The Best Shopify Inventory Management Apps For 2024
The best Shopify inventory management apps can save you a ton of time and stress.
Seriously, in the rapidly evolving eCommerce world, managing inventory is not only an ultra-daunting task, but something that’s absolutely necessary for success. Shopify offers a wide range of inventory management apps to help streamline operations and optimize sales.
But with so many Shopify inventory apps to choose from, how do you know which is the right fit?
Today, we’re going to break it down for you and explore what a Shopify inventory management app is, why eCommerce sellers need one, the features that make a great inventory management app, and topping it all off with a curated list of the best Shopify Inventory management apps of 2024.
Let’s get started!
What exactly is a Shopify inventory management app?
A Shopify inventory management app is a software tool or application that’s designed specifically to help Shopify store owners manage their inventory more effectively. These apps offer a comprehensive set of features to help track inventory levels, streamline warehousing, manage stock, automate reorders, and gain valuable insights into sales performance.
Inventory management apps integrate seamlessly with the Shopify platform, allowing sellers to centralize their inventory data, and streamline operations. They also provide real-time visibility into stock levels, automate inventory updates, and sync inventory data across various sales channels, such as online stores, marketplaces, and social media platforms.
Why do you need a Shopify inventory management app?
Long story short, efficient inventory management helps maintain customer satisfaction, maximize sales, and minimize costs.
But, to explain in greater detail, here are some reasons why you need a Shopify inventory management app:
- Accurate inventory tracking: Inventory management apps help you maintain accurate stock levels by automatically updating inventory across multiple channels in real time. This prevents overselling, backorders, and stockouts, ensuring a smooth shopping experience for your customers.
- Time-saving automation: Manually tracking inventory and updating stock levels can be time-consuming and prone to errors. Inventory management apps automate these processes, saving you valuable time and reducing the risk of inaccuracies.
- Multi-channel syncing: If you sell on multiple platforms, keeping track of inventory across all channels can be challenging. Inventory management apps synchronize your inventory data, ensuring consistent stock levels and preventing overselling or underselling on different sales channels.
- Streamlined order fulfillment: Inventory management apps integrate with your order management system, enabling you to efficiently process orders, allocate stock, and manage shipping and eCommerce returns. This streamlines the fulfillment process and enhances customer satisfaction.
- Forecasting and analytics: A good inventory management app provides valuable insights into sales trends, product performance, and demand forecasting. These analytics help you make data-driven decisions, optimize inventory levels, and plan for future growth.
What makes a great Shopify inventory management app?
When trying to find the perfect Shopify inventory management app, it's important to remember that not all apps are created equal. You need to find one that suits your unique needs and preferences, rather than just following what works for others.
So, as you explore your options, keep these key features in mind:
- Real-time inventory tracking: Look for an app that gives you up-to-the-minute visibility into your inventory across all your sales channels. This ensures that you always know exactly what you have in stock and helps prevent overselling mishaps.
- Multi-channel support: Make sure the app seamlessly integrates with all the sales channels you use, whether it's your Shopify store, popular marketplaces like Amazon and eBay, or social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. This way, you can manage all your inventory in one centralized place.
- Automation made easy: You'll want an app that takes care of the nitty-gritty tasks for you. Look for features like automated inventory updates, streamlined order fulfillment, and smart reordering processes. Automation saves you time and reduces the chances of human errors, freeing you up to focus on growing your business.
- Powerful reporting and analytics: Choose an app that provides comprehensive reports and analytics. These tools give you valuable insights into your sales performance, product trends, and even help you forecast demand. Armed with this information, you can make data-driven decisions and fine-tune your inventory strategy.
- Seamless shipping integration: Consider an app that integrates smoothly with popular shipping providers. This simplifies the shipping process, allowing you to generate shipping labels easily and provide real-time tracking information to your customers. It's all about creating a seamless and delightful experience for your buyers.
- Flexibility for growth: As your business expands, you need an inventory management app that can grow with you. Look for an app that can handle your increasing inventory demands and offers customization options to adapt to your specific requirements.
- Barcode and SKU management: Make your life easier by choosing an app that supports barcode scanning and SKU management. This simplifies inventory tracking, reduces errors, and speeds up the picking and packing process, making your operations more efficient.
- Streamlined purchase order management: An efficient inventory management app should include features for managing purchase orders. This allows you to automate the reordering process, set reorder points, and keep track of your suppliers, so you never run out of stock unexpectedly.
- User-friendly and intuitive: Nobody wants to struggle with a clunky or confusing app interface. Look for an app that is user-friendly, intuitive, and easy to navigate. You and your team should be able to start using it without a steep learning curve.
- Stellar customer support and updates: It's always great to have a reliable support team backing you up. Look for an app that offers excellent customer support, so you can get help whenever you need it, and regularly updates to ensure that the app stays compatible with the latest features and improvements from Shopify.
The 5 Best Shopify Inventory Management Apps for 2024
Finding the right tools for the job makes a world of difference. The following apps have impressed users with their powerful functionalities, easy-to-use interfaces, and positive customer feedback.
No matter if you're running a small business or operating at an enterprise level, these apps are designed to help simplify this overwhelming task.
Without further ado -- Let’s examine the top Shopify inventory management apps on the market:
1. Thrive
Thrive is a powerful inventory management and reporting solution designed for multi-location and online Shopify sellers. With its centralized approach, Thrive allows you to streamline your inventory processes, save time, reduce costs, and make informed business decisions.
Here's what makes Thrive a standout choice:
- Real-time stock and catalog syncing: Thrive offers seamless integration with multiple locations and point-of-sale systems, including Shopify, Shopify POS, Square, Clover, and Google Shopping. This ensures that your inventory is always up to date across all platforms.
- Data-rich reporting by location and sales channels: Gain valuable insights into your business performance with comprehensive reporting. Thrive allows you to analyze sales data by location and sales channel, enabling you to make data-driven decisions to optimize your inventory strategy.
- Automated purchase orders: Save time and eliminate manual processes with Thrive's automated purchase order feature. The app can generate purchase orders based on stock levels, ensuring timely restocking of products and preventing inventory shortages.
- Multi-account integration: If you have multiple Shopify accounts, Thrive simplifies your management by allowing you to connect all your accounts in one place. This centralized approach provides you with an all-in-one experience for easy monitoring and control.
- Efficient product management: Thrive enables you to use a scanner for various inventory tasks, such as counting, transferring, and reordering products. This barcode scanning functionality speeds up processes and reduces errors in inventory management.
- Assemblies and manufacturing workflows: Take your business to the next level with Thrive's assemblies and manufacturing workflows. This feature allows you to manage complex inventory processes, such as creating bundled products or manufacturing goods.
2. Sumtracker
Sumtracker is an inventory management app that caters to both single-store and multi-store owners. With its range of features, Sumtracker helps you effectively manage your inventory across different platforms, including Shopify, Amazon, eBay, and Etsy.
Here's what sets Sumtracker apart:
- Multichannel inventory sync: Keep your inventory in sync across multiple platforms seamlessly. Sumtracker integrates with popular channels like Shopify, Etsy, eBay, Amazon, and Amazon FBA, ensuring that your stock levels are always up to date.
- Product bundles: Simplify inventory management for bundled products. Sumtracker auto-updates the inventory of bundles based on their component products, saving you time and ensuring accurate stock counts.
- Purchase order automation: Streamline your purchasing process with Sumtracker's purchase order management. The app helps you create and manage purchase orders, track incoming stock, receive stock partially if needed, and even save price lists for efficient inventory management.
- Reporting: Stay on top of your inventory with Sumtracker's reporting features. Receive low stock alerts to avoid stockouts, utilize inventory forecasting to plan for future demand, and gain insights into stock valuation and cost of goods sold (COGS).
3. Unleashed
Unleashed is a trusted inventory solution that provides full visibility and control over your supply chain for Shopify store owners. With its comprehensive features, Unleashed goes beyond basic inventory management, making it a valuable tool for manufacturers, wholesalers, and eCommerce retailers.
Here's why Unleashed stands out:
- Fulfill Shopify orders and more: Unleashed allows you to manage orders from various sources, including Shopify, POS systems, B2B platforms, and offline sales, all from a single screen. This centralized approach simplifies order management and improves efficiency.
- Live view of inventory across multiple locations: Gain real-time insights into your stock levels across multiple warehouses and locations. Unleashed provides an accurate and up-to-date view of your inventory, ensuring that you have the information you need to fulfill orders and prevent stockouts.
- Omnichannel view of reordering and production needs: Stay on top of your reordering and production requirements with Unleashed's omnichannel view. This feature helps you optimize your inventory by providing insights into demand, ensuring you have the right stock levels at the right time.
- Track variable costs for accurate profit margins: Unleashed allows you to track variable costs like freight and customs duties. By incorporating these costs into your inventory calculations, you can accurately calculate profit margins and make informed pricing decisions.
- Extensive integrations: With over 30 integrations available, Unleashed seamlessly integrates with various platforms, including accounting software like Xero and QuickBooks Online, CRM systems, point of sale systems, analytics tools, and connectors. This enables you to connect Unleashed with your existing software stack for a comprehensive business solution.
4. Merchbees
Merchbees is a powerful Shopify inventory management app that offers a quick and effective solution for tracking low-stock products and replenishing them in a timely manner. With its intuitive features, Merchbees helps you stay on top of your inventory and ensure you never run out of stock.
Here's what makes Merchbees stand out:
- Low inventory notifications: Merchbees sends you and your vendors notifications when the inventory of a product falls below a chosen threshold. This allows you to take proactive action and restock products before they go out of stock, ensuring uninterrupted sales.
- Automatic reorder calculation: Set the maximum stock level (order up to level) for each product, and Merchbees automatically calculates the reorder quantity. This feature streamlines your replenishment process, saving you time and effort in determining how much stock to reorder.
- Dynamic thresholds based on sales forecasting: With Merchbees' forecasting module, thresholds are calculated based on the sales velocity of each product and updated daily. This ensures that your inventory levels are aligned with demand, preventing both stockouts and excessive inventory.
- Instant and scheduled alerts: Create unlimited alerts and choose to receive email or Slack notifications. Whether you want instant notifications or scheduled alerts at specific intervals, Merchbees keeps you informed about critical inventory levels.
- Advanced filtering options: Customize your notifications and reports with multiple filters, including location, collection, vendor, tag, product, or SKU. This flexibility allows you to focus on specific segments of your inventory and make targeted decisions.
- Sales, forecast, and inventory reports: Gain valuable insights into your inventory with comprehensive reports provided by Merchbees. Analyze sales data, forecast future demand, and monitor your inventory levels. Export functionality enables you to use the data in other applications or share it with stakeholders.
5. ActionShip
ActionShip is an all-in-one software designed to streamline your shipping, inventory, and accounting processes. Whether you're a small business or a growing enterprise, ActionShip offers a range of features to improve efficiency, save time, and reduce costs.
Here's what makes ActionShip a valuable tool for your business:
- Automatic order download and label generation: ActionShip simplifies the fulfillment process by automatically downloading Shopify orders and generating shipping labels. This eliminates manual data entry and speeds up order processing.
- Discounted shipping rates: Take advantage of discounted USPS shipping rates and compare rates among different shipping carriers to lower your shipping costs. ActionShip helps you find the most cost-effective shipping option for each order.
- Customizable QuickBooks integration: Simplify your accounting tasks with ActionShip's customizable integration with QuickBooks Desktop and Online. Seamlessly sync your orders from Shopify to QuickBooks and customize templates to fit your business needs.
- Automatic inventory tracking and updates: ActionShip offers automatic inventory tracking across multiple channels. By preventing overselling and providing live inventory updates to Shopify, you can ensure accurate stock levels and maximize sales.
- Other advanced features: Set up automatic filtering rules to streamline order processing, save time by remembering weight information, and manage multiple shipping locations seamlessly. Batch label generation, automatic rate comparison, and scan-and-print capabilities further enhance your shipping workflow.
ActionShip operates on a straightforward pricing model based on the total number of orders processed in a month and offers three products: Shipping Automation, QuickBooks Integration, and Inventory Management.
- Shipping Automation: Ranging from $20 to $145 per month, depending on the number of orders.
- QuickBooks Integration: Ranging from $20 to $100 per month, depending on the order volume.
- Inventory Management: Ranging from $15 to $65 per month, based on the number of orders.
Choose the Best Shopify Inventory Management App For You!
Finding the best Shopify inventory management app for your store will help streamline your operations, maximize sales, and stay ahead of the competition. The above inventory management apps offer robust functionalities, user-friendly interfaces, and seamless integrations to supercharge your inventory control.
If you’ve been struggling with staying on top of your inventory, it's time to solve the problem. Take action today and install one of these top inventory management apps to simplify your processes, save time, cut costs, and help make smarter business decisions. Your store will thank you for it!
Author Bio
Chad Jensen is a writer for Aurajinn, a trusted source of information for eCommerce store owners. With his extensive background in sales, marketing, and technology, Chad offers a unique and engaging perspective through his writing, helping online businesses flourish in the digital landscape.