9 great tools to manage your Shopify barcode inventory

Shopify is great — it comes with the tools you need to sell online and quickly integrates with many other services to give you the flexibility you need to grow your business. But as more and more orders come in, relying on counting inventory by hand starts to expose the cracks in this inventory checking method.

Here are just a few:

• Stock levels become inconsistent
• Incorrect information is saved
• Items get lost

These are just a few reasons why e-commerce manufacturers turn to Shopify barcode scanning to manage sales and manufacturing orders and inventory. This article explores Shopify barcodes, why you need them, how to use Shopify’s barcode scanning app, and more.

Why a barcode app is essential for effective Shopify inventory control

While Shopify comes with an inventory management system perfect for merchants, it lacks the necessary features for manufacturers. If you decide to upgrade your stock-taking capabilities with a Shopify barcode scanner, you’ll need to consider these limitations. According to a study by FMI, the barcode scanner market is estimated to be worth $7 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow 7.6% over the next decade.

But once you do adopt a third-party barcode scanning system or app into your workflow, you will see benefits like:

• A reduction in the number of human errors made
• Data readily available and updated in real-time
• Optimized inventory control and handling
• Low-cost implementation
• Improved decision-making

However, third-party Shopify barcode scanners have different functions to help you perform certain tasks, monitor stock, and track items based on barcodes. But, the trick is finding the best one for manufacturers selling on Shopify. But before we look into that, let’s quickly explain how the free Shopify barcode version works and what the limitations are for manufacturers.

How to use Shopify’s Retail Barcode Labels app for barcode scanning

Shopify has developed a few dedicated apps to enable barcode scanning for merchants. But they need to be downloaded from their app store and enabled manually. To start using them, you will need to search for and find an app called Retail Barcode Labels and set it up. Here’s how.

Step 1

Log into your Shopify account, go to Apps.

Step 2

Select Create a template to create templates for your items, then select Get started and selecting one of the two options:

• Skip — Which will skip creating barcodes and head straight to template
• Create barcodes — which will allow you to create barcodes for your products

Step 3

Let’s assume you’ve chosen Create barcodes. You can now:

• Write the template title
• Select a label type
• Choose a paper brand and code

Step 4

Under the Label attributes section, you can begin to include the information you want to be displayed by the barcode. Once you’re finished, go ahead and create a template. You can do this for groups of products or specific products. H

However, the Retail Barcode Label app is built for merchants and not those who need to track raw materials, WIP inventory, MRO inventory, and finished goods. So, let’s look into the different apps that are available on the market.

Why manufacturers use Katana to manage their Shopify barcodes

As a manufacturer looking for an app for Shopify barcode scanning, you’re going to need to find software that can smoothly integrate with both your selling and manufacturing operations. With a third-party solution built for manufacturing workflows, you can set up a seamless workflow between your different processes.

Manage your Shopify barcode inventory with Katana

Built for manufacturers selling on Shopify, Katana’s barcode inventory management platform gives you the live insights they need to optimize and manage their inventory from products to materials. You can also sync your sales and manufacturing orders and monitor related shop floor operations.

As a Shopify merchant, you can use Katana to:

• Scan, receive items, and simply stocktaking — use a barcode scanner or smart device to improve how you receive and count items from suppliers by avoiding accidentally inputted figures
• Scan multiple types of barcodes — including your supplier item codes, any internally registered barcodes, and your batch barcodes
• Improve pick lists — boost accuracy and item handling within your business
• Export and print barcodes — printing barcodes will allow you to make your physical machine-readable items
• Track and monitor batches and items — Shopify barcode inventory allows you to use batch tracking with a unified barcode inventory system
• Autogenerate barcodes — Automatically generate Shopify barcodes within Katana for your items and batches using internal barcodes to track them on and beyond your shop floor.
• Quickly and easily locate items — easily find items across your business, from the shop floor to one of your warehouses, using accurately stored data in real time

Best of all, Katana natively integrates with your Shopify account to bridge between sales and manufacturing in one visual platform.