Boosting Your Shopify Purchase Orders: Community Insights for Native PO Upgrades
Hey fellow store owners!
Ever feel like you're wrestling with your inventory and supplier orders more than you'd like? You're definitely not alone. I recently dove into a really insightful discussion on the Shopify community forums, sparked by a merchant named Donald1113, and it really hit home for many of us, especially those dealing with complex pre-orders or bespoke items.
The Quest for a Better Purchase Order System
The original thread, titled "Purchase Order Issues," quickly evolved into a powerful collective wishlist for Shopify’s native Purchase Order (PO) system. It highlighted a common pain point: many businesses, particularly those selling high-value, pre-ordered goods like premium furniture and lighting, find themselves relying on third-party apps to fill gaps in Shopify's built-in PO functionality.
Donald1113, who runs Innes | Designer Furniture & Lighting, shared their journey. They moved from Lightspeed Onsite, which had a great PO system but a clunky API, to Shopify. To handle order tracking and POs, they picked Stocky, describing it as "the best of a bad bunch of apps." But now, with a desire to move away from app dependency — a sentiment many of us share — they're hoping Shopify's native system can step up.
As websensepro initially pointed out and Steve_TopNewYork echoed, a robust native PO workflow would make a huge difference. It's about making our operations smoother, more dependable, and less reliant on external tools that might change or get "axed" (as Donald1113 put it).
The Community's Top 5 Must-Haves for Shopify POs
The discussion crystallized around five key improvements that would transform the native PO experience. These aren't just minor tweaks; they're essential functionalities that would empower businesses to manage their supply chains far more effectively.
1. A Dedicated Customer Reference Field
This was at the top of everyone's list. Imagine you're managing pre-orders for bespoke furniture. You place a PO with your supplier, but how do you easily link that specific purchase order back to the customer's original invoice or project? Currently, many merchants resort to cramming this vital info into the "Notes to Supplier" section. Steve_TopNewYork perfectly articulated the need for an "additional reference field [that] would make it much easier to link a purchase order back to a specific customer invoice or project without relying on the notes section." This would streamline tracking and reduce errors, especially for businesses with long lead times or custom orders.
2. The Ability to Add Custom, Non-Catalog Line Items
Ever had a supplier charge an unexpected fee, or needed to order a unique, one-off component that isn't a standard Shopify product? Donald1113 highlighted this frustration: "sometimes there may be an additional cost/ custom item to add to send to the supplier that does not need a shopify product making for." The current workaround often involves creating temporary, "dummy" products in your Shopify catalog, which clutters your inventory and adds unnecessary steps. Being able to add a custom line item directly to a PO, without it needing to be a pre-existing Shopify product, would be a game-changer for flexibility and efficiency.
3. Fixing the "Notes to Supplier" Formatting Nightmare
This one sounds small, but it's a huge headache! Donald1113 shared screenshots illustrating how any line breaks or formatting added to the "Notes to Supplier" section are lost when the PO is generated. The text gets "squashed," making it incredibly difficult for suppliers to read. "When we write notes in the 'Notes to Supplier' section any pagination is lost - so suppliers cannot read it," they explained. As Steve_TopNewYork added, "Preserving line breaks in the generated PO would make the document much more readable for suppliers, particularly when multiple customer references are included." Clear communication with suppliers is paramount, and this formatting glitch actively hinders it.
4. Percentage Discount Adjustments
Another practical request: the ability to apply percentage-based discounts directly to POs. This is a standard feature in many purchasing systems and would allow for more accurate financial tracking and easier negotiation with suppliers. It's about having the flexibility to reflect real-world purchasing scenarios within Shopify's native tools.
5. Easier Access to Supplier Management Notes
Lastly, Donald1113 wished for "easier access to Supplier section to add more supplier notes etc." This points to a broader need for more robust supplier relationship management within Shopify. Centralizing and easily accessing supplier-specific information, terms, and historical notes can significantly improve communication and efficiency in the long run.
What Does This Mean for You?
If you're reading this and nodding along, know that you're not alone. The community's voice is strong on these points. While there aren't immediate step-by-step solutions within the native Shopify PO system for these missing features, understanding these limitations helps you evaluate your current setup. If you're heavily reliant on pre-orders, custom items, or intricate supplier relationships, you're likely already using a third-party app or a manual workaround. The hope, as articulated in the thread, is that Shopify will continue to invest in and enhance its native Purchase Order workflow.
The transition away from apps like Stocky, or managing complex inventory needs, is a a common migration challenge for growing businesses. Having a powerful, integrated PO system directly within Shopify would simplify so much. It would reduce app subscriptions, streamline workflows, and ultimately free up more time for you to focus on what you do best: growing your business. Let's keep making our voices heard in the community; the more feedback Shopify gets, the better they can tailor their platform to our real-world needs.