Katana offers automatic synchronization of stock levels between Katana and your Shopify store, ensuring real-time updates and accurate inventory management. This helps you prevent overselling, improves order fulfillment, and ensures that stock levels are consistent across both platforms. By syncing inventory, you can maintain better control over e-commerce operations and deliver a seamless shopping experience.
How to switch stock sync on/off for Shopify
You can switch stock sync on for Shopify either during the initial connection or from the reconfiguration flow.
Go to the Integration Marketplace and find Shopify under the Connected Integrations section.
Click Manage and choose Reconfigure...
A setup wizard will appear. Click Next until you get to the 3rd step (Sync settings). Checkmark Automatically synchronize stock levels from Katana to Shopify.
Then click Next and finally Confirm to finish the setup. Your stock sync is now active!
Why should I sync stock levels to Shopify?
When connecting Shopify to Katana, you can choose whether to start continuously syncing your stock levels from Katana to Shopify.
Syncing stock levels to Shopify enables displaying correct inventory levels to your Shopify customers.
When you connect Katana to your Shopify store, we suggest using Katana as your primary tool for managing stock. Katana becomes your central point of truth for stock management, combining stock on hand with demand from various sales channels.
Stock levels synced from Katana to Shopify include comprehensive information about your business's inventory, taking into account all sales channels and true stock amounts.
You can select whether Sales orders created directly in Katana affect the stock levels in Shopify or not. For example, if you enter large wholesale orders manually to Katana but wish to prevent those from reducing the available stock in Shopify, you can opt-out of this option. Read more
Should I switch the continuous stock sync ON or OFF?
We suggest switching the continuous stock sync OFF:
If you have connected Katana to your live Shopify store, but are still in the phase of testing Katana functionalities. Otherwise, if you switch the sync ON and change your stock levels in Katana for testing purposes, stock levels synced from Katana to Shopify might not reflect the actual status of the stock of your business.
We suggest switching the continuous stock sync ON:
If you have decided to implement Katana for your business and have made sure that your stock levels are correct in Katana.
If you have connected Katana to a test Shopify store for testing purposes or if you are just setting up your Shopify store. Stock sync enables you to experience the full value of Katana and Shopify integration.
If you are looking to switch ON the continuous stock sync after completing the initial connection, you can navigate to the Integrations marketplace in Katana and select "Reconfigure" for Shopify. Switch ON the continuous stock sync and complete the reconfiguration wizard. Read more
How does the continuous stock sync from Katana to Shopify work?
If the stock sync from Katana to Shopify is switched ON, Katana will automatically sync product stock levels to Shopify in real time (i.e., in real-time continuous sync).
1. When is stock sync triggered?
Stock sync from Katana to Shopify for each item is triggered when the In stock or Committed quantity for the product is changed, e.g. a sales order, manufacturing order, or purchase order is created or edited for the product, or a stock adjustment created or edited.
Please note that stock levels are not synced automatically for your entire portfolio at the initial connection. Your stock levels for products will sync over time as stock changes occur in Katana.
If you wish to get your stock levels from Katana to Shopify all at once, you can easily export the Inventory list from Katana to a spreadsheet and import it to Shopify. If you have chosen to import your product portfolio from Shopify to Katana at the initial connection, then your items (including SKU codes) should match nicely between platforms and the export-import process should go smoothly.
2. Which quantity for a product is synced from Katana to Shopify?
The synced quantity for each product is calculated based on Katana data as follows:
Synced quantity = "In stock" quantity - "Committed" quantity
Additional notes on the calculation:
You can select whether Sales orders created directly in Katana affect the stock levels in Shopify or not. For example, if you enter large wholesale orders manually to Katana but wish to prevent those from reducing the available stock in Shopify, you can opt-out of this option when setting up the connection. In this case, the Committed quantity for those sales orders will not be taken into account in the synced quantity calculation. Read more
Potential stock calculation for kits & bundles
If you're using kits or bundles in Katana, the virtual stock calculation helps you determine the potential stock of these products based on the availability of their components. Read more from Managing Shopify kits and bundles in Katana and Managing bundles
Calculation logic: Once a kit or bundle is created with all required components, Katana calculates the potential stock for the bundle. This potential stock is visible on the Inventory Intel screen, showing how many bundles can be produced given the current component stock levels.
Stock synchronization: The potential stock of the bundle is synced to Shopify, ensuring that customers see accurate availability on your store. This helps prevent overselling and allows you to manage production more effectively.
Managing inventory: If a bundle’s components are not in stock, the potential stock will show as zero, and Katana will prompt you to create manufacturing orders (MOs) or purchase orders (POs) to replenish inventory.
By using potential stock calculation, you can better manage your kits and bundles, ensuring you have the necessary components to fulfill orders and keeping your Shopify store inventory accurate.
3. Why is Katana not syncing the "In stock" quantity but is deducting the "Committed" quantity for syncing purposes?
In Shopify, the Inventory quantity for a product displays the inventory available for sales. Inventory in Shopify is decreased when a sales order (SO) is created, not when the SO is fulfilled.
In Katana, the In stock quantity for a product is not decreased immediately when a SO is created, but only after the SO is Packed or Delivered.
Therefore, the Inventory quantity in Shopify does not match the In stock quantity in Katana. The difference comes from inventory that is committed to open Sales orders. In Katana, commitments to open Sales orders are reflected in the Committed quantity for a product.
4. For which products are the stock synced?
Stock level is only synced for products that exist in both Katana and Shopify and have a matching Variant code / SKU. When you create a new product in Katana, then the product with the stock level is not synced to Shopify unless you create the same product in Shopify manually and make sure that they have a matching Variant code / SKU. New products are not synced from Katana to Shopify.
5. How does Katana identify whether the product exists in Shopify for stock-level sync purposes?
Products for stock sync are matched by Variant Code / SKU:
- The Variant code of a product variant in Katana is matched to the SKU Code in Shopify. If a match is found, then the stock level is synced to the matching product in Shopify.
- If more than one SKU code match is found in Shopify (you have multiple products with the same SKU in Shopify), then the stock level is synced to all products in Shopify which have the same SKU.
Tip: Keep your Variant Codes / SKU Codes unique in Katana and match as many Shopify products to one Katana product through the same SKU as you want. All those products in Shopify get the same stock level from Katana.
- If the Variant Code in Katana does not match with any SKUs in Shopify, then the stock is not synced. New products will not be created in Shopify when the match is not found.
- If you have multiple products (variants) with the same Variant code / SKU in Katana, then the stock level of the product variant that was created at the latest date will be synced to the matching SKUs in Shopify.
6. How does the stock sync work when I have connected multiple Shopify stores to Katana?
The integration works exactly in the same way for each store. If you have the same product (i.e. same SKU) in multiple Shopify stores, Katana will sync the stock for the product to all those stores.
Stock sync with multiple locations
If you have multiple locations, either in Shopify or Katana, you are asked to map your Shopify store to specific Katana Locations when connecting your store. Read more
You can map your POS Locations (e.g., retail stores) to Katana locations. Stock from a specific Katana Location is used to sync stock for a POS Location.
Other Shopify locations
The stock levels from the Katana locations mapped to Shopify Online Store locations will be pushed to the Shopify locations used for online orders.
All Shopify locations that have not been mapped to Katana will be automatically mapped to a chosen default location. In this case, Katana pushes the stock level from that location to all of the Shopify Locations that have not been mapped (i.e. each of those Shopify Locations will have exactly the same quantity of stock).
As a result, the total stock quantity in Shopify might be incorrect as the total quantity in Shopify adds up the stock from all locations. Still, the stock quantities in Katana are correct and when using the integration, we recommend using Katana as the central point of truth for managing your stock.