Stocky CSV Migration Guide: What to Export, Map, and Rebuild in Shopify

Stocky won’t be available after August 31, 2026, and merchants who still rely on it need a plan for moving what they’ve collected (products, costs, quantities, purchase orders, and supplier details) into Shopify’s own workflows. This guide is for Shopify merchants and small operations teams organizing what they exported from Stocky into Shopify’s product CSV, inventory CSV, and the purchase order and supplier tools in the admin. It is not a complete reference to every Stocky CSV column, and without a verified Stocky export sample it can’t list every Stocky CSV column by name. It also can’t promise an automatic, column-by-column mapping between Stocky and Shopify, because some Stocky-specific features might work differently or might not yet be available in Shopify. Suppliers, in particular, can’t be exported from Stocky at all, so supplier records have to be recreated in Shopify by hand. Treat the steps below as a careful sequence: export first, then separate product data from quantity data, then map and validate before importing anything.

What this guide can and cannot cover

This is a migration guide, not a Stocky CSV reference. It does not list every Stocky CSV column, and without a verified Stocky export sample it can’t responsibly do so. Anything that follows about column names refers to Shopify’s own documented CSV formats, not Stocky’s.

What it can cover is the Shopify side: how Shopify’s product CSV is structured, how the inventory CSV handles quantities by location, and how purchase orders and suppliers are recorded in the Shopify admin. It also covers the Stocky data that Shopify tells merchants to export before the shutdown, at the level Shopify’s own documentation describes.

What it can’t do is hand you a one-click mapping from a Stocky export into Shopify. Shopify has stated that some Stocky-specific features might work differently or might not yet be available in Shopify, so expect to make decisions field by field. It also can’t replace Shopify’s own documentation for the product CSV, the inventory CSV, or purchase orders. Treat this article as a planning layer that sits above those references.

Step 1: Export the Stocky records you want to keep

Before anything else, get your Stocky data out while Stocky is still available. Shopify is direct on this point: records you want to keep must be exported manually using Stocky’s built-in reports, and this needs to happen before the August 31, 2026 shutdown. Any Stocky APIs will also stop working on August 31, 2026, so scripted pulls have the same deadline.

A few specifics matter:

• Suppliers can’t be exported from Stocky. There is no supplier export to migrate. You’ll be rebuilding supplier records in the Shopify admin.
• Historical Stocky data, including old purchase orders and stocktakes, won’t automatically move into Shopify. If you want a record of them, export them now, because they will not carry over on their own.
• Anything you want for your own records (PDFs, reports, downloads from Stocky) should be saved locally and backed up.

If you haven’t started the export yet, walk through the field-level steps in the Stocky data export guide and confirm the timeline in the Stocky shutdown timeline FAQ. The rest of this guide assumes you have files in hand.

Step 2: Separate product data from inventory quantity data

Once you have Stocky exports on disk, resist the urge to push everything into a single Shopify CSV. Shopify splits the work across two different CSVs, and mixing them up causes import problems.

Product details (the product itself and its variants) belong in the Shopify product CSV, which can import products into a store and export them from it. This is where titles, handles, vendors, SKUs, variant options, prices, and costs live.

Quantity and location updates belong in the Shopify inventory CSV, which exports current quantities and updates quantities per location.

One important caveat about the product CSV: the Inventory quantity column in the product CSV applies only to stores that have a single location. Stores with multiple locations use the Shopify inventory CSV to manage quantities, not the product CSV’s Inventory quantity column. If you run more than one location, plan to update quantities through the inventory CSV and leave that column out of your product import workflow.

Practically, this means sorting your Stocky data into two buckets before you map anything: one for product and variant attributes, one for on-hand quantities by location.

Step 3: Map Shopify product CSV fields carefully

For the product side, work against Shopify’s product CSV documentation rather than assuming Stocky columns line up to Shopify columns. Shopify’s product CSV carries fields such as the product title, handle, vendor, SKU, variant options, price, and cost. The structure has strict rules: the first line of the product CSV must be the column headers, and each column must be separated by a comma.

A safer approach is to start from a Shopify product CSV exported from your own store. That file already has the correct headers in the correct order, and you can fill it from your Stocky export rather than reshaping a Stocky file from scratch.

A few cautions:

• Don’t rename or delete option columns that variants depend on. Variants are tied to those option columns, and breaking them can break the import.
• Handles tie variants and rows together. Be deliberate about handle values, especially if you’re combining data from more than one source.
• Cost per item is part of the product CSV. If you tracked cost in Stocky, decide which value is authoritative before you load it into Shopify.
• There is no one-click Stocky-to-Shopify product mapping. Map field by field, test on a small batch, and only then scale up.

This guide does not assert specific Stocky column names, and you shouldn’t assume them either. Open the Stocky export you produced in Step 1 and match its contents to Shopify’s product CSV columns one by one.

Step 4: Validate the Shopify inventory CSV before you import

The inventory CSV is where most accidents happen, because it’s the file that can overwrite real on-hand counts. Slow down here.

Shopify offers two inventory export formats. The All states export includes separate rows for each location with columns for all inventory states and provides protection against accidental overwrites on import. The Available export is a simpler format for basic updates and doesn’t provide the same overwrite protection. When you care about not clobbering existing counts, prefer the All states export.

Key columns to understand:

• The inventory CSV uses the Handle, Location, and Option1 Value columns to identify the product variant and the location a quantity belongs to.
• The Location name is case sensitive and must match the Shopify location name exactly. A trailing space or a different capitalization will make the row fail to apply correctly.
• The On hand (new) column sets or updates the units physically present at a location.
• Including both On hand (current) and On hand (new) lets Shopify run a safety validation that prevents accidental overwrites if the current value in your file doesn’t match what’s actually in Shopify.

A sensible workflow:

1. Export the latest inventory from Shopify using the All states format. This gives you the current values and the exact location names.
2. Update the On hand (new) column using the quantities from your Stocky export, keyed by Handle, Location, and Option1 Value.
3. Leave On hand (current) in place so the safety validation runs at import.
4. Import a small subset first, then the full file.

Treat the inventory CSV as a write operation against live data. Always work from a recent export.

Step 5: Rebuild purchase order and supplier workflows

Purchase orders and suppliers move from Stocky into Shopify’s native admin features rather than into a CSV.

A Shopify purchase order records the products, their costs, and the quantities ordered from a supplier, and purchase orders track incoming inventory quantities, costs, payment terms, and an estimated arrival date. Existing purchase orders can be exported or downloaded as PDFs from the Shopify admin, which is useful for keeping copies on file.

Suppliers in Shopify behave a little differently from what Stocky users may expect. Shopify suppliers are created in the admin when creating a purchase order, and payment terms and supplier currencies are specific to individual purchase orders. They aren’t saved as default values on the supplier profile. If you relied on supplier-level defaults in Stocky, plan to set those values on each purchase order in Shopify.

Two migration implications follow from this:

• Because suppliers can’t be exported from Stocky, supplier records have to be recreated in the Shopify admin. There is no shortcut. Keep your Stocky supplier list (names, contact details, addresses, terms) somewhere accessible so you can enter them as needed.
• Because historical Stocky purchase orders and stocktakes won’t migrate automatically, decide whether you want to keep PDF or CSV copies of past purchase orders for your own records. If yes, export them from Stocky before the shutdown.

Once supplier records are back in the admin, a supplier scorecard template gives you a consistent structure for tracking each one’s reliability and follow-ups.

For a sequenced list of what to rebuild and in what order, see the Stocky migration checklist.

Step 6: Decide what belongs in Shopify or an external tool

Shopify’s native product CSV, inventory CSV, and purchase orders cover a lot of day-to-day inventory and supplier work in the admin: managing products and variants, updating quantities by location, recording costs, and tracking incoming stock from suppliers.

There are also things Shopify itself flags. Some Stocky-specific features might work differently or might not yet be available in Shopify, and historical Stocky data won’t migrate automatically. That leaves a real decision for each merchant: which workflows do you keep inside the Shopify admin, and which do you handle in something else?

A useful way to think about the split:

• If a workflow maps cleanly to the product CSV, the inventory CSV, or Shopify’s purchase orders, keep it in the admin.
• If a workflow depended on a Stocky feature that doesn’t have a direct equivalent in the Shopify admin, you have a choice to make: replicate as much as you can natively, accept a simpler version of the workflow, or use a spreadsheet or external tool to fill the gap. Tracking supplier performance over many orders is a common example; see how to track supplier performance after migration.

It helps to write this down. List your inventory tasks, mark which ones Shopify’s native tools cover, and mark which ones don’t have an obvious home yet. For a side-by-side view of what the Shopify admin covers natively, see the Stocky vs Shopify admin inventory comparison.

A migration checklist before you import anything

Before you push any file into Shopify, run through this list:

• Keep a backup of the original Stocky exports. Store them somewhere safe and don’t edit them directly.
• Work on a copy. All mapping, cleanup, and column changes happen on a duplicate, never the original export.
• Test with a small subset. Import five or ten rows first. Confirm the result in the admin before running the full file.
• Confirm location names exactly. In the inventory CSV, the location name is case sensitive and must match your Shopify location name exactly. Copy it from a recent Shopify inventory export to be safe.
• Confirm variants line up. The inventory CSV identifies variants using the Handle and Option1 Value columns (plus Location). Spot-check that these match the variants in your store.
• Plan to recreate suppliers manually. Suppliers can’t be exported from Stocky, so the Stocky supplier list is reference material for re-entry in the Shopify admin, not an importable file.
• Save your Stocky PDFs and exports. Records you want to keep must be exported manually before the shutdown, and historical data won’t carry over on its own. Keep local copies of any purchase orders, stocktakes, and reports you might need later.
• Mind the deadline. Stocky won’t be available after August 31, 2026, and Stocky APIs stop working on the same date. Get exports finished well before then so you have time to validate imports without pressure.

Run the checklist once per file you plan to import. The few extra minutes per import are cheaper than restoring overwritten inventory counts after the fact.

Limitations

Kijun is not a full Stocky replacement. It does not replace Shopify product CSVs, Shopify inventory CSVs, Shopify POS stocktakes, inventory counts, demand forecasting, automatic reordering, or Shopify’s native inventory workflows. It does not recover Stocky records that Shopify says can’t be exported. Its role is narrower: helping merchants with supported Stocky CSV and vendor import, and building supplier scorecards from purchase-order activity recorded in kijun.

Use the built-in Stocky migration guide to import supported supplier and vendor records, then turn purchase orders recorded in kijun into supplier scorecards. Turn migration cleanup into supplier scorecards.

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against cited sources through kijun’s editorial workflow. Last updated: 2026-05-27.

Stocky and Shopify are trademarks of Shopify Inc. kijun is not affiliated with or endorsed by Shopify.