Contact Us

The End of Stocky: Preparing Your Inventory Management for the Future

Shopify has announced the end of Stocky. Stocky being deprecated, sunset, going away, whatever you wish to call it, it is the end of a useful tool for many merchants. If you're a Shopify merchant who relies on Stocky for stock takes, purchase orders, or inventory transfers, you need to start planning your migration now, before the end of August 2026, deadline.

It's also left a lot of questions and concerns for many. We're going to try help prepare you for the future of inventory management and some of the options available. Accurate inventory management is critical to businesses and so ensuring you have the right tools is key.

There are a lot of options available too, and it can be overwhelming to know where to start. We will cover some of the key dates, what you need to do to prepare, both Shopify's options and our own solutions that can help you manage your inventory in the future.

  1. Key Dates for Stocky Shutdown
  2. How to Prepare for the Stocky migration
    1. Stock takes
    2. Adjustments
    3. Replenishment Limits (Min/Max)
    4. Transfer orders
    5. Purchasing and receiving inventory
  3. Next Steps: Don't Wait Until August

Key Dates for Stocky Shutdown

How to Prepare for the Stocky migration

Although August might seem a long way off, it is important to start preparing now. It can take time to find the right solution for your business, and to setup new processes and train your staff on new tools. So, the sooner you start, the better.

Firstly, you need to review your current inventory management processes:

Once you have a clear understanding of your current processes and needs, you can start exploring the options available. There are a lot of inventory management tools out there, so it's important to find one that fits your specific needs and budget. You should also consider the level of support, training and experience of the team behind the application, as this can be critical for migrating and getting the most for your investment.

Shopify provides a high-level feature comparison, but it doesn't cover day-to-day workflows in detail.

Below we will cover some of the key processes that Stocky was used for and see what Shopify is replacing it with and how you can use it. We will also cover how our own application, Stock Takes by Pimsical, can also help.

Stock takes

Stock takes are a critical part of inventory management, and Stocky provided a useful tool for this. Conducting regular stock takes is important to ensure your inventory records are accurate, and to identify any discrepancies or issues with your inventory throughout the year. Stock takes can be time consuming and laborious process, but done well with the right tools, they can be a lot easier and more efficient.

Shopify

Shopify provide Quick Count, a free tool for small stock takes. This is a simple way to count your inventory on Shopify POS, you can see the details on using it here.. It can be added to Shopify POS, and then staff can click on a product and scan or manually update a quantity. When the count is saved, the inventory quantity will be updated in Shopify. We'll include a video below of how this works.

It currently counts only On Hand inventory, which covers Available, Unavailable and Committed inventory. It can count up to 1000 product variants in one session.

Pros:

Cons:

Pimsical

Stock takes are where we started with Pimsical, and it's still our core focus. We have built a powerful stock take application that is designed to make the stock take process as easy and efficient as possible. With almost 5 million stock take scans completed with our application, it is battle tested for your retail counts. We also provide powerful reporting tools to help you identify discrepancies and understand all the information about your stock takes. We've got flexible pricing plans to suit different sizes of business, and we also offer a free trial so you can try it out for yourself and see how it can help you with your stock takes.

Pros:

Cons:

Adjustments

Adjustments are changes to inventory levels that are made outside of a stock take. This can be for a variety of reasons, such as correcting an error, accounting for damaged or lost inventory, or making adjustments for returns. It's important to have a clear process for making ad hoc adjustments, and to record the reason for the adjustment, so you can track and understand why inventory levels have changed.

Shopify

Adjustments outside of a stock take can be done in Shopify Admin, but there is no way to record the reason for the adjustment making it difficult to track and understand why inventory levels have changed. You can also use Quick Count we spoke about earlier to make adjustments, but again there is no way to record the reason for the adjustment.

Pros:

Cons:

Pimsical

We have a powerful adjustments tool in Pimsical that allows you to make ad hoc adjustments to inventory levels, and to record the reason for the adjustment. This can be useful for tracking and understanding why inventory levels have changed, and for identifying any issues or discrepancies with your inventory. You can allow staff to enter a reason for the adjustment, and you can also have predefined reasons to choose from, which can help with consistency and reporting.

You can also report on the reason for adjustments with our reports, which can help you identify any patterns or issues with your inventory, such as a high number of adjustments for a specific product or location, which could indicate a wider process problem that needs to be addressed.

Pros:

Cons:

Replenishment Limits (Min/Max)

Replenishment limits, also known as min/max levels, are a tool for managing inventory levels and ensuring that you always have enough stock on hand to meet customer demand, without overstocking and holding too much stock for your retail store stock room. Min/max levels allow you to set a minimum and maximum quantity for each product, and then automatically generate transfer orders or purchase orders when inventory levels fall below the minimum level. This can help you avoid stockouts and ensure that you always have enough inventory on hand to meet customer demand.

Shopify

Unfortunately, Shopify have removed the min/max levels feature from Stocky, and they have not provided a replacement for this functionality in Shopify Admin. You would need to manually monitor inventory levels and create transfer orders or purchase orders as needed.

Pimsical

We provide the ability to set replenishment min/max levels for products at a variant level, allowing the flexibility to set different levels for different variants of the same product. So, you can better stock the correct amount across the size curve. This can be done via a file upload, managed in our app in Shopify Admin or via our app on Shopify POS, giving you the flexibility to manage this in the way that works best for you and your team. You can then automatically generate transfer orders or purchase orders when inventory levels fall below the minimum levels, this is similar to the functionality you will be used to in Stocky. This can help you ensure that you always have enough inventory on hand and can help you avoid stockouts.

We also have a Shopify Flow integration coming in the next months, so you can configure automatic creation of transfer orders or purchase orders.

Transfer orders

Transfer orders are used to move inventory from one location to another. This can be useful for a variety of reasons, such as moving inventory from a warehouse to a retail store or transferring inventory between your different locations to balance stock levels. It's important to have a clear process for creating and managing transfer orders, and to ensure that inventory levels are updated correctly when the transfer is completed.

Shopify

Shopify have a new transfer order system, which moved in July from Stocky to Shopify Admin. It allows you to create transfer orders in Shopify Admin and then manage the transfer process from start to finish. You can create a transfer order, specify the products and quantities being transferred, and then track the status of the transfer as it progresses. Once the transfer is completed, inventory levels will be updated automatically. The transfers can also optionally have an origin or destination location, which means they can be more flexibly be used for other use cases such as receiving inventory from suppliers etc.

Pros:

Cons:

Pimsical

We integrate with Shopify transfer orders to provide an improved experience for managing transfer orders on Shopify POS. You can view and manage transfer orders from Shopify Admin, and then use our app to manage the transfer process on Shopify POS. This can be useful for staff who are responsible for managing transfers, as they can do everything from one place on Shopify POS, rather than having to switch between different applications. We also provide the ability to set replenishment min/max levels for products, and to automatically create transfer orders when inventory levels fall below the minimum levels, this is similar to the functionality you will be used to in Stocky. This can help you ensure that you always have enough inventory on hand, and can help you avoid stockouts.

Pros:

Cons:

Purchasing and receiving inventory

Purchasing and receiving inventory is a critical part of inventory management and retail, and Stocky provided a very powerful tool with a lot of features. It's important to have a clear process for purchasing and receiving inventory, and to ensure that inventory levels are updated correctly when new stock is received.

Shopify

Shopify purchase orders has been available in Shopify Admin for a while, however Shopify are now recommending that you use Transfers rather than purchase orders for receiving inventory. This is because transfer orders have more features and functionality than purchase orders, and can be used for a wider range of inventory management tasks.

You can create a transfer order in Shopify Admin, and then specify the destination location as your warehouse or retail store and leave the origin blank, as the origin needs to be a Shopify location if specified. You can then manage the transfer as normal from start to finish, and inventory levels will be updated automatically when the transfer is completed.

You can use Shopify purchase orders as well however they provide an older and less feature rich experience.

Pros:

Cons:

Pimsical

We will be launching purchase orders in early March, which will provide a powerful tool for managing the purchasing and receiving inventory process on Shopify POS. You will be able to create purchase orders in our app, specify the products and quantities being ordered, and then manage the receiving process on Shopify POS. This can be useful for staff who are responsible for managing purchases and receiving inventory, as they can do everything from one place on Shopify POS, rather than having to switch between different applications. We will also provide the ability to set min/max levels for products, and to automatically create purchase orders when inventory levels fall below the minimum levels, this is similar to the functionality you will be used to with Stocky.

We have a preview of the purchase order experience in our app, which you can see in the video below. If there is something critical to your purchasing process that you do not see in the video, please contact us and we will work to include it in our plans.

Pros:

Cons:

Next Steps: Don't Wait Until August

The Stocky shutdown deadline is set. Merchants who wait risk inventory disruptions during their busiest periods or worse picking the wrong tools in the rush.

Ready to explore your options?

👉 Start your free trial of Stock Takes by Pimsical and see how it compares to Stocky—no commitment required.

Have questions about migrating from Stocky? We've helped thousands of stock takes, transfers and more run smoothly! Contact our team or email us [email protected].