Procuro
Shopify has purchase orders now. Do you still need an app?
Shopify added native purchase orders to the admin, under Products > Purchase orders. For a lot of stores, that's a real improvement over spreadsheets. But "purchase orders" covers a lot of ground, and the native tool handles some of it, not all of it.
Here's an honest look at what Shopify's purchase orders do, what they don't, and how to decide whether you need more.
What Shopify's native purchase orders do well
- Record the order. A purchase order includes a supplier, a destination location, products, quantities, costs, payment terms and a cost summary.
- Manage suppliers. You can store suppliers with their contact details, payment terms and currencies.
- Track the order's status. Purchase orders move from Draft to Ordered once your supplier confirms.
- Receive stock. Once a PO is ordered, you create a linked inventory transfer and receive items through it, which updates your available inventory.
- Record extra costs. Shipping, duties and other fees can be added to the shipments on that transfer, so you can compare the agreed cost with what it actually cost to receive the goods.
It's free, it's built in, and for a store placing a few simple orders a month, it may be all you need.
Where the native tool stops
The gaps show up once you care about what your products really cost.
Receiving doesn't update your product costs. In Shopify, each variant has a single Cost per item. Receiving a native purchase order updates your stock, but your Cost per item stays the same. If your supplier raises prices, or freight pushes your real cost up, your margin and profit reports keep using the old number until you change it by hand.
Freight and duties aren't spread into your unit costs. You can record them against the shipment, but they aren't allocated across the products you received. If you want a landed cost per unit, that's a spreadsheet job.
There's no costing method. There's no weighted average, first-in-first-out or replacement cost to choose from. You set one number and maintain it yourself.
Lines still come from you, not the invoice. Shopify can import products from a CSV and pre-fill costs from your earlier orders with that supplier, but it can't read a supplier's invoice. Someone still has to turn a 40-line invoice into PO lines, by typing them in or preparing a spreadsheet first. That's 15 to 20 minutes for most people, every time.
No reorder help. The native workflow doesn't tell you what's about to run out or create a purchase order when stock gets low.
Side by side
| Feature | Shopify purchase orders | Procuro |
|---|---|---|
| Create purchase orders | Yes | Yes |
| Supplier records | Yes | Yes, plus cost history by supplier |
| Receive stock | Yes, via a linked transfer | Yes |
| Record shipping, duties and fees | Yes, on the shipment | Yes, allocated into each product's landed cost |
| Update Cost per item on receiving | No | Yes, automatically |
| Costing method | Single static cost | Weighted average, FIFO or replacement |
| Build a PO from a supplier invoice PDF | No | Yes, with Procuro AI |
| Convert cases to units | No | Yes |
| Inventory value and demand forecasting | No | Yes |
| Price | Included with Shopify | From $12/month, free trial |
Who should stick with native purchase orders
Stay with the built-in tool if you order from a handful of suppliers, your costs rarely change, and you're happy to update Cost per item by hand when they do. It's free and it works.
Who needs more
You'll get real value from Procuro if:
- Your supplier prices change, and you want your margins to reflect it automatically.
- You pay freight or duties, and want them included in what each product really cost.
- You buy in another currency, and want costs converted into your store's currency on every order.
- Your invoices are long, and typing them into purchase orders takes hours each month.
- Your suppliers invoice in cases, while you sell single units.
The bottom line
Shopify's native purchase orders record what you ordered and receive it into stock. Procuro does that too, then keeps your product costs right: landed, converted, and updated automatically every time stock arrives. If accurate margins matter to your business, that's the difference.