An Inventory Location in Shopify refers to any physical or virtual place where you store products and manage stock. Shopify uses these locations to track inventory levels, fulfil orders efficiently, and coordinate shipping.
Why Are Inventory Locations Important?
Shopify allows businesses to operate from multiple locations—whether it’s a warehouse, retail store, or even your home office. Each location has its own inventory count and fulfilment capability, enabling better stock management and delivery accuracy.
Key Features of Inventory Locations:
- Inventory Tracking: Monitor stock levels separately for each location.
- Order Fulfillment: Automatically fulfill orders from the most appropriate location based on stock availability and priority.
- Shipping Origin Management: Define where products ship from to calculate accurate shipping rates.
- Stock Transfers: Move inventory between locations when needed to balance supply.
Common Types of Locations:
- Warehouses
- Retail stores
- Home-based storage
- Third-party logistics (3PL) centers
- Dropshipping or fulfillment apps
How to Manage Locations in Shopify
You can easily add, manage, or prioritize inventory locations from your Shopify Admin:
Go to: Settings > Locations
From there, you can:
- Add new locations
- Set fulfillment priority
- Enable or disable locations
- Transfer stock between them
Properly managing inventory locations ensures smooth operations, reduces stockouts, and improves customer satisfaction.
