How to handle inventory adjustments on Shopify

Adjustments are changes to inventory levels made outside of a stock take. They happen all the time in retail — correcting an error, accounting for damaged or lost stock, processing a return. What matters isn't that adjustments happen, it's whether you have a clear process for making them and understanding why.

Without a recorded reason, an adjustment is just a number that changed. You lose the ability to spot patterns — a product that keeps going missing, a location with recurring stock discrepancies, a process breaking down somewhere in your operations. Over time, that's the difference between catching a problem early and only noticing it once it's cost you real money.

Shopify Admin lets you make adjustments outside of a stock take, and so does Quick Count — Shopify's suggested app for this — but neither currently gives you a way to record why the adjustment happened.

For a single-location store making the odd manual correction, that might not matter much. For a growing or professional business, it usually does — especially once you're managing adjustments across multiple staff, multiple locations, or higher volumes of stock.

That's where Stock Takes comes in.

How it helps

• Record the reason, every time — log why an adjustment was made, not just what changed
• Consistency across your team — staff can pick from a predefined list of reasons, or enter a bespoke one if you allow it
• Spot patterns before they become problems — report on adjustment reasons to catch recurring issues, like a specific product or location with unusually high adjustment activity
• Do it on the go — built for Shopify POS, so staff can make adjustments from the shop floor rather than needing Shopify admin access
• No POS Pro required — save $89 USD / £69 GBP a month per location, since you don't need the add-on to make adjustments on Shopify POS

Worth knowing

• Stock Takes isn't free, though you can trial it for 30 days at no cost
• It's designed for Shopify POS rather than desktop — built around the workflows and devices your team is likely already using