# Multi-location inventory

> Multi-location inventory means Shopify holds a separate stock number for every location, and no single total behind them.

- Source: https://storestandards.com/glossary/multi-location-inventory/
- Updated: 2026-08-14
- Author: Nia Chambers, Product, Store Standards

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Two shops and a warehouse means three numbers for every variant, and a total
that only exists when somebody adds it up.

## What changes

- A [stocktake](https://storestandards.com/glossary/stocktake/) counts one location at a time
- A [reorder point](https://storestandards.com/glossary/reorder-point/) is per location, or you buy for
  the wrong shelf
- Moving stock is an [inventory transfer](https://storestandards.com/glossary/inventory-transfer/), not
  an adjustment at each end
- An order is filled from the first location in your priority list that can
  fill it

## Sixty in total is not sixty available

Ten of a line at each of six shops looks healthy. A customer ordering three
gets one shipment from one location, and if no single shop holds three, the
order splits or fails.

Availability follows the shelf, not the spreadsheet.

## Where it goes wrong

A count is done for the whole business and entered against one
[location](https://storestandards.com/glossary/shopify-location/). That location is now sixty over, the
other five are short, and the total looks perfect. This is the most common way
a multi-location store convinces itself its numbers are fine.

The other one is a transfer recorded as two adjustments. Stock leaves one
place, arrives at the other, and there is no record tying the two together
when a box goes missing between them.

## Related terms

- [Location](https://storestandards.com/glossary/shopify-location/): A location is a place Shopify holds stock, such as a shop, a stockroom, a warehouse or a third party who ships for you.
- [Transfer](https://storestandards.com/glossary/inventory-transfer/): A transfer is a record of stock moving from one Shopify location to another, open until the receiving end confirms what arrived.
- [Available inventory](https://storestandards.com/glossary/available-inventory/): Available inventory is the stock a customer can still buy. It is what you hold on hand, minus what is already promised to other orders.