Managing inventory is one of the most crucial aspects of running an eCommerce business.

If you use Shopify, tracking your inventory through reports is essential for making data-driven decisions that can improve efficiency, reduce costs, and boost your bottom line.

In this article, we’ll explore the 10 key inventory reports every Shopify store owner should know about and how to leverage them to streamline your operations.

What is an inventory report?

An inventory report is a detailed summary of the products and stock levels within your store, offering insights into your inventory’s performance, trends, and areas that may need attention.

These reports can include basic stock levels or more complex data, helping you make informed decisions about purchasing, sales strategies, and overall inventory management.

Why are Shopify inventory reports important?

Shopify inventory reports give you critical insights that go beyond just knowing how much stock you have. They help you:

• Make smarter purchasing decisions by tracking product performance.
• Identify trends in sales, stock levels, and supply chain needs.
• Reduce overstocking or understocking by identifying when to reorder and how much to order.
• Maintain customer satisfaction by preventing stockouts and ensuring timely fulfillment.

Benefits of Shopify inventory reports

• Better decision-making: Accurate data on stock levels, sales trends, and inventory turnover can help you make better decisions about purchasing and restocking.

• Cost control: Inventory reports help you track storage costs and avoid tying up capital in slow-moving stock.
• Improved cash flow: Reports highlight areas where cash is being unnecessarily tied up, allowing you to free up funds for other areas of your business.

Customer satisfaction: By keeping your stock levels in check and reducing stockouts, you improve the customer experience.

10 Types of Shopify inventory reports you should know about

1. Inventory on hand

Knowing exactly what products you have in stock is critical for making quick, effective decisions.

This report provides real-time data on your inventory, helping you stay prepared for both planned and unexpected demand.

🔍 Why it's crucial: Accurate inventory data on hand can help you make smarter purchasing decisions, ensuring your store stays well-stocked without overburdening you with excess products.

⚙️ How it optimizes your process: Real-time updates allow you to instantly adjust stock levels and reorder products, avoiding common pitfalls like stockouts and overstocking.

Pro tip

Fabrikatör is an inventory management platform that helps Shopify stores manage their stock levels efficiently in real-time.

It ensures that businesses maintain optimal inventory, avoiding overstocking or stockouts, which improves cash flow and enhances overall profitability.

Fabrikator can provide you with features such as AI-powered forecasting, automated purchase orders, inventory replenishment, backorder management, a freight planner, and customizable analytics to streamline operations and boost efficiency.

2. Shrinkage report

Shrinkage, or the loss of inventory due to theft, damage, or other issues, can significantly impact your bottom line.

This report helps you track and manage these losses, enabling you to take preventive measures.

🔍 What it reveals: By identifying discrepancies between actual and recorded stock, you can assess the scale of shrinkage and pinpoint areas that need attention.

⚙️ How it strengthens control: Shrinkage reports clearly show inventory losses, allowing you to address issues like security or handling before they spiral out of control.

3. Top sales by product

Understanding which products are flying off the shelves is vital for maintaining optimal inventory levels.

The top sales report highlights your best-performing products, helping you plan for future demand.

🔍 Why it's valuable: Knowing which products perform best helps you prioritize restocking the most profitable items aligning your inventory strategy with actual sales trends.

⚙️ How it sharpens your focus: Top sales report breaks down product performance, guiding you to optimize your inventory and marketing efforts to boost sales further.

Pro tip

Fabrikatör can provide you with advanced forecasting by utilizing AI-driven predictions and manual growth rate adjustments, ensuring your inventory aligns accurately with future demand.

You can choose between AI-powered forecasting that analyzes historical sales, trends, and seasonality, or manually set a growth rate based on last year's sales performance to refine your inventory planning.

4. ABC and XYZ analysis

ABC analysis helps categorize products based on their importance, whether in terms of sales volume or value.

On the other hand, XYZ analysis adds another layer by assessing the predictable demand for different products.

🔍 Why it's essential: This dual analysis allows you to focus your efforts on high-value, high-demand products, ensuring that your inventory is aligned with your business priorities.

⚙️ How it drives strategy: Advanced analytics automatically sort products based on these factors, making it easier to manage inventory and adjust stock levels as needed.

Pro tip

Fabrikatör improves ABC analysis by automatically classifying your products into four categories: 

• A (high-performing), 
• B (moderate), 
• C (low-performing), and 
• D (idle - items that haven’t sold in the last 30 days), 

based on sales performance.

You can also customize the ABC conditions to suit your specific needs.

This classification lets you easily identify top-selling products, optimize stock levels, and boost profitability by focusing resources on the most valuable inventory.

5. Stock reorders

A reorder report is your go-to tool for preventing stockouts and maintaining healthy stock levels.

By knowing when to restock, you ensure that you can continue fulfilling orders without delay.

🔍 Why it's necessary: Timely reordering reduces the risk of running out of best-sellers, ensuring that you never miss a sale due to insufficient stock.

⚙️ How it enhances your workflow: Automated reorder systems track stock levels and generate recommendations based on your predefined rules, allowing you to restock with confidence.

Pro tip

Fabrikatör’s replenishment feature optimizes stock levels by leveraging AI algorithms to analyze demand patterns, lead times, and stock coverage metrics.

You can customize replenishment rules based on your unique supply chain requirements, such as ideal reorder points and quantities.

After setting it up, the system automates the restocking process, ensuring timely replenishment while minimizing the risk of stockouts or overstocking.

6. Cost of goods sold (COGS)

COGS reports track the direct costs of producing or acquiring goods sold during a specific period.

This helps you understand your profit margins and manage costs effectively.

🔍 What it reveals: A clear view of your COGS helps you calculate profitability and adjust your pricing strategy accordingly, ensuring your business remains profitable.

⚙️ How it supports financial decisions: COGS tracking provides real-time insights into your costs, enabling you to make well-informed decisions about pricing, budgeting, and financial planning.

7. Inventory valuation

Inventory valuation determines how much your stock is worth at any given time.

This report is essential for understanding the financial health of your business and making informed investment decisions.

🔍 Why it's beneficial: Knowing the total value of your inventory helps with budgeting, determining financial health, and making smart investment decisions.

⚙️ How it boosts financial insight: Inventory management software automatically calculates inventory valuation based on product cost, making it easy to see the worth of your stock without manual calculations.

8. Inventory levels by location

If you operate multiple warehouses or locations, this report helps you monitor stock levels across them.

It ensures you can quickly manage stock transfers and prevent overstocking in certain locations.

🔍 Why it's important: Accurate location-based data ensures that stock imbalances are addressed and products are delivered quickly from the most relevant location.

⚙️ How it streamlines operations: Location-based inventory tracking allows you to monitor each warehouse, enabling you to transfer stock efficiently and reduce fulfillment delays.

9. Inventory health report

A health report provides an overview of your current inventory status, including days of supply, inventory turnover rate, and slow-moving items.

This helps you stay on top of your stock’s overall health.

🔍 Why it matters: Monitoring the health of your inventory allows you to address slow-moving products, improve cash flow, and optimize stock levels.

⚙️ How it maintains balance: Health reports offer a comprehensive look at your inventory’s performance, ensuring you take proactive steps to optimize stock and boost sales.

Pro tip

Fabrikatör’s analytics feature lets you create, customize, and save reports to track essential inventory insights whenever you need them.

With flexible filtering options and prebuilt templates, you can monitor top-selling products, predict stockouts, and make data-driven inventory decisions in real-time.

10. Supplier analysis

Supplier performance tracking helps you evaluate delays, order accuracy, and other issues that could disrupt your inventory flow.

This report is crucial for managing supplier relationships effectively.

🔍 What it shows: Analyzing supplier performance allows you to identify reliable partners and manage disruptions in your supply chain before they affect your stock levels.

⚙️ How it improves sourcing: Supplier analysis tools help you track supplier performance, enabling you to make data-driven decisions on whom to source from for optimal efficiency.

How to create an inventory report

Creating an inventory report might sound straightforward, but it’s crucial for managing your stock.

By generating the right reports, you can gain a clearer picture of your inventory’s performance, track trends, and make better-informed decisions.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get started and optimize your reporting process.

1. Choose an inventory management system

The first step in creating an inventory report is selecting a robust inventory management system.

The right system should integrate seamlessly with Shopify, allowing you to access real-time data about stock levels, sales, and more.

This integration is key for making sure you’re not manually entering data, which could lead to errors.

2. Build your inventory list

Once you’ve chosen your system, the next step is to build your inventory list.

This list should include detailed information about each product, such as SKUs (stock-keeping units), product descriptions, prices, and quantities.

Having a well-organized inventory list ensures that your reports are accurate and meaningful.

🔍 Example: If you sell clothing, make sure your list includes product details like "Red T-shirt, SKU #12345, Size M, 100 units in stock."

The more specific you are, the easier it will be to generate accurate reports that reflect your real inventory situation.

3. Establish a reporting timeframe

Decide how often you need to run your reports.

The timeframe will depend on the size of your business and how often your inventory changes.

If you’re running a high-volume store, you might need daily reports, while smaller businesses may find weekly or monthly reports sufficient.

4. Choose a report to run

Now that you’ve set the framework for your reports, choose which report to run based on your current business needs.

You might need a detailed inventory health report to assess slow-moving items, or a sales report to understand top-performing products.

🔍 Example: If you’re planning a big sale, you might run a "Top Sales by Product" report to identify which items are selling fastest and should be promoted more.

On the other hand, if you’ve been experiencing stockouts, running a "Stock Reorder" report can help you avoid running out of popular products.

5. Run your inventory report

The final step is to run the report and review the data.

Once your report is generated, look for trends, discrepancies, or any areas that need improvement.

For instance, you may notice that some products are selling faster than expected while others are accumulating dust on the shelves.

🔍 Example: After running a "Shrinkage Report," you might find that some of your inventory is consistently missing due to theft or handling errors.

By addressing this, you can take steps to prevent future losses, like improving security or refining stock management procedures.

Manage inventory reporting of your store with Fabrikatör

Fabrikatör is an advanced platform that helps Shopify users optimize inventory management and streamline supply chain operations.

With its powerful features, it enables you to boost efficiency, reduce operational costs, and make more informed, data-driven decisions.

When it comes to inventory reporting, Fabrikatör offers flexibility and control, allowing you to customize and manage your reporting processes with ease.

You can set flexible reporting timeframes, such as daily, weekly, or monthly, to match your needs.

Additionally, you can create your own reports, track key inventory insights, and receive real-time feedback on which reports best suit your business objectives.

Fabrikatör: All-in-one inventory management platform

Some of the additional features we can provide you with are:

🔹 Real-time analytics: Track 100+ inventory and sales metrics to gain actionable insights and improve decision-making.

🔹 Advanced forecasting: Leverage AI-powered demand predictions based on historical sales, seasonal trends, and marketing events to optimize stock planning and ensure you're always prepared.

🔹 Automated replenishment: Automatically generate precise restocking recommendations based on custom rules for lead times, stock coverage, and supplier details to avoid stockouts and excess inventory.

🔹 Backorder automation: Keep selling out-of-stock items while they’re in transit, recovering lost sales and maintaining customer satisfaction.

🔹 Optimized freight planning: Compare freight options and balance cost vs. speed to maximize shipping efficiency, helping you cut costs while ensuring timely deliveries.

🔹 Automated purchase orders: Turn restocking suggestions into purchase orders with just one click, simplifying the procurement process.

🔹 eCommerce platform integrations: Sync effortlessly with Shopify and Shopify Plus to ensure smooth inventory management across multiple channels.

🔹 Financial & operational integrations: Connect with QuickBooks, Xero, and ShipHero to streamline your financial processes and logistics.

🔹 Analytics & workflow integrations: Integrate with Klaviyo and other tools to enhance reporting, insights, and workflow automation, optimizing your entire business strategy.

📢 Ready to transform how you manage inventory reporting?

Try Fabrikatör today or book a demo to discover how its intelligent workflows can improve your reporting efficiency and business operations. 🚀

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