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Warehouse stock alerts for Shopify
A warehouse is not a big shop. It replenishes on a longer clock, from further away and usually in larger units. Copying your store thresholds to it produces alerts that fire far too late to be useful.
Last reviewed 16 August 2026
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The clock is the difference
Everything about a warehouse alert follows from replenishment time.
| Retail location | Warehouse | |
|---|---|---|
| Restocked from | Your own warehouse | The supplier |
| Typical lead time | Days | Weeks, sometimes months |
| Order size | Cases | Pallets or containers |
| Cost of being wrong | A transfer | Expedited freight, or a stockout everywhere |
Because the threshold formula multiplies daily sales by days to restock, a lead time measured in weeks produces a threshold many times higher than a store's. A warehouse threshold that looks alarmingly large is usually correct.
A warehouse alert affects everywhere at once
A store running out is one location's problem, usually fixable with a transfer. A warehouse running out means nowhere can be replenished, so every location drains at its own pace and then stops.
That makes warehouse alerts higher stakes than store alerts, which argues for a longer warning period, more than one recipient and taking the alert seriously the first time rather than the third.
Third party fulfilment
If a fulfilment partner holds your stock, that location is still visible in Shopify provided the integration writes quantities back. Two things are worth checking before you rely on alerts there.
- How often quantities sync. An alert can only be as current as the data behind it. If the partner writes back on a schedule rather than on movement, your alert inherits that delay and you should widen the threshold to absorb it.
- Whether receiving is reflected promptly. Stock that has physically arrived but has not been booked in still reads as low, which produces alerts that look wrong and teach people to ignore them.
Practical setup
- Calculate the threshold from supplier lead time, not from what feels reasonable. Use the real number including the slow months.
- Add a buffer for lead time variability. Suppliers slip and the buffer is what absorbs it. See the safety stock formula.
- Send warehouse alerts to more than one person. These are the alerts you cannot afford to have land with somebody on leave.
- Add a daily summary. Warehouse stock drifts down steadily rather than dropping suddenly and a digest makes a trend visible in a way single alerts do not.
- Review after each restock cycle. If the alert fired with too little time to act, the threshold was too low. Raise it.
Alerts that name the warehouse
Stockwell watches each location separately with its own threshold, so a warehouse on a six week lead time can warn far earlier than a store you restock overnight.
Get Stockwell on the Shopify App Store Free plan covers 50 SKUs with a daily summary. Paid plans add instant alerts and more recipients. No card needed to start.Common questions
What threshold should a warehouse use?
Average units shipped per day multiplied by the supplier lead time in days, plus a buffer for variability. With a six week lead time and ten units a day that is around 420 units before any buffer, which is far higher than a store threshold and correct.
Can I get alerts for a third party fulfilment location?
Yes, provided the partner's integration writes quantities back into Shopify. Check how frequently it syncs, because your alert can only be as current as that data and widen the threshold to absorb the delay.