Guides › How to set up alerts

Method 1: the native inventory view

Free, immediate, no setup. Also the weakest.

1. Go to Products › Inventory in Shopify admin.
2. Choose the location you want in the location selector.
3. Sort by available quantity, lowest first.
4. Anything near the bottom is what needs attention.
5. Export the view if you want it in a spreadsheet.

The limit: nothing arrives on its own. This works if you genuinely check it on a fixed day every week. Most people intend to and then get a busy fortnight.

Method 2: a Shopify Flow workflow

Free on the Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus plans. This is the native way to get something that arrives without being asked.

1. Install Shopify Flow from the App Store if it is not already there.
2. Create a workflow and choose the inventory quantity changed trigger.
3. Add a condition on productVariant/inventoryQuantity, set to less than or equal to your threshold number.
4. Add a send internal email action with the recipients you want.
5. Turn the workflow on and test it against a real product.

The limit: the threshold is baked into the workflow, so products needing different numbers need different workflows and the trigger fires per variant rather than per product. The detailed walkthrough is in the Shopify Flow low stock alert guide.

Method 3: a dedicated alerts app

The route to take when thresholds differ per product, stock sits in more than one place or more than one person needs to know.

1. Install the app from the Shopify App Store.
2. Choose which SKUs to watch. Start with the ones that hurt when they run out rather than the whole catalogue.
3. Set a default threshold, then override it on the products where lead time or sales rate makes the default wrong.
4. Add the people who should hear about it, not only yourself.
5. Decide between instant alerts, a daily summary or both.
6. Test on one product before trusting it across the catalogue.

Test it properly before you rely on it

Whichever method you chose, prove it once. Pick a product that does not matter, set its threshold just above its current stock, wait for the alert to arrive and check it went to everybody it should have. Then put the threshold back.

Also check the spam folder on the first alert. An alerting system whose first message was filtered is worse than no alerting system, because you believe you are covered.

Pick the threshold before you pick the tool

The tool decides how the message reaches you. The threshold decides whether the message is worth reading. Getting the second one wrong is why most people turn alerts off.

Multiply average units sold per day by the days it takes to restock, then add a buffer. Full worked method in how to set a low stock threshold.