5 Steps to Create and Manage a Purchase Order

A purchase order records what you intend to buy, who will supply it, where it should arrive and what each item should cost. Keeping that information in one workflow makes receiving stock easier and creates a clearer inventory history.

Ricemill | Inventory lets Shopify merchants create, track and receive purchase orders. The workflow below explains how to prepare a purchase, progress it through its statuses and update inventory when the completed purchase is published.

1. Confirm what needs replenishing

Start with the products that require stock. Check their available quantities, recent stock movements, expected demand and any purchases that are already open. This prevents the same shortage from being ordered twice.

Before creating the purchase, make sure the supplier, destination location, items and current costs are available in Ricemill | Inventory.

2. Create the draft purchase order

Open Purchase from the Ricemill | Inventory menu and select New Purchase. Choose the supplier and the destination where the goods will be received.

Select the purchase currency. If it differs from your account's base currency, enter the exchange rate used to convert the purchase into that base currency. The rate represents the amount of base currency equal to one unit of the purchase currency. Add each item, its quantity and unit cost, then save the purchase as a draft.

A draft gives you an opportunity to review the order before treating it as sent to the supplier.

3. Review and send the order

Check the supplier, delivery destination, item SKUs, quantities, costs and currency. When the details match the order you are placing, move the purchase from Draft to Sent.

The status makes it clear that the stock has been ordered but has not yet been received. Its quantities now contribute to incoming stock without changing the quantity on hand. Use your normal supplier communication process to send or confirm the order.

4. Receive the delivered stock

When the shipment arrives, compare the delivered items and quantities with the purchase order. Ensure the order lines represent the stock that should be added before marking the purchase as received.

Moving the purchase to Received marks every order line as fully received. The quantities remain classified as incoming at this stage; inventory quantities and costs do not change until the purchase is published.

5. Complete the purchase and verify inventory

Review the order-line quantities and costs, then publish the completed purchase. Publishing adds those quantities to inventory at the destination, records the purchase movements and updates inventory costs using the base-currency unit costs.

Afterward, verify that:

• The purchase shows the expected final status.
• Purchase quantities match the delivery.
• Inventory changed at the correct destination.
• Connected sales channels reflect the intended available quantity.

A simple purchase-order checklist

Before completing any purchase order, confirm:

• The correct supplier and destination are selected.
• Product SKUs and quantities match the supplier order.
• Costs and currency are accurate.
• Delivered quantities have been checked.
• Inventory updates have been reviewed after completion.

Explore Ricemill | Inventory for purchase-order management, stock synchronisation, movement history and bundle inventory. For automatic replenishment scenarios, read how purchase-order rules can cover preorder shortages.