Syncing inventory with Shopify
It is important that available inventory in Shopify is accurate. Indigo8 allows you to control which styles are available for sale and which locations are included.
Inventory is updated from Indigo8 to Shopify with the following two processes.
Automatic Inventory updates
When there is a change to available inventory in Indigo8 we insert the items to a queue.
The queue is processed to update the Shopify inventory every 3 mins
2am Inventory update
At 2am each day the available inventory for all styles that are connected by your website updater to the Shopify inventory is compared.
If we find any discrepancies the Shopify inventory will be updated to match the available inventory in Indigo8.
Including stores in the inventory sync
The inventory sync option within Indigo8 allows you to control the locations which will share available inventory with Shopify.
This setting can be found in the warehouse module.
The locations to be shared are specific to each of your websites, the website you wish to make changes to can be selected here.
Once loaded you will see the locations which are setup to sync inventory with Shopify.
You can also see:
The order that the stores appear in the list will determine their priority when sales orders are created. The higher in the list the higher the priority.
The Buffer that is set, the buffer is the quantity that will be held back and not shared with Shopify.
Exclude Styles, this allows you to exclude specific styles from the inventory sync for each location. This is linked to a setting in the website updater.
Days of the week, this controls the days that available inventory is included. This is to allow you to exclude specific locations and is typically used to allow retail stores to trade through busy periods without sharing their stock with online.
In this example the Apple Store - Online warehouse will sync available inventory each day and all styles will be included.
The Pre-order Warehouse will only sync available inventory on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and selected styles will be excluded.
When a sales order is created if stock is available from all locations the Apple store will be selected as it is highest in the list.
Locations can be added by selecting “Add” and removed by selecting “Remove”
It is important to note that:
When a store is added or removed inventory will only be updated at 2am, if an item is sold that is available in that location it will be updated as part of the 3 minute update.
When a day is not selected the full inventory for that location will be removed as part of the 2am update. Inventory for this location will not be updated again until 2am on the next day that it is selected.
Excluded styles are removed in full at 2am and added back at 2am if they are no longer to be excluded.
Excluding styles from the Inventory sync
Styles which are listed on the Website Updater will be included in the inventory sync with Shopify.
If you wish to exclude a style there are two options
Exclude from inventory update - The stock in Shopify will remain as it is. There will be no further adjustments.
Exclude from inventory location - The style will be removed from selected locations.
Each of these settings is website specific.
You may wish to exclude a style from the inventory update if you want your styles to display active on Shopify with no inventory. The most common scenario is to display a ‘COMING SOON’ badge on the Shopify front end, but you don’t want the customer to be able to purchase the item yet.
Exclude from an Inventory location is typically used when you wish to protect specific styles at specific locations.
For example a new style has been launched and you want to protect sales in your physical locations.
Alternatively you may wish to exclude low value items from all but your main DC to reduce the chances of split shipments and to say money of freight costs.
To set this up go to the website updater and select the website you wish to change the product on.
You can then select the product you wish to make changes to by selecting edit which will open up this section.
The checkboxes can then be changed
It is important to note that:
When style is Excluded from the inventory update the inventory will no longer change in Shopify
Excluded styles from Inventory Locations are removed in full at 2am and added back at 2am if they are no longer to be excluded.
Excluded styles from Inventory Locations must be checked on the item and also on the location in Inventory sync.