STANDARD WORK INSTRUCTION SWI-018 — Set Up Shopify Inventory After Connecting |
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Field | Value |
|---|---|
Document ID | SWI-018 |
Category | I. Integrations & Channels |
Type | Standard Work Instruction |
Applies to | Anyone onboarding a brand whose Shopify store has just been connected |
Source of record | Ship Side Kick › Apps › Shopify |
Last reviewed | 2026-08-10 |
1. Purpose
Get products and inventory flowing after a Shopify store has been connected, and know which of the two setup steps you have missed when nothing appears.
2. Scope
The configuration that follows authentication. Making the connection itself is a separate step under Apps.
3. Roles & Responsibilities
Role | Responsibility |
|---|---|
Brand owner or their nominee | Authorises the connection from their Shopify store. |
Onboarding or account manager | Enables the service and sets the inventory pull location. |
Warehouse manager | Confirms the pulled quantities match what is physically on the shelf. |
4. When you need this
Shopify shows as connected but no products have appeared.
Products appeared but every one reads zero inventory.
Orders are importing but nothing allocates.
5. Key concept: connected is not configured
What people assume | What actually happens |
|---|---|
Authorising the app is the whole setup. | Authorising only establishes the link. Products do not flow until the service is switched on and saved. |
Products arriving means inventory arrived too. | They are separate. Inventory is pulled from a Shopify location you nominate, in its own action. |
If the page describes the connection as configured, it is ready. | The page can read as configured before you have saved. Save first; dependent actions stay unavailable until you do. |
6. Procedure
Go to Apps, then Shopify, then Manage.
Find the toggle row directly underneath the Shopify Locations box. It is labelled Enable Shopify Service.
Turn it on and click Save. Products begin flowing in.
Scroll to Pull Inventory Configuration.
Select the Shopify location to pull inventory from. If the store has more than one, choose the one whose stock you actually hold.
Click Pull inventory from this location.
Check the location mapping while you are on this page, so imported orders produce tasks. An order assigned to an unmapped location will strand.
7. Verification
Products appear under Products with their variants.
Inventory shows against them rather than reading zero.
A newly imported order allocates rather than sitting unallocated.
8. Constraints and caveats
The toggle is named Enable Shopify Service on screen. It is sometimes described as enabling the integration; they are the same control.
Pulling inventory sets a starting position. It is not a continuous reconciliation, so do it once the physical count is settled rather than mid-receipt.
If a variant has a bill of materials, Ship Side Kick deliberately holds back SKU renames coming from Shopify. That is expected, not a sync failure. Ask support for the list of held-back SKUs.
Pulling from the wrong Shopify location overstates stock and will oversell. Confirm the location before pulling, not after.
9. Worked example
A brand had Shopify connected but no inventory, and could not find the control described to them because they were looking for wording that did not match the screen.
Observation | Reading |
|---|---|
The connection existed and looked healthy, but no products had arrived. | The service had not been enabled and saved. Authorisation alone does not start the flow. |
The toggle could not be found from the description given. | The screen reads Enable Shopify Service, directly under the Shopify Locations box. Look for that exact wording. |
Products arrived after saving, but stock was still zero. | Expected at that point. Inventory is a second, separate action under Pull Inventory Configuration. |
10. Related documents
SWI-017 — Recover an Order Stuck in Open With No Tasks
SWI-004 — Read the Inventory Screen