Shopify has native purchase orders: in Shopify admin, go to Products → Purchase orders, click create, pick or add a supplier, add products with quantities and costs, and save. When the order ships, you create an inventory transfer from the purchase order to receive it — partially or in full, from admin or Shopify POS, including by barcode scan. Received inventory becomes available at the destination location automatically.
Two things to know before you build your ordering process on it. First, Shopify can't send the PO: official docs are explicit that you can't email a purchase order from Shopify admin — you download a PDF and send it yourself. Second, if you're reading this because of Stocky: Stocky was delisted from the App Store on February 2, 2026 and stops working entirely on August 31, 2026, and the native PO system is Shopify's official migration path.
Here's the full workflow, step by step, and an honest map of where it ends.
Quick answer: creating a purchase order in Shopify
- In Shopify admin, go to Products → Purchase orders and create a new purchase order
- Select a supplier, or click Create new supplier and enter their details — suppliers are first-class records with contact details, payment terms, and currencies
- Select a destination location (you can save a draft without one, but you'll need it before marking the PO as ordered)
- Add products — search and browse, import a CSV of line items, or scan barcodes. Only products that already exist in your store can be added
- Per line, set quantity, supplier SKU, cost, and tax — if you've ordered from this supplier before, SKU, cost, and tax auto-fill from your previous POs