enter the quantity you want to adjust in either the On-hand or Available column. If you’re adjusting multiple variants, you can adjust them by the same amount. First, select the different variants you want to edit, and then click Update quantities.

4. Save your inventory adjustments.

To save your inventory adjustments, simply click Save.

How much does Shopify inventory management cost?

Inventory management is available on Shopify starting at $29 per month [1]. Plan features and prices range from $29 per month to $2,300 per month, depending on your business’s needs [1]. All plans allow you to track inventory, fill orders, and sell products at multiple locations.  

Adjusting inventory quantities without variants

For products without variants, you can adjust inventory quantities by visiting the Products page from your Shopify admin and selecting the product to update. From the Inventory section, click either Available or On-hand. To adjust the quantity, enter the number by which you are increasing your existing inventory quantity under Adjust by. If you’re subtracting from your current inventory, use a negative number instead. Finalize your adjustments by clicking Save.

Other considerations for the Shopify inventory management system

You can keep track of your inventory adjustments over the last 180 days. However, if a product has multiple variants, you won’t be able to view the history for each one simultaneously; you’ll only be able to view the inventory adjustment history for each individual variant. Here are the steps to view your inventory adjustment history.

1. Go to Products from the Shopify admin, and select the product's name.

2. If the product has variants, select Edit next to the variant.

3. From the Inventory section, select Adjustment history.

Explore resources for your e-commerce and digital marketing career

Join Career Chat on LinkedIn to stay up-to-date on career trends and tips. Then, learn more about e-commerce and digital marketing by accessing these free resources:

• Bookmark this page: Digital Marketing Terms Every Marketer Should Know 

• Broaden your knowledge: Curious About Digital Marketing? Read On 

• Watch on YouTube: 5 AI Tools That Will Transform Your Digital Marketing Strategy 

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