How to Choose a Shopify Inventory Sync App for Bundles

Key Takeaways

What Is Shopify Inventory Sync for Product Bundles?

Inventory management on a product-by-product basis is quite simple. One customer makes a purchase, and your inventory gets reduced by one. A bundle complicates this system.

For example – You have a skin care bundle package that comprises a cleanser, serum, and moisturizer. Moreover, you also sell the serum on its own, outside the bundle.

Shopify Inventory Sync can be the answer to your problem. The inventory sync option helps ensure the products in your bundle are always linked to the orders your customers place. If your customers purchase a bundle package, the inventory level for those products will change accordingly.

Here is something else you should know about your stock other than the bundle:

• Which specific products are included in the bundle?
• How many of each product do you have?
• Do these products belong to any other bundle?
• What happens to the stock when you place an order for the bundle?
• What happens if one of the components goes out of stock?

A good inventory sync software will help you better understand these relationships. With real-time inventory sync, you can easily manage stock through orders and maintain accurate Shopify inventory tracking. If you are thinking about how to track inventory on Shopify while selling bundles, you need to consider the SKUs of each item.

Why Bundle Inventory Sync Matters

The issue generally arises when the same item is sold through multiple channels. For instance, you may sell a coffee grinder separately, as part of a coffee starter kit, and in a larger coffee kit. Now consider that five customers buy the larger kit, but other customers buy the coffee grinder separately. If you don’t account for those sales against the same inventory base, your inventory availability may no longer match reality.

This can cause issues with:

• Inventory management
• Inventory tracking
•  Ecommerce Inventory management
• Product inventory management
• SKU inventory management

A merchant can assume that there are ten units of the bundle because the bundle itself hasn’t been sold ten times. However, if the product within the bundle has been ordered before, there is not enough stock left to fill ten bundles anymore. That’s why stock sync becomes important. A bundle isn’t always a pile of products located in a warehouse. More often, a bundle is a combination of products, each with its own inventory. Accurate stock sync for Shopify allows you to keep this connection clear.

Check Support for Every Bundle Type You Sell

Inventory apps may work well for one kind of bundle but not another. Before you go for any Shopify bundle app, make sure it works for your bundles.

1. BOGO and Buy X Get Y Offers

Under BOGO or “Buy X Get Y” discounts, the number of units you remove from inventory may not match the amount the customer paid. Let’s say you are running a “Buy 1 Get 1” deal; you give away two units total, and your inventory should cover that. Try running your exact promotion and see how many units get discounted.

2. Mix-and-Match Bundles

In the Shopify Mix and Match bundle, customers can determine the bundle composition. For instance, the merchant can allow consumers to select any three products from the category of snacks, skin care products, and accessories. Since customers can select many combinations of products, the inventory system needs to track individual items.

3. Build-Your-Own Bundles

The build your own bundle (BYOB) approach offers even more options for the customer.

This could mean that the customer can pick out:

• Two candles from one collection.
• Two scents from another.
• And an accessory from the third collection.

In this case, the result will appear as one item for the customer, but several items will be sold from the inventory. For this reason, you need to ensure that the inventory app supports Shopify product bundles. You shouldn’t rely only on the features list. If your store uses Buy One Get One Free, Mix and Match, or Build Your Own Bundle features, make sure your Shopify inventory management solution supports them.

How to Test an Inventory Sync App Before Choosing

The feature list tells you which features the software should have in theory. A test order will inform whether the software works in practice in your specific case. Before deciding which inventory management app to choose, test the software with scenarios possible at your store.

Test it first with a product that can be sold in several forms:

• Sell the product on its own and look at its available inventory.
• Add the same product to a bundle of goods and make a test order.
• See if the inventory of the standalone product was updated.
• Place another test order with a different bundle that includes the same product.

This will help you understand whether the app understands inventory sharing instead of treating each bundle as a separate product. Now test your more complex product listings.

• If you offer Shopify product bundles as well as individual products, buy both.
• If consumers are allowed to make their own combinations, test a few combinations.
• If you use BOGO, ensure the right number of units gets subtracted.

Finally, reduce one component to zero stock and see what happens. Is your bundle unavailable? Is your individual product displaying the right stock level? In short, stock availability for your shoppers must be accurate enough.

How BundleSuite Helps You in Inventory Sync

Once you’ve identified the bundle types and inventory relationships your store should handle, the next step is choosing a system that supports them while reducing additional manual work. BundleSuite links bundles with the corresponding products and SKUs. Thus, product inventory won’t depend on the offer it is sold in; it will belong to the product itself, regardless of the offer.

For instance, if your coffee shop sells coffee beans individually, as part of a starter package, and together with a coffee machine, all these sales influence the inventory of the same coffee beans. Consider this when implementing a product bundling strategy based on your existing products.

BundleSuite supports various bundle types, such as:

• Build Your Own Bundle
• Mix & Match
• Frequently Purchased Together
• Buy One Get One Free
• Tier pricing discounts

This gives merchants flexibility to create different bundles based on purchasing behavior without losing product connection. When comparing Shopify inventory apps, the best way to determine whether a certain app is right for you is to test it with your own inventory. Find the products available for sale and conduct customer scenarios to see how the inventory behaves. This will tell you much more about whether the app fits your needs than a feature list.

Conclusion

Selecting an inventory sync application must start with your store’s selling model. If items are individualized and sold as part of different bundles, your inventory management system must maintain those associations properly. Test your scenarios and select a solution that can work with your bundling system without increasing workload.