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Maker Education

Why You Should Always Track Inventory! (and how to set it up on Abound)

“I’m so sorry, but I’ll have to cancel the order you placed because I don’t have the skus you ordered anymore!”

Ahhhh! This is every maker’s nightmare. Cancelling orders means money left on the table and damaging your relationship with retailers.

So while tracking inventory isn’t the most exciting part of running a business, it’s definitely worth spending some time on.

Luckily for you, Abound has two different ways to track your inventory! Whether you choose to integrate your entire inventory with us, or have a separate Abound inventory, both of these techniques will keep you organized.

Inventory System 1: Shopify Integration

If you use Shopify, you can integrate your existing inventory directly to your Abound shop.

Setting up the Shopify integration

Navigate to the “Integrations” tab in your brand dashboard and “connect to Shopify.”

Grab the URL from your Shopify store to connect. You will only need the part before “.myshopify.com”.

Check to see if your SKUs on Abound match the SKUs on your Shopify store. NOTE: This is a crucial step to ensure the integration is a success! 

If your SKUs on Abound do not match to what you have in Shopify, you will need to update your SKUs – more on how to do that in bulk here

Once you have corrected any potential SKUs that do not match, you can move forward with choosing how you’d like to integrate. You have the option to integrate with inventory, orders, or both! 

Processing an order now that you are connected

You will receive orders the same way as before – via an email notification and the order will show in your brand dashboard. 

First accept the order, and it will then populate in your Shopify account. 

Note that all Abound orders will be tagged as “Abound.” 

Process your order via Shopify, and then go back to your Abound account to choose how you would like to ship the order. 

NOTE: Any shipping you process in Shopify will not integrate back to Abound. You must choose your shipping method in the Abound brand dashboard > Orders page. 

Once you finish shipping & submitting your order on Abound, you are good to go! 

Inventory System 2: Manual (Non-integration)

Step 1: Export your product catalogue

Navigate to the “products” tab in your brand dashboard and export your catalogue. You will receive an email with the download. 

Step 2: Add inventory to the export 

Open your export and scroll to the column labeled “Inventory_level” and add inventory to products. 

Products with variants: Add inventory at the variant level 

Products without variants: Add inventory at the product level

Step 3: Import your edited CSV in the products tab 

Navigate to the “products” tab in your brand dashboard and import the CSV you just edited. 

Make sure to choose “Abound catalogue export” 

Your inventory updates should reflect by the next day! 

Add Inventory by Product

Step 1: Navigate to the product you want to add inventory for

Go to a product that you want to add inventory for and click through to the product page. Scroll down to where it says “Track Inventory Quantity.” NOTE: when inventory reaches 0, the product or variant will become “out of stock.” 

Then scroll down to your variants and add units to each

Don’t forget to save! 🙂 

In conclusion, effective inventory management is critical for businesses that want to succeed in today’s fast-paced retail environment. By keeping track of inventory levels, businesses can optimize their supply chain management, improve customer satisfaction, increase sales opportunities, build strong partnerships with retailers, and ensure compliance with regulations. Ultimately, these benefits can help businesses increase their revenue and profitability and position themselves for long-term success.