Inventory

Boxture keeps inventory per unit. Every physical unit of a product (or packing material) in a warehouse is a separate inventory item with its own state, status, bin location and, where relevant, serial number, lot and expiry date. All quantities you see on screen (available, allocated, on hold, and so on) are counts of these items.

This section covers how inventory is structured, how it moves through its states, and what you do with it every day: looking it up, moving it, adjusting it, putting it on hold and releasing it.

Building blocks

Concept	What it is	Read more
Inventory item	One physical unit of a product at a location. It has a state (such as Available, Allocated, Picked) and a status (New or Defective).	Inventory items and states
Bin location	A named storage place inside a location (warehouse), with a purpose such as Picking, Bulk or Receiving. The purpose decides whether inventory there can be allocated.	Bin locations
Container	A box, case, pallet or other packaging that holds inventory items and/or other containers. Containers are often called licence plates, because their label identifies everything inside.	Containers
Tote	A reusable crate a picker carries during picking. Picked items sit in a tote until they are packed.	Totes
Inventory overview	Totals per location, bin location, container, product and status.	Inventory overview screens
Inventory snapshot	A daily copy of the inventory overview, downloadable as a spreadsheet.	Inventory snapshots

Where to find it

In the sidebar, Inventory opens the inventory overview for your current location. The menu on that page has:

• Consolidated: totals per product and location, without bin locations.
• Kits: how many kits can be supplied, including kits that can be built from component stock.
• Adjust: add or remove inventory by hand.
• Import: add or remove inventory from a spreadsheet.
• Move: move inventory or containers between bin locations.
• Inventory snapshots: download the daily snapshots.

Containers has its own item in the sidebar. Bin locations and totes are set up by an administrator under Admin › Warehousing (see Warehousing setup).

How inventory gets in and out

Inventory items are created and retired by orders and by a few manual actions:

• Receiving on purchase orders, return orders and transfer orders creates inventory, first as Expected and then Available once received. See Receiving.
• Allocation reserves available units for an order line (Allocated). See Allocation.
• Picking and packing move the units through Picking, Picked and Packed. Shipping then retires them. See Pick lists and Packing.
• Manual adjustments add or remove units outside an order flow. Behind the scenes they create an Add inventory order or a Remove inventory order. See Adjusting inventory and Inventory orders.
• Scrap orders remove damaged or expired stock in a controlled way. See Scrap orders.

Who can do what

Action	Who
View the inventory overview, consolidated and kit inventory	All users. Each user only sees the products of the accounts they have access to.
Open the list of individual inventory items, view containers, move inventory	Users with any role other than Account owner or Shopify account owner
Add or remove inventory (Adjust, Import)	Admins and Warehouse associates
Edit an individual inventory item	Admins and Warehouse associates
Set up bin locations and totes	Admins

See Users and roles for the full list of roles.

Settings that change inventory behaviour

Setting	Effect
Inventory › Container required	All inventory at a location must be in a container.
Inventory › Multiple products per container	Whether a container may hold more than one product, lot or expiry date.
Inventory › Ignore container levels	Lets you nest containers regardless of packing material level.
Inventory › Recycle serial numbers	Lets a serial number that left the warehouse be received again.
Inventory › Restrict transactions to setup complete	Blocks transactions for products that are not marked as setup complete.
Inventory › Allow kit to inventory	Whether kit products themselves may be stocked.
Inventory › Reporting percent	Share of available inventory reported to sales channels.
Picking › Auto retire containers	Retires containers that are emptied during picking.
Purging › Retired inventory	How long retired inventory items are kept.

Related reports

Under Reporting you'll find, among others, Inventory on hand, Manual inventory adjustments, Serial numbers on hand, Inbounded inventory items and Inventory on non-standard binlocations. See Reporting.