How-to guide
How to create purchase orders for your Shopify store
Shopify has no native purchase orders — here is the full PO workflow anyway: what goes on the document, the lifecycle from draft to received, and the three ways to run it (spreadsheet, app, ERP).
By Bastien HugonFounder & Engineer9 min readPublished July 10, 2026
TL;DR
Shopify admin cannot create purchase orders — the workflow lives outside it: decide what and how much (reorder math), build a document with SKU, quantity, unit cost and totals per supplier, send the PDF, then track draft → sent → partially received → received. Run it in a spreadsheet below ~5 POs/month, in a dedicated app like Solvi Restock beyond that, and in an ERP only when procurement involves approvals and multiple entities.
The purchase order is where restocking becomes real money: it is simultaneously your commitment to a supplier, your record of agreed costs, and the reference everything is checked against when boxes arrive. Shopify's silence here surprises merchants — stock levels are native, but the document that replenishes them is not, and its own PO app dies in August. This is the full workflow, tool-agnostic first.
Anatomy of a purchase order
| Block | Contents | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Header | PO number, date, your business details | The reference both sides quote forever after |
| Supplier | Name, ordering email, address | Their systems file by their own customer records — be findable |
| Lines | SKU · item name · quantity · unit cost · line total | SKU is the disambiguator; costs make it a contract, not a wish |
| Totals | Units and currency total | The number accounting reconciles the invoice against |
| Terms (optional) | Delivery address, expected date, payment terms | Prevents the three classic back-and-forth emails |
The lifecycle: draft → received
- 01
Decide what goes on the order
Per supplier, list the variants at or past their reorder point with suggested quantities — [the formula](/guides/reorder-point-formula) computes both. Adjust for case packs and MOQs; the math is the starting point, your judgment is the decision.
- 02
Draft the document
One PO per supplier, costs pre-filled from your records (Shopify's inventory unit cost is the natural source of truth). Draft status means editable — add, remove, correct lines freely.
- 03
Send the PDF and mark it sent
Email the PDF to the supplier's ordering address. From 'sent', the document is a commitment: changes now happen by agreement, not by editing.
- 04
Receive against the order — expect partials
Boxes arrive: check quantities against the PO lines, line by line. Partial deliveries are normal (backordered items, split shipments) — track 'partially received' rather than pretending completeness, and chase the remainder with the PO reference.
- 05
Update stock and close
Received quantities go into Shopify inventory (manual adjustment, or your app's receiving flow). When all lines are in — or the remainder is cancelled by agreement — the PO closes, and its history becomes your supplier's lead-time record.
Spreadsheet, app or ERP?
| Approach | Right when | Breaks when |
|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheet + PDF export | ≤ ~5 POs/month, one person, few suppliers | Reorder math by hand, no statuses, version chaos ('PO-final-v3.xlsx') |
| Dedicated PO app | Weekly reordering, several suppliers, costs that must stay consistent | You need approval chains or multi-entity procurement |
| ERP / procurement suite | Approvals, multiple legal entities, three-way matching | You are a Shopify store, not a procurement department — the price and setup reflect it |
Doing this with Solvi Restock
Solvi Restock runs this exact lifecycle inside the Shopify admin: the reorder list (with its math visible) becomes a per-supplier draft PO in one click, costs pre-fill from Shopify's unit costs, the PDF is clean and identical every time, and statuses track sent and partially received until closed. The free plan includes three POs a month — a full real cycle with your smallest supplier before you pay anything.
Frequently asked questions
Can Shopify create purchase orders natively?
No. Shopify admin manages stock levels and transfers between your own locations, but has no purchase-order document, no supplier records, and no reorder suggestions. POs on Shopify come from an app or from outside tooling entirely.
What is the difference between a purchase order and an invoice?
Direction and timing: the PO goes from you to the supplier before goods move ('please supply this at these costs'); the invoice comes from the supplier to you after ('now pay for what we supplied'). Reconciling the two — plus what actually arrived — is exactly why the PO reference exists.
How should I handle partial deliveries?
Receive what arrived against the PO lines, mark the order partially received, and update stock for those quantities only. The open remainder keeps its reference for chasing. Never close a PO 'to keep things tidy' — the open lines are your record of what the supplier still owes.
Where should purchase costs live?
In Shopify's inventory unit cost, one place, kept current. Every serious tool (including ours) reads it from there; scattering costs across spreadsheets and app settings is how the same SKU ends up ordered at three different 'agreed' prices.
Related guides
Reference
The reorder point formula, explained with real numbers
Reorder point = daily sales velocity × lead time + safety stock. What each term means, how to compute them from Shopify data, a worked example, and when the formula lies to you.
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Comparison
The 6 best Shopify purchase order apps in 2026
Shopify has no native purchase orders — these six apps fill the gap. Compared on PO workflow, reorder suggestions, supplier management and the two pricing models to avoid.
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How-to
Stocky is shutting down: the migration checklist (before Aug 31, 2026)
What to export from Stocky, what cannot be saved, and the order to do it in — a step-by-step migration plan that gets you out with your data before the August 31 shutdown.
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Comparison
6 Stocky alternatives for Shopify, compared (before August 31, 2026)
Stocky shuts down on August 31, 2026 — and supplier data cannot be exported. Six replacements compared on the jobs Stocky actually did: reorder suggestions, purchase orders, suppliers, receiving.
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Do this in minutes with Solvi Restock
Know what to reorder today and how much — then turn the answer into a ready-to-send purchase order.