Moving stock between outlets is simple until a box goes missing or an item arrives and doesn’t show online. This guide uses Shopify’s current help page as one worked example of a transfer process, then turns it into steps any small retailer can copy. Shopify is a competitor to some tools, so we use it only to show how the statuses work, not as a recommendation. The pooling advice comes from McKinsey (2021).

What is an inventory transfer?

A transfer moves and tracks inventory between your store locations, or with external locations such as suppliers, according to Shopify’s Help Center (2026). The key word is tracks. A transfer is a record of stock in motion, not just a movement.

Without that record, stock leaves one outlet and appears at another by memory. With it, you can see what’s on its way and what has arrived.

How many statuses does a transfer have?

Shopify’s help page lists 5 transfer statuses: Draft, Ready to ship, In progress, Transferred and Canceled. Each one answers a simple question about where the stock is.

You can copy this structure on a spreadsheet. Give every transfer one status at a time and update it when the box moves.

Does a draft transfer move any stock?

No. New transfers are saved as drafts, and inventory isn’t committed until you mark the transfer ready to ship or move it in transit, according to Shopify’s Help Center. A draft is a plan.

That’s a useful habit. Plan transfers during the quiet part of the day and commit them only when the box is packed.

New transfers are saved as drafts, and inventory isn’t committed until the transfer is marked ready to ship or moved in transit (Shopify Help Center, 2026).

What happens when I mark a transfer in transit or transferred?

In transit sets the status to In progress and marks the inventory incoming at the destination, while Transferred receives it and makes it available there straight away, according to the help page. So there are two moments that matter: when it leaves and when it is counted in.

The gap between them is where stock gets lost. Mark Transferred only when someone has opened the box and counted what’s in it.

Does a transfer make the product sellable at the destination?

Not automatically. A transfer records quantity at the destination but doesn’t activate the product there, so you need to stock or activate it, according to Shopify’s Help Center. The stock can be in the building and still invisible to customers.

This is the quiet trap in many multi-outlet setups. After every transfer, check that the product shows as available at the destination before you call the job finished.

Related: Why a Singapore shop’s POS should share stock with its online store

Can one transfer have several shipments?

Yes. Each shipment gets its own ID, such as T289-1, with its own status and tracking, and can be received separately, according to the help page. A big transfer can arrive in parts.

Copy this on paper too. If 50 items leave in two boxes, give each box a number so a missing box doesn’t hide behind a complete-looking total.

A Shopify transfer shipment carries its own ID, such as T289-1, with its own status and tracking, and can be received separately (Shopify Help Center, 2026).

Can I use a barcode on a transfer?

Yes. A shipment can carry a barcode of up to 250 characters, and transfers can be created with a barcode scanner, according to Shopify’s Help Center. Scanning cuts the typing that causes stock errors.

Even without software, the idea works. Scan or tick each item against the packing list at both ends, and keep the two lists.

A Shopify transfer shipment can carry a barcode of up to 250 characters, and transfers can be created with a barcode scanner (Shopify Help Center, 2026).

Why should stock be pooled across locations?

McKinsey advises that inventory should not be dedicated to one channel and that one person or team should own stock across channels, in its 2021 article on the omnichannel supply chain. The article is older than most data here, but the principle still holds.

Transfers are what you do when stock is not pooled well. Someone owning the total makes it clear who decides what moves where.

Related: How to stop overselling across your website, Shopee and Lazada

Why do stock errors matter so much?

Out-of-stocks cause 65.6% of the roughly US$1.7 trillion lost to inventory distortion each year, or 6.2% of retail sales, according to IHL Group figures reported by Retail Insight Network (2026). These are global figures, not a Singapore number.

A transfer that’s marked done too early, or never counted in, creates exactly this kind of loss on a small scale: an outlet that shows stock it doesn’t have, or hides stock it does.

How many small retailers still count by hand?

Over half of small retailers still rely on manual counts, according to the Global Payments 2025 Retail Inventory Report of 200 small retailers, so any process built on those counts is only as accurate as the last count. Transfers between outlets are easy to get wrong by hand.

The report is small, so treat it as a pointer. If you do transfers by hand, the status table above is the minimum to keep.

How do small retailers usually find out an item is gone?

Nearly one in four small retailers only learn an item is out of stock when a customer tries to buy it, according to Global Payments (2025). For a multi-outlet shop, the customer may be standing in the outlet that should have had it.

A system that holds all outlets and warehouses in one stock count makes this less likely. Asalta Inventory does that, and it’s one option to compare against others. You can read more on the Asalta Inventory page.

Key Takeaways

• Use statuses: 5 clear statuses show where stock is.
• Commit late: a draft moves no stock.
• Count it in: mark Transferred only after the box is counted.
• Check the destination: arriving stock isn’t automatically sellable.
• Name an owner: one person or team should own stock across all locations.