Frequently Asked Questions

Orlio is an inventory management platform built for Shopify stores. It tracks inventory in real time, calculates reorder points based on your sales data, automates purchase order creation with a supplier portal, and includes product recommendation features for upselling. Everything works together in one platform instead of needing multiple separate apps.

Orlio analyzes your actual sales history from the past 60 days to calculate daily demand for each product. Using this demand data along with your supplier lead times and safety stock settings, Orlio calculates when you need to reorder and sends alerts before stock runs low. You can see projected stockout dates based on current inventory levels and sales velocity.

Orlio combines inventory tracking, purchase order management, and upsell recommendations in one platform. The supplier portal works without requiring suppliers to create accounts (they get a magic link via email). Purchase orders support partial shipments, built-in messaging, and request-changes workflows for negotiating terms. This integrated approach means fewer apps to manage and better workflow between inventory and orders.

Orlio works for Shopify stores of all sizes, from solo entrepreneurs to growing teams managing thousands of products. It fits merchants who have outgrown spreadsheets and need automation without enterprise complexity.

Initial setup is quick. Install Orlio from the Shopify App Store and it syncs your products, inventory, order history, and locations automatically. You can configure suppliers, set reorder points, and create upsell campaigns after that as you need them.

Orlio connects through the official Shopify API. It automatically syncs your products, variants, inventory levels, orders, and locations in real time. When you receive inventory in Orlio, your Shopify inventory gets updated immediately. Everything stays synchronized without manual data entry.

Yes. Orlio tracks inventory across all your Shopify locations. You can create transfer orders between locations and get separate alerts for each location. Reorder points are set at the product level and apply across all locations. Works for warehouses, retail stores, and fulfillment centers.

New products start with a base reorder point until they accumulate 60 days of sales history. After Orlio has enough order data, it calculates daily demand from actual sales. Products need real sales history for demand calculations. There is no prediction for products without sales data.

No integration needed. When you create a purchase order in Orlio, it emails your supplier a magic link to view the order. They can see order details, confirm availability, request changes, add tracking numbers, and message you. Suppliers do not need to create accounts or install anything. Works with any supplier.

After you create a purchase order, Orlio emails your supplier a secure link. That link opens a portal where they see the order, request changes to pricing or quantities, add tracking information for shipments, and send messages. No signup required.

Yes. Suppliers can mark items as shipped in batches instead of all at once. Each partial shipment can have its own tracking number. When you receive a partial shipment in Orlio, it updates your Shopify inventory for those specific items immediately. You can start selling them without waiting for the complete order.

Yes. Orlio can create purchase orders automatically when inventory hits the reorder point. You can review and approve these orders before sending them to suppliers. Orlio calculates suggested order quantities based on lead time and safety stock settings.

ABC analysis groups your products by revenue contribution. A items are your top revenue generators (often 20% of products making 80% of revenue). B items are middle performers. C items are low revenue. Orlio calculates this automatically so you can focus more attention on high-value products. You can set different reorder strategies and stock levels for each category.

Orlio offers post-purchase upsells (shown after checkout). The recommendation system analyzes your order history to suggest which products to show together. Recommendations update as you get more sales data.

Orlio analyzes your historical sales data to calculate daily demand for each product. It uses actual order quantities from your Shopify store and includes confidence scoring based on sales patterns. Demand calculations update automatically as new orders come in.

Yes. Orlio Premium includes custom location management that lets you track inventory at warehouses, 3PLs, suppliers, manufacturing facilities, and other locations outside of Shopify. You create these locations in Orlio and manage their inventory independently. This is perfect for tracking stock at supplier locations, items in manufacturing, or inventory held by fulfillment partners before it reaches your Shopify-managed warehouses.

Orlio supports seven location types: Warehouse, 3PL Partner, Virtual Location, Supplier, Manufacturing, Retail Store, and Custom (for other types). Each custom location tracks its own inventory levels, has address information for distance calculations, and can be marked active or inactive. Custom locations work alongside your Shopify locations, giving you visibility across your entire supply chain.

Create custom locations in Orlio for each 3PL warehouse or supplier. You can track how much inventory each location holds, create transfer orders to move inventory between locations, and include these locations in purchase order workflows. Custom locations show inventory levels but do not sync back to Shopify since they represent inventory not yet available for immediate sale. This gives you full supply chain visibility while keeping Shopify inventory accurate for actual available stock.

Yes. Orlio includes transfer order functionality that works between any locations - custom to custom, custom to Shopify, or Shopify to Shopify. Transfer orders track items being moved, shipment status, and automatically update inventory levels at both source and destination locations when marked as received. This provides full traceability for inventory movement across your entire operation.

Custom locations are managed entirely within Orlio and do not sync to Shopify. This is intentional - custom locations typically represent inventory not yet available for sale (like stock at suppliers, items in manufacturing, or inventory held at 3PLs before transfer). Your Shopify locations continue to sync normally and represent inventory available for immediate fulfillment. This separation keeps your Shopify inventory accurate while giving you broader supply chain visibility in Orlio.

Yes, with Premium plan. Intelligent fulfillment routing analyzes each order and recommends the optimal fulfillment location using a weighted scoring algorithm. The algorithm considers inventory health (protecting low-stock locations), shipping distance (for faster delivery), demand protection (keeping stock for high-priority items), and location type preferences. You can configure automatic routing to apply recommendations directly or review them manually first.

Orlio uses a configurable weighted scoring system with four factors: product priority, demand protection to prevent stockouts, shipping distance, and location type preference. You can adjust these weights by selecting preset strategies: Balanced (gives equal consideration to all factors), Fast Shipping (prioritizes closest location for faster delivery), or Inventory Health (focuses on protecting low-stock locations). The system also supports precision geocoding for accurate distance calculations and can use trade zone and continental scoring when exact addresses are not available. Each routing decision includes a confidence score.

Yes. Premium plan includes intelligent fulfillment routing designed specifically for Shopify stores with multiple warehouses or fulfillment locations. The system processes new orders automatically and calculates optimal fulfillment locations based on your configured strategy. You can enable automatic routing to let Orlio assign locations when confidence is high, or review recommendations manually. The routing decisions page shows all factors and scoring details for transparency.

Yes. Intelligent routing includes both factors in its recommendations. The demand protection component prevents fulfilling from locations with low inventory or high demand, while the distance component prioritizes closer locations for faster shipping. You can adjust the balance between these factors by choosing routing strategies: use Fast Shipping strategy to heavily prioritize distance for fastest delivery, Inventory Health strategy to focus on protecting low-stock locations, or Balanced strategy to give equal consideration to all factors.

The demand protection component in the routing algorithm scores locations based on their days-of-stock remaining. Locations with low inventory (approaching reorder point) receive lower scores, making them less likely to be selected for fulfillment. You can adjust how aggressive this protection is using reorder protection levels: Conservative (strongly avoids low-stock locations), Balanced (standard protection), or Aggressive (will fulfill from low stock if needed). This ensures high-turnover items are not depleted at locations where they are most needed.

You can configure a minimum confidence threshold that determines when Orlio automatically applies routing recommendations. Choose Conservative to only auto-route highly confident decisions and minimize risk. Choose Balanced (recommended) to auto-route orders where Orlio has good confidence. Choose Aggressive to auto-route more orders but with increased risk of suboptimal routing. The settings page shows historical statistics about your routing decisions to help you choose the right threshold for your business.

Spreadsheets need manual data entry. They do not sync with Shopify automatically. You cannot send automated alerts from a spreadsheet. Suppliers cannot update order status in a spreadsheet. Orlio automates these tasks and syncs with Shopify in real time. The supplier portal and automatic reorder calculations save significant time compared to managing everything manually in spreadsheets.

Orlio works as a complete solution. Running multiple inventory apps can cause sync conflicts and duplicate alerts. If both apps try to manage the same inventory, you may get conflicting data. We recommend using Orlio as your main inventory system instead of adding it to existing inventory apps.