This article will show you how to enable Square's Inventory Tracking feature for new products.
Overview
Square inventory management features allow new products to either automatically have their inventory tracked or not with a simple toggle. What is inventory tracking? This refers to the act of your business continuously monitoring all of the inventory that you own. This lets you know when you are running low on certain products as Square will know the exact number of items you have on hand as long as this feature is enabled. This feature also allows SKU IQ to know what inventory quantities you have in store! For SKU IQ to accurately report to your eCommerce site what inventory is available, the Inventory Tracking Toggle in Square must be turned on. Otherwise, this can result in products on your eCommerce either overselling or being completely out of stock.
Why Is This Important?
Enabling inventory tracking is extremely important to the operation and success of your connection with SKU IQ! There are two different outcomes when we push new items from Square to your website with inventory tracking turned off, the first scenario is that Square reports to SKU IQ that there is 0 stock for the product. This 0 number will then translate to your eCommerce and your product will be marked as “OUT OF STOCK,” so you will be unable to sell the product online.
Another possible scenario is that Square items are reported with "null" stock to your website, this will turn inventory tracking OFF on your eCommerce platform, which can result in you overselling your products as your eCommerce will not be counting inventory units. This will continue to cycle until the problem is rectified on both ends - which can cause you a big headache and a lot of customer frustration and disappointment.
How to Turn Inventory Tracking On in Square
1. Log in to your Square Dashboard and navigate to Items & orders.
2. Click Items from the menu that displays.
3. On the bottom of the left-hand side menu, click Settings.
4. A drop down menu displays. You may need to scroll down in order to view the
“Inventory” selection for the drop down menu. Click Inventory.
5. You will find “Inventory Tracking” there. Please make sure that this is toggled on. (See below image.)
Toggling this on will enable inventory tracking for any new items created after the setting is turned on. In order to enable it for all existing inventory (those that were created prior to turning this setting on), you will need to click the “Enable for all existing items” button located directly below the toggle.
You will then need to adjust your stock to what you have on-hand (which may require a physical count) for those products that were created with the inventory tracking turned off.
More Resources
Square Support: Track Your Inventory with Square for Retail