Importing locations and stock

Lodsted counts your Shopify stock into the receiving location at install. Two spreadsheet imports then get an existing warehouse in place in an afternoon: one file for the locations, one that puts the stock away bin by bin, with cost and age for anything Shopify did not know about. Both imports are Admin only.

Before you import

1. Products first. Both files name SKUs, and a SKU that Lodsted does not know stops the file. Products come from Shopify during sync; on a fresh install use Refresh from Shopify on the Setup page's product review, then check the Inventory page lists your SKUs. Add any warehouse-only SKUs in Shopify.
2. Locations before stock. The stock file names locations, and a location that does not exist stops the file. Import or create locations first.
3. Decide the code scheme. Codes are letters and digits only; see Location codes. The first two characters are the zone, any two-digit number; zone 01 is picking, everything else is storage. An all-digit code is shown with dashes (01-02-0304); a code with letters is shown as typed (01A01).
4. Count the shelves, or export from the old system, into a spreadsheet with one row per location, and one row per SKU-and-location (or per lot, if you know the receipt dates) for stock. The stock file says where things are; Lodsted already knows how many Shopify thought there were.

How an import works

The Import button on the Locations page and on the Inventory page opens the same kind of window:

1. Read the column table

   It lists every column the file may have, whether it is required and what it means. Download template saves a one-line example file you can fill in.

2. Choose the file, or paste

   Choose a .csv, .txt or .tsv file, or copy the cells from a spreadsheet (including the header row) and paste them into the box. The window counts the data lines it sees.

3. Import

   Lodsted checks every line before changing anything. If every line is good, the file is applied and the page reloads. If any line is bad, nothing is applied; the window stays open with a table of line number, row and problem. Fix those lines in the spreadsheet and import again.

File rules, both imports

• The first non-blank line is the header and names the columns. Columns can be in any order; extra columns are ignored.
• Column names are matched loosely: Received Date, received_date and receiveddate are the same column; case does not matter.
• Cells are separated by commas, or by tabs if the line has any (which is what a spreadsheet paste produces). A cell that contains a comma can be wrapped in double quotes.
• Blank lines are skipped. Numbers may carry $ and thousands separators.
• SKUs and location codes are upper-cased, and dashes or spaces in location codes are dropped, so 01-a-01 and 01A01 are the same location.

The locations file

There is no zone column: the zone is the first two characters of the location code (01A01 is zone 01, 90REC is zone 90). Only zone 01 changes behavior (picking); every other zone is storage.

Example

location,sku,min,max,active
01A01,GB-PRO-DZ,6,24,yes
01A02,GB-SOFT-DZ,6,24,yes
01B01,GLOVE-L,2,12,yes
02A01,,,,yes
02A02,,,,yes
90REC,,,,no

Three pick faces with their SKU and replenishment levels, two bulk bins, and a receiving bin set inactive so deliveries put there are not promised to orders until they are moved.

What the import does and does not do

• Creates missing locations and updates existing ones (SKU, min, max, active). Re-uploading a corrected file is safe.
• Sets the primary flag when a SKU is given. A zone 01 row with a SKU becomes that SKU's primary pick location, the bin waves pick first, replenishment fills and the receive screen's P button uses. A SKU has one primary, so list each SKU on one pick-face row; a second pick face for the same SKU is created from the Locations page.
• Does not fill the aisle, rack, shelf and bin parts; only the code. The Create Locations form fills those when you create by hand, and nothing in the daily screens depends on them.
• Does not delete locations that are missing from the file.

Typical errors

The stock (inventory) file

Where the stock starts: the opening count

When Lodsted is installed it counts your Shopify stock once. Right after it pulls the product catalog, every product that Shopify tracks is received into 90REC, the receiving location, at the quantity Shopify shows for your fulfillment location: one lot per product, dated that day, at the product's current cost, with the reference Opening count. Untracked products and products with nothing in stock get no lot. Lodsted therefore starts out holding exactly what Shopify had, so the first stock push back to Shopify changes nothing, and the Activity feed records the count.

The count runs once. A store that already holds any stock in Lodsted is left alone. Until a tenant holds some stock, from the count or from an import, Lodsted sends no quantities to Shopify at all, so a fresh install can never zero the storefront.

What a row does: put-away

This file puts that stock away. Each row names where a product belongs and how many should be there. Lodsted meets the quantity in two steps:

1. Move from 90REC first. Whatever the product has waiting in 90REC moves to the row's location, oldest lot first, each lot keeping its cost, received date and reference. A Moved transaction is written per lot.
2. Receive the rest. If the row asks for more than 90REC holds, the difference is received at the location as a new lot, the same way a purchase order receipt is, using the row's cost, date and reference, with a Received transaction stamped with the import time and your name.

Ask for less than 90REC holds and the remainder stays in 90REC; nothing is ever reduced. A row whose location is 90REC itself is a plain receipt into receiving. The result table after the import says what happened to each row: "moved 24 from 90REC", "moved 6 from 90REC, received 4", or "received 500".

Example

After install, 90REC holds 240 GB-PRO-DZ, 6 GLOVE-L and no TEE-100 (Shopify did not track it). The file:

sku,location,quantity,cost,received,po
GB-PRO-DZ,01A01,24,,,
GB-PRO-DZ,02A01,192,,,
GLOVE-L,01B01,10,9.75,,
TEE-100,90REC,500,4.10,2026-10-10,
TEE-100,01C01,40,,,

What the import does

• Moves first, receives second, never reduces. Whatever is left in 90REC after the import is stock Shopify counted that you did not find on a shelf: count again, then adjust it out (Admin, with a reason) or move it where it was found.
• Importing the same file twice is not harmless: on the second pass 90REC is empty, so every row is received again and the shelves double. Import once; correct mistakes with adjustments.
• Writes one Moved transaction per lot moved and one Received transaction per row that received, all visible on the Transactions page with your name.
• Recalculates demand afterwards, so orders that were short become waveable and the next stock push tells Shopify. Moving stock between locations does not change the total Shopify sees.
• Stock in an inactive location is recorded but shows under Unavail and is not counted in what Shopify is sent, until the location is activated or the stock moved.

Typical errors

A go-live sequence

1. Set the warehouse time zone so import dates land on the right day.
2. Confirm products are in (the Inventory page lists the SKUs) and that the opening count landed: the Inventory page shows the tracked products in 90REC, and the Activity feed has an "Opening count" line.
3. Import locations, with each SKU on its home pick-face row so the primary is set. Leave 90REC active for now.
4. Count the shelves, or export counts from the old system, one row per SKU and bin.
5. Import stock. Read the result table: "moved" rows came out of the opening count, "received" rows are stock Shopify did not know about.
6. Look at what is left in 90REC on the Inventory page. That is the gap between Shopify's count and the shelves; recount, then adjust or move it.
7. Spot-check a few SKUs: On Hand per bin, Received dates, cost in Total Value.
8. Run Setup › Products and stock tracking for any products Shopify was not tracking (they got no opening lot); once tracked, the next push sends their counts.
9. Set 90REC inactive if deliveries should wait there unsold. Create a small test wave.