Shopify Inventory and ERP Integrations: Native Features, Connectors and Custom Builds

Shopify's built-in inventory tools are enough for many stores: inventory tracking by location, transfers between locations, purchase orders with suppliers, stock counts, adjustment history and inventory reports. Stores outgrow them when the business runs on another system of record, usually an ERP (enterprise resource planning) system such as Oracle NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central that also owns accounting, purchasing, manufacturing or wholesale.

Connecting Shopify to an ERP comes down to three patterns: a prebuilt connector app, an integration platform (often called iPaaS) that maps data between systems, or a custom integration built on Shopify's APIs. Each can work. The decision depends on how standard your processes are, how much data moves and how fast, and who will maintain the integration after launch.

This guide covers Shopify's native inventory features as of October 2026 (including the end of Stocky), the integration patterns, what to evaluate, and a neutral list of ERP connectors on the Shopify App Store with pricing as listed. It's part of our Shopify hub.

Shopify's native inventory features

Inventory states

Once you turn on inventory tracking, Shopify assigns quantities at each location to inventory states:

• On hand: everything at the location, the sum of committed, unavailable and available.
• Available: what you can sell.
• Committed: set aside and not sellable, such as units in unfulfilled orders, reserved in draft orders, or in a transfer marked ready to ship.
• Unavailable: held for reasons such as damage, quality control or safety stock, including units set aside by apps.
• Incoming: on the way from transfers, purchase orders or apps; it becomes available once received.

These states matter for integrations. An ERP that pushes a single "quantity" number has to map to Shopify's available or on hand quantity, and the choice changes how committed and unavailable stock behave.

Locations

Shopify's pricing page lists 10 inventory locations on Basic, Grow and Advanced, and 200 on Plus. Locations can include warehouses and retail stores. Our article on multi-location Shopify setups covers when that limit becomes a design constraint.

Transfers, purchase orders and stock counts

• Transfers: move and track stock between your locations, or to and from external locations such as suppliers. You can mark transfers in transit or ready to ship, receive full or partial quantities, add tracking, and split shipments. Staff can fulfill and receive transfers in Shopify POS, and transfers created by apps also appear on the Transfers page.
• Purchase orders: record what you've agreed with suppliers (products, quantities, costs, payment terms, supplier details). Once a purchase order is marked Ordered, you create an inventory transfer from it to track shipments, receive stock and add cost adjustments.
• Stock counts and history: run inventory counts, review the adjustment history for each product and variant, and use inventory reports.
• Alerts: Shopify suggests Shopify Flow (free on Basic and up) or an App Store app for low-stock notifications.
• Sidekick: Shopify says you can ask Sidekick what to reorder or how to rebalance stock across locations, and it drafts the purchase order or transfer for you to review.

Stocky has been retired

If you used Stocky, Shopify's POS inventory app, its migration guide sets out the timeline:

• Stocky was delisted from the App Store on 2 February 2026, so it can't be reinstalled.
• As of 31 August 2026, Stocky can no longer be used to manage inventory. Shopify gives read-only access to export data for at least 90 days after that date.
• Historical purchase orders and stocktakes don't move into Shopify automatically, suppliers can't be exported, and past purchase orders can't be imported.
• Stocky's APIs stopped working on 31 August 2026, so third-party tools that integrated with Stocky need to move to Shopify's inventory APIs. Shopify says new physical inventory APIs are in developer preview.

If an older article tells you to manage purchase orders in Stocky, it's out of date.

When you need an ERP integration

Signs that Shopify alone isn't enough:

• Your finance team closes the books in an ERP and re-keys Shopify orders by hand.
• Inventory is shared between Shopify, wholesale, marketplaces and retail, and the ERP or warehouse system is the source of truth.
• You manufacture, assemble kits or manage lots, serial numbers or landed costs.
• B2B customers have pricing, credit terms or invoices that live in the ERP.
• You run several Shopify stores or regions from one back office.

B2B is a common trigger in 2026. Since 2 April 2026, Basic, Grow and Advanced can sell wholesale with up to three B2B catalogs, which brings company accounts, payment terms and catalog pricing into Shopify that may need to sync with the ERP. See our Shopify B2B guide.

Three integration patterns

1. Prebuilt connector apps

Connector apps map standard objects (products, inventory, orders, fulfillments, customers, refunds) between Shopify and a specific ERP. Shopify's Global ERP Program collection lists certified connectors, and many more are in the App Store's ERP category. Connectors are the fastest route when your processes are fairly standard. The trade-off is flexibility: unusual data mappings may need the vendor's paid services or a workaround.

2. Integration platforms (iPaaS)

An integration platform sits between systems and lets you build or configure flows, often from templates, with monitoring and error queues. This suits businesses connecting several systems (ERP, 3PL, marketplaces, CRM) or needing custom mappings without writing all the code. You pay for the platform and, usually, an implementation partner.

3. Custom integrations

A custom app or middleware service calls Shopify's APIs directly. This gives full control and suits complex or high-volume operations, but you own the maintenance: API version upgrades, rate limits, retries and monitoring. Our comparison of Shopify apps versus custom middleware covers the trade-offs in more depth.

Technical facts that affect every integration

• GraphQL first. Shopify's REST Admin API has been legacy since 1 October 2024, and new public apps have had to use the GraphQL Admin API exclusively since 1 April 2025. REST product and variant endpoints are deprecated.
• Variants. Products can have up to 2,048 variants (since 15 October 2025). Shopify warns that apps not using the current GraphQL product APIs may have a downgraded or broken experience with products over 100 variants, so ask connector vendors about this directly.
• Rate limits. The GraphQL Admin API allows 100 points per second on standard plans, 200 on Advanced, 1,000 on Plus and 2,000 on Shopify for enterprise. Large catalog syncs need batching and backoff. See our guide to Shopify API rate limits.
• Events. Integrations should react to changes through webhooks rather than polling. With API version 2026-10, Shopify made Next Gen Events, its successor to classic webhooks, generally available on 1 October 2026.
• API versions. Shopify releases a new API version every quarter and supports each for at least 12 months. A custom integration needs a plan for regular upgrades.
• Flow as glue. Shopify Flow's Send HTTP Request action (available on Grow, Advanced and Plus) can push simple events to another system without a full app.

What to evaluate before you choose

1. System of record for each object. Write down which system owns products, prices, inventory, customers, orders, fulfillments, refunds and B2B terms. Two-way sync on the same field is where most integration bugs come from.
2. Sync direction and frequency. Inventory and orders usually need near real-time sync; product content may sync on a schedule. Some connectors charge more for real-time options.
3. Inventory mapping. Which Shopify quantity (available or on hand) the ERP updates, how committed stock is handled, and whether a safety buffer is supported.
4. Order details. Discounts, gift cards, store credit, taxes, duties, shipping and multi-currency orders all need to land correctly in the ERP. Test refunds, exchanges and partial fulfillments, not just simple orders.
5. Channels. If you sell on POS, marketplaces or B2B, confirm each is supported on the plan you'd buy.
6. Error handling. Where failed records go, who gets alerted, and how they're retried.
7. Total cost. Subscription, implementation, ERP-side licences and ongoing support. Several connectors bill outside your Shopify invoice.

ERP connectors on the Shopify App Store

Listed alphabetically. The first five are in Shopify's Global ERP Program collection; the others are examples from the App Store's ERP category. Pricing is as shown on each listing on 1 October 2026; "billed separately" means the listing says the vendor may charge outside your Shopify invoice.

Inclusion here isn't an endorsement. App Store review counts for ERP connectors are often small, so ask vendors for references from stores with similar order volume and complexity.

A practical rollout plan

1. Map data ownership and write down the exact fields that sync each way.
2. Clean up first: consistent SKUs on every variant, correct locations, accurate costs.
3. Build and test on a development or staging store with a copy of real products.
4. Test edge cases: refunds, exchanges, split shipments, out-of-stock items, discounts, B2B orders and POS sales.
5. Go live in a quiet period with someone watching error queues, and keep a manual fallback for the first weeks.
6. Schedule a review each quarter for API version changes and new Shopify features.

For the data side, our article on real-time sync with Shopify goes into sync design.

Conclusion

Use Shopify's native inventory tools as long as Shopify is the source of truth. Once an ERP owns your stock, costs or B2B terms, pick an integration pattern that matches your complexity: a connector for standard processes, an integration platform for several systems, or a custom GraphQL integration for unique workflows. Whatever you choose, settle data ownership first. If you need a custom connector or middleware, that's work eSEOspace takes on through our Shopify app development services.

Frequently asked questions