Purchase orders on Shopify after Stocky shuts down: your options in 2026

For a lot of Shopify merchants, Stocky was really just a purchase order tool. The forecasting was OK. The analytics were basic. But the ability to create a PO, email it to a supplier, and receive inventory against it? That was the killer feature. And it was free.

Shopify is pulling Stocky on August 31, 2026. The native admin will absorb some stock management features (transfers, stocktakes), but purchase orders aren’t on the list. If POs are part of your workflow, you need a plan.

I’ve been through the options. Here’s what’s actually available.

What Stocky’s purchase orders actually did

Before we look at replacements, let’s be specific about the workflow:

1. You’d see a product running low (or Stocky would flag it)
2. You’d create a PO with line items, quantities, and costs
3. Stocky would email the PO to your supplier as a PDF
4. When the shipment arrived, you’d mark items as received
5. Shopify inventory levels updated automatically

That’s five steps. Simple, but surprisingly hard to replace. Most inventory apps focus on forecasting and analytics. The actual “talk to your supplier and receive goods” part gets ignored.

Option 1: Spreadsheets and email

The obvious fallback. Make a spreadsheet template with your supplier info, product names, SKUs, quantities, and costs. Email it as a PDF. Track receiving manually in Shopify admin.

When this works: You have fewer than 5 suppliers and place orders once or twice a month. The overhead of manually updating Shopify inventory is tolerable.

When it breaks: You manage 200+ SKUs across multiple suppliers, reorder weekly, or have multiple locations receiving shipments. Manual inventory updates introduce errors that compound over time. One wrong number and your stock counts drift for weeks before you notice.

Real cost: “Free” in dollars, expensive in time. Merchants in the Shopify community report spending 3-5 hours per week on manual PO workflows. At even a modest hourly rate, that’s $600-1,000/month in your time.

Option 2: Shopify’s native admin (limited)

Shopify has hinted that some inventory management features will move into the admin when Stocky dies. Transfers and stocktakes are confirmed. Purchase orders are not.

The admin already lets you adjust inventory levels per location, which handles the “receiving” side. But there’s no PO creation, no supplier management, no PDF generation, and no tracking of what’s on order vs what’s arrived.

When this works: You don’t use formal POs. You text your supplier “send me 50 more” and update Shopify when boxes arrive.

When it breaks: Any situation where you need paper trails, cost tracking, or supplier accountability. If you’re doing any kind of margin analysis, you need cost-per-unit data that POs provide.

Option 3: Full ERP/operations platforms

Tools like Katana, Cin7, and Qoblex offer PO management as part of a larger operations suite. They do a lot more than Stocky ever did.

Katana ($199/mo and up) is built for manufacturers. If you make your own products from raw materials, it handles bills of materials, production planning, and supplier POs in one system.

Cin7 (starts around $349/mo) targets multi-channel retail. It’s an ERP that happens to connect to Shopify.

Qoblex ($79-199/mo) positions itself as the Stocky replacement for growing businesses. POs, manufacturing, B2B, and accounting integration.

When this works: You’ve outgrown Shopify-only tools. You sell on multiple channels, manufacture products, or need accounting integration. The high monthly cost makes sense because you’re replacing multiple tools.

When it breaks: You’re a small-to-medium merchant doing $10K-$500K/month. $200-350/month for inventory management doesn’t make financial sense when your margins are tight. You just need POs and forecasting, not an ERP.

Option 4: Dedicated Shopify inventory apps

This is where most Stocky refugees will land. Apps built specifically for Shopify inventory management, priced for small-to-medium merchants.

Prediko ($49/mo and up, scales with your GMV) does demand forecasting and purchase order management. Strong algorithm, 189 reviews at 4.9 stars. Their pricing scales aggressively with revenue though. A store doing $500K-$2M annual will pay significantly more than $49.

Sensible Forecasting ($29/mo) focuses specifically on demand forecasting with per-product settings. More affordable, but lighter on the PO side.

Forthcast ($19/mo for basic, scales up) offers forecasting with some PO features. Newer entrant, 5.0 stars but fewer reviews.

Stockful ($39/mo for 1,500 SKUs) is the analytics/reporting replacement for Stocky. 12 report types, Slack alerts, ABC analysis. But no purchase order management at all. It fills the reporting gap, not the PO gap.

LogiStock ($0/19/49) is what we’re building at Merchant Core. Full PO workflow (create, send, receive), demand forecasting, DDMRP buffer management, AI assistant, and exception detection. Free tier for small stores. We’re biased here, obviously, but we built it specifically because the PO gap bothered us.

The purchase order workflow you should demand

Whatever tool you pick, here’s what a modern PO workflow should include. Settle for less and you’ll outgrow it within months:

Creation from forecasts. The tool should look at your sales velocity, lead times, and current stock, then suggest what to order and how much. You shouldn’t be calculating reorder quantities by hand.

Supplier management. Store your supplier contacts, lead times, minimum order quantities, and preferred communication method in one place. Not in a separate spreadsheet.

PDF export and email. You need to send a professional-looking PO to your supplier. Bonus points if the tool lets you customize the template with your branding.

Partial receiving. Suppliers don’t always send everything at once. Your tool should let you receive partial shipments against a PO and track what’s still outstanding.

Cost tracking. Every PO should record unit costs so you can calculate margins. If your tool doesn’t track costs, you’re flying blind on profitability.

Multi-location support. If you ship from multiple warehouses or have retail locations, you need to specify where received inventory goes.

What I’d actually do (practical advice)

If you’re under 100 SKUs with 1-2 suppliers: honestly, a spreadsheet is fine for now. Don’t overcomplicate it.

If you’re at 100-500 SKUs or growing: pick a dedicated app. The time savings alone pay for the subscription within the first month. Look at the PO workflow specifically. Install the free trials and actually create a purchase order in each one. The one that feels natural is probably the right choice.

If you’re above 500 SKUs with complex supply chains: you might need an operations platform. But try a dedicated app first. Many merchants assume they need an ERP when they actually need better tooling on the basics.

Whatever you choose, don’t wait until August. Start migrating now so you have months to work out the kinks before Stocky goes dark.

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Merchant Core builds AI-powered inventory tools for Shopify merchants. LogiStock is our first app, currently in early access. Join the waitlist to get notified when it launches.