Last updated: 18 October 2026
Before the count: make Shopify's numbers worth comparing
A stocktake compares two numbers: what Shopify says you have, and what is on the shelf. If the first one is still moving, the comparison is wrong from the start. Shopify's own guide to planning an inventory count gives the checklist:
- Finish what is in flight: complete pending orders, transfers and shipments so that every movement is recorded.
- Pick the moment: count after closing, when sales are paused, or spread a large count over several days, zone by zone.
- Split by place, not by name: give each person a physical zone (shelves, racks, stockroom sections), and keep a list of finished zones so nothing is counted twice.
- Fix the barcodes first: reprint damaged labels before you start, and charge the devices and scanners.
- Spot-check a few products against the On hand quantity in the admin, so you know roughly what to expect.
During the count
- Scan, don't search. Shopify's guide notes that barcode scanners are faster and more accurate than finding variants by name. A phone camera does the same job.
- Count what is there, not what should be there. Record the quantity you see, including zero.
- Note what the system does not know: a barcode that matches no product, a product in the wrong location. Deal with them after the count, not in the middle of it.
After the count: review before you write
This is the step that makes a stocktake trustworthy. Before stock levels change in Shopify, someone should look at the differences:
- Over, under, not counted. A product nobody scanned is either missing or forgotten; the answer decides whether it goes to zero or stays unchanged.
- Recount the big gaps. Shopify suggests a physical recount for any variant whose difference is above 5%.
- Look for movements you forgot: an unrecorded transfer between locations explains many "losses".
- Keep the evidence: the expected quantities, the counted quantities and the adjustments made. Shopify's Stocky migration guide recommends keeping the original export, the counted file and the import log as your audit record.
Three ways to update Shopify
1. Stock counts in the Shopify admin
Shopify's Stocky migration guide is direct: "To run a full-location stocktake or a cycle count, use inventory stock counts in your Shopify admin." What the help center describes for creating and performing and reviewing a count:
- Counts are created and managed under Inventory › Stock counts, from a desktop browser. One count covers one location.
- Products are added by search and selection, or by scanning. The expected quantities are shown.
- Counting happens in the admin, by typing in the Count field or with a barcode scanner (each scan adds 1). POS Pro is not needed for that. At locations with a Shopify POS Pro subscription, staff can also count in the Shopify POS app (version 11.16 or later).
- Several staff members can count. The count is then reviewed, expected against counted, and approved; the approval cannot be undone.
- The help center does not describe an export of the count, offline counting, or counting bundles.
For spot checks, Quick count in Shopify POS handles up to 1,000 variants per session and applies the counts without a review step.
2. CSV export and import
Shopify's help center also describes an offline method: export your inventory to CSV from Products › Inventory, count with a spreadsheet or a scanning tool, fill in the counted quantities, and import the file.
- Export the All states format and fill in the On hand (new) column. When the file contains both On hand (current) and On hand (new), Shopify compares the current stock with the exported value: rows that changed since the export are not imported, and you receive an email listing them. That protects you from overwriting a sale, but those products need a recount.
- The file can hold one location or all of them, and cannot exceed 15 MB.
- It works without any app or POS plan. The effort is in the spreadsheet: typing counts, matching rows, and handling the rejected lines.
3. A counting app
The native stock counts cover the core routine. A counting app still helps in a few situations:
- staff count with their own phones, without a Shopify account, a POS subscription or a barcode scanner;
- the stockroom has a weak network, and scans need to be kept on the phone and sent later;
- you count a whole scope at once (a location, a collection, a vendor, a tag) as the count scope, within your plan limits;
- you need an export of the count, or a printable report of the counted differences, valued at cost;
- you track shrinkage by reason (theft, breakage, expired).
The next section describes our own app.
What MT: Stocktake & Stock Count does
MT: Stocktake & Stock Count runs the whole routine above inside Shopify: freeze, count, review, apply.
- Any phone is a scanner. The admin shows a QR code; the phone opens a scan page in its browser. No app to install on the phone, no login, no POS plan. Several phones can count in the same session, each scan logged with the device name and reversible. Any of a variant’s barcodes is recognised: Shopify now stores up to 20 per variant (manufacturer EAN, your own label, an old code).
- Scans survive a bad network. They are queued on the phone and sent when the connection returns. Scans made offline stay on the phone until they are sent, even if the count is finished or the link expires first.
- Blind counts. Tick one box when you create the count: phones and the count screen show only what has been counted, never the expected quantity or the difference. Expected quantities and differences appear after “Finish & review”.
- Count a scope: one location, and everything, a collection, a vendor, a tag, a product type or a saved zone (within your plan limits). Handy for counting zone by zone over several days.
- It counts the physical stock (On hand). The expected quantity of each line is Shopify’s On hand quantity: every unit physically at the location, including units waiting for unfulfilled orders and units marked as damaged or in quality control. Count everything on the shelf; only the difference is applied, so units already sold stay reserved for their orders. Shopify’s Quick count works the same way.
- Stock that moves during the count is set aside. When Shopify reports a stock change for a product during the count (a sale, a shipment, a delivery), that product is not updated when you apply: it is listed, with a button to count it again from its current stock. When it writes, the app also checks that the physical stock is still what it was when the count started; if not, Shopify refuses the change and the product is listed the same way. Shopify does not report every movement, so for an exact count do not ship, receive or move the counted products until you apply.
- A review screen before anything is written: over, under, not counted, unknown barcodes, with the value of the differences at cost. You decide whether uncounted products stay unchanged (partial count) or go to zero (full count).
- One click to apply. Adjustments are written to Shopify with the reason "Cycle count", and each count has a printable report of every adjustment applied, valued at cost (CSV export on paid plans).
What it does not do: purchase orders, transfers, forecasting, labels. Plans: Free with no time limit and no trial period (all locations, 5,000 variants per count, 1 device), $9/month (all locations, 10,000 variants per count, 5 devices), $19/month (no limits). The customer guide shows a full count with real screenshots.
View MT: Stocktake & Stock Count on the Shopify App Store
Frequently asked questions
Does Shopify have a stocktake feature?
Yes. Stock counts are part of the Shopify admin, under Inventory > Stock counts. A count covers one location; products are added by search or by scan, counted in the admin or, at locations with POS Pro, in the Shopify POS app, then reviewed and approved. Shopify's help center recommends them for a full-location stocktake or a cycle count. Quick count in Shopify POS is meant for spot checks of up to 1,000 variants.
Can I do a stocktake on Shopify without POS?
Yes. A stock count created in the Shopify admin can be counted in the admin itself, by typing quantities or with a barcode scanner. You can also export your inventory to CSV, count, and import the file back, or use a counting app. MT: Stocktake & Stock Count does not need Shopify POS: counting happens in the browser of any phone.
What happens if an order ships while I am counting?
With the CSV method, if you import both the On hand (current) and On hand (new) columns, Shopify compares the current stock with the exported value; rows that changed since the export are not imported and you get an email listing them. You then recount those products. Counting after closing avoids most of these cases.
How often should I count my stock?
Shopify's guide to planning an inventory count suggests quarterly counts for most retailers and monthly counts for categories with high shrinkage, in addition to any full count you need at the end of your financial year.
Coming from Stocky? See Stocky is gone: how to count inventory in Shopify now.
Shopify is a trademark of Shopify Inc. Merchant Tools is an independent developer and is not affiliated with Shopify.