Stocky vs Shopify’s native purchase orders
When Stocky is retired on August 31, 2026, the default landing place for most merchants is Shopify’s built-in purchase orders. They are free and they are real — but they replace a different half of Stocky than most people assume.
Two jobs, not one
Stocky did two separate things, and it is worth separating them before comparing anything:
The hands
Recording the physical work
Writing down a purchase order, receiving stock against it, counting what is on the shelf, adjusting quantities.
The head
Deciding what and how much
Noticing something is about to run out, working out how many to order given how fast it sells and how long the supplier takes.
Shopify has been rebuilding the hands natively. The head is the part that goes away.
Feature by feature
| Capability | Shopify native | UreyukiBox |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free tier, then paid |
| Create and record a purchase order | Yes | Yes |
| Receive stock against an order | Yes | Yes, full or partial |
| Reorder-point alerts | No | Email, Slack or LINE |
| Order quantity suggested from sales pace | No | Yes, minus stock, inbound and already-ordered |
| Store supplier lead time | No | Yes |
| Store minimum order quantity | No | Yes |
| Supplier contact record you can email an order to | Vendor field only | Full supplier record, order sent by email |
| Import historical Stocky purchase orders | No — Shopify states these cannot be imported | Yes, while the Stocky API is still reachable |
| Import Stocky reorder points and lead times | No | Yes, from your CSV export |
| Interface language | English and many others | English and Japanese |
What about the new inventory features?
In July 2026 Shopify opened a developer preview covering bins, stock counts and read access to purchase orders. It is worth knowing three things about it before you plan around it:
- Purchase order access in the preview is read only — apps cannot create orders through it
- It is an unstable preview that has to be enabled per store, so it is not something a published app can rely on yet
- It does not include your Stocky data, which is consistent with Shopify’s statement that historical purchase orders cannot be imported
The direction is clear — Shopify is rebuilding the physical-inventory layer properly. It still is not the layer that tells you what to reorder.
How to decide
Native alone is probably fine if…
You carry few enough SKUs to hold in your head, you reorder on a fixed schedule rather than reacting to demand, or your suppliers deliver fast enough that running out is a day-long problem rather than a month-long one.
You will feel the gap if…
You have hundreds or thousands of SKUs, your lead times differ meaningfully by supplier, you have minimum order quantities to respect, or you used Stocky’s reorder suggestions as your actual working queue rather than as a suggestion.
Either way, export your Stocky data before August 31. The decision can wait; the export cannot.
Common questions
Q.Can Shopify’s native purchase orders replace Stocky?
For recording what you decided to order, yes. For deciding what to order, no. The native feature has no reorder-point alerts, does not suggest order quantities from your sales pace, and has nowhere to store supplier lead times or minimum order quantities.
Q.Can I import my old Stocky purchase orders into Shopify?
No. Shopify has stated that historical Stocky purchase orders cannot be imported into Shopify. Export them before August 31, 2026 if you want to keep them.
Q.Do I have to pay for an app at all?
Not necessarily. If you carry few enough SKUs to eyeball stock levels, or you reorder on a fixed schedule rather than on demand, the free native purchase orders may be all you need. The cost of an app is worth it when forgetting to reorder actually costs you sales.
If you need the decision layer back
UreyukiBox is built to sit exactly where Stocky did: reorder points, order quantities based on your own sales pace and lead times, supplier records, and purchase orders you can send. It imports both your Stocky API data and the CSV-only fields.
The interface is available in English. Alerts and support are still Japanese, and the App Store listing is not localised into English yet. The migration tools and the CSV import work on any Shopify store, whatever its language or country.
Related guides
-
Stocky shutdown checklist
What to export before August 31, 2026, in the order that matters.
-
How to export your Stocky data
What Shopify tells you to export, and how to check each file is usable.
-
What happens to your data on August 31
Data by data: what survives, what Shopify will not import, and what is simply gone.
-
Stocky vs UreyukiBox
An honest feature-by-feature comparison, including where Stocky is still ahead.
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How to migrate from Stocky
Six steps in the order that protects your data, even before you pick an app.
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Reorder points on Shopify: the complete guide
The formula, safety stock and service levels, and choosing an app after Stocky.
All guides in one place: the UreyukiBox blog