Sync stock levels between Katana and Shopify to ensure real-time inventory accuracy across both platforms. This prevents overselling, improves fulfillment, and enhances customer experience.
How to turn stock sync on/off
You can activate stock sync:
During the initial connection
Later via Reconfigure in the Integrations Marketplace
To toggle stock sync:
Go to Integrations > Shopify.
Click Manage and select Reconfigure...
In the setup wizard, go to Step 3 – Sync settings
Check ✔️ Automatically synchronize stock levels from Katana to Shopify (and confirm this choice with the pop-up)
Click Next, then Confirm
Why should you sync stock?
Keeps your Shopify stock up-to-date based on Katana data.
Katana becomes your source of truth for inventory, factoring in stock, on hand, and committed quantities.
When to turn stock sync ON or OFF
When | Recommendation |
Testing Katana on live store | ❌ Turn OFF |
Using Katana in production | ✅ Turn ON |
Testing with a Shopify dev store | ✅ Turn ON |
How does the sync work?
1. When is sync triggered?
Sync triggers when:
In stockorCommittedquantity changes (e.g., SO, MO, PO, stock transfer, or stock adjustment)
Note: Sync is not instant for your entire catalog — each product syncs when stock data changes. Additionally, Katana performs an automatic overnight synchronization process that updates SKUs based on order fulfillment changes, not just those that have undergone stock movement. This ensures data accuracy across Katana and Shopify.
To sync all items at once: Export inventory list from Katana (into a spreadsheet) → Import it to Shopify.
2. What quantity is synced?
Katana product's 'In stock' - 'Committed' = Synced quantity is pushed to Shopify as “Available” quantity
Katana kit/bundle product 'in stock' + 'potential' - 'committed' = synced quantity is pushed to Shopify as “Available” quantity.
3. Kit & bundle syncing
Katana sends the in stock + potential stock - committed quantity of a kit/bundle to Shopify
If the In stock is depleted, only the potential stock for kits and bundles (based on available components) will be sent.
If components are unavailable, potential stock = 0
Shopify shows this updated quantity to prevent overselling
Learn more: Managing Shopify kits and bundles in Katana
4. Why use In stock - Committed instead of just In stock?
Shopify reduces stock on order creation
Katana reduces stock on order fulfillment
To align these models, Katana subtracts
CommittedfromIn stockto mirror Shopify’s 'Available' stock display
5. Which product inventory is synced?
Products with matching SKU / Variant Codes in Katana and Shopify will sync, and products without a SKU in Shopify will be imported to Katana (and then synced).
Katana does not create new products in Shopify.
Matching Logic:
SKU in Shopify = Variant Code in Katana
If multiple Shopify products use the same SKU, they’ll all get the same stock level
If multiple Katana variants share a SKU, the most recently created one is used for sync
6. Multiple Shopify stores
The sync logic is identical for all stores.
If the same SKU exists across multiple stores, it will sync to all matching products.
Stock sync with multiple locations
During setup, map your Shopify locations to Katana locations.
POS (e.g., retail) locations can be linked directly
Shopify Online Store locations will pull from the mapped Katana location
Unmapped Shopify locations will:
Default to a single Katana location
Display the same stock across all unmapped Shopify locations
May cause inflated total stock values in Shopify
Your Katana stock remains accurate, and Katana should be your source of truth.
Best practices for maintaining sync accuracy
Maintain consistent SKU naming conventions across Katana and Shopify.
Regularly monitor sync logs in Katana to address discrepancies early.
Avoid deleting and recreating product variants; instead, edit existing SKUs.
After significant changes in Shopify, verify stock levels and syncing status in Katana to prevent issues.
Troubleshooting sync issues after Shopify product edits
A common issue arises when SKUs fail to sync after changes in Shopify, such as deleting and recreating variants. To resolve this, you can manually trigger a sync in Katana by following these steps:
Identify the affected SKUs that are not syncing.
In Katana, create a stock movement for each affected SKU by adjusting the stock levels slightly.
Once the stock movement is registered, Katana will push the updated stock levels to Shopify for these SKUs. Manual adjustments can help re-establish synchronization when automatic processes fail due to significant changes in Shopify products or variants.
Your feedback is invaluable. Let us know your thoughts on this article or anything in Katana you'd like to see improved: [email protected]