TRACK SERIAL NUMBERS, SCAN SERIAL NUMBERS, SELL SERIALIZED INVENTORY
Serialization for Shopify Store Inventory
Everything you need to sell and manage serialized inventory
What is Serialization?
Shopify serialized inventory refers to the practice of assigning a unique serial number to each individual unit of a product, and then tracking that serial number through its entire journey—from supplier, to warehouse, to your Shopify store, and finally to the customer. Serialization provides a unique serial number for each unit of your Shopify inventory so you can sell products individually and know exactly which unit of stock you are selling. This works on point of sale POS orders, or it may be sold online by the serial number.
This method is a game-changer for merchants who sell:
Electronics and high-value goods (e.g., phones, watches, laptops)
Regulated or warranty-backed items (e.g., medical devices, firearms)
Food, beverage, and perishable items that require a unique value (e.g., steaks, cheese blocks, wine)
B2B products that require accountability or traceability
Unlike standard SKU-based tracking (which monitors quantities), serialization ensures you know exactly which item was sold, when it was sold, and who it was sold to.
Key Benefits of Serialized Inventory in Shopify:
🔐 Enhanced security: Reduce theft and fraud by tying every product to a unique serial
📋 Regulatory compliance: Easily meet industry or legal tracking requirements
🔁 Streamlined returns & warranties: Identify returned items accurately, validate eligibility, and streamline processing
📦 Traceability from supplier to customer: Identify defective or recalled products and notify affected customers instantly
🧠 Data-rich insights: Track lifecycle data for analytics, product improvements, and vendor accountability
While Shopify doesn’t natively support serialization out-of-the-box, SKUSavvy fills that gap—providing Shopify stores with enterprise-grade serialization tools, all seamlessly integrated.
You do not need a Shopify account to utilize SKUSavvy
Track Every Unit
Serialized inventory made easy. Seamlessly integrated with your Shopify store and POS
End-to-end Tracking
Track serial numbers from purchase order to bin locations, during pick and pack and finally through to customer delivery. Recall any single unit no matter where it is along the lifecycle.
Assign and Print Serial Numbers
Use SKUSavvy to create or assign serial numbers during PO creation or check-in as well as from imports or custom data feeds. Print serial numbers for inventory.
Manage Serialized Inventory
Utilize SKUSavvy visual bin mapping to track serialized inventory down to the bin level. Enable quick track and trace with detailed inventory logging down to the bin or order level.
Serial Numbers with Lot Tracking
Combine serialization with lot tracking and expiration dates for a added level of traceability. Each unit tracked back to its lot number.
Serialized Inventory Features
What do you get with serialized inventory? Below is a comprehensive list of features you can expect within SKUSavvy to streamline inventory handling of serialized products. The most important aspect of this feature set is to keep track of every single unit of stock so you know exactly where that stock is, and where it has gone. SKUSavvy makes it possible to scan serial numbers directly from Shopify POS to deplete that individual unit of stock as well so the traceability aspect is truly end-to-end. Additionally, SKUSavvy makes it possible to bring in new serial numbers through multiple different workflows to match your current business process flow.
Serial Number Barcoding
Make it easy to scan serial numbers or create new serial numbers and print barcodes directly within SKUSavvy. If serial numbers are already added to your product you can simply upload these serial numbers or scan them in during check-in to have them identified throughout the system. Using the label builder you can customize the look and display of your serial number barcode prints as well using a variety of barcode formats.
Track and Trace
No matter what happens with your serialized inventory you will know where it is and where it goes. Each serial number can be tracked from the time it arrives at your warehouse to the time it goes out the door. Look up serial numbers and find the exact bin location it is held at. Find the order number it came in on or went out on with a simple search.
POS Integration
If you sell serialized inventory in a retail store through point of sale then you'll want a way to connect the sale with the exact serial number. SKUSavvy enables seamless POS integration so that you can scan serial numbers and reduce the stock for that specific serial number in your WMS and inventory on Shopify. Simply install the ScanSavvy POS extension for Shopify POS and start scanning your serial numbers.
Lot Numbers on Serialized Stock
Connect your serialized inventory with lot numbers and expiration dates for added traceability. Easily assign lot numbers to your serialized stock counts so that you know which lot the product is a part of as well as its expiration dates. Track and trace an item from its lot number or serial number so you never lose track.
Serial Number Controls
SKUSavvy provides settings to control the way your serial numbers are added and managed. To ensure non-duplicity of serial numbers only one bin is allowed per serial number. For a required serialized item you can only check-in the quantity of unique serial numbers that were added. All serial numbers and barcodes must be unique. Serial numbers can only be sold one time. All of these ensure proper management of your serialized items.
Shopify Serialization Integration
If you are dealing with serialized inventory using Shopify you know that Shopify doesn't offer a serial number solution. SKUSavvy offers a best-in-class Shopify integration to be able to deal with your serialization effectively between the two systems. Each unit of serialized stock is seamlessly updated in both directions to Shopify. SKUSavvy is also tied with Shopify POS so you can communicate back and forth with the WMS.
How To Start Using Serialization
This guide will take you through serialization on SKUSavvy. You can utilize serialization starting from zero or you can incorporate serialization with your existing workflows. In this guide you'll learn:
Turning on requirements for serial numbers on products
Upload new serial numbers during PO creation or scan to add during check-in of new inventory
Track serial numbers
How to enable serialization on Shopify POS
Picking serialized inventory
Use cases for Serialization
Food & Beverage
Tracking individual products within the food & beverage industry can be helpful for catch weight foods such as steak or high value wines from a specific vintage
High Value Goods
For companies selling high value items with slight differences it can be extremely valuable to ensure the correct item is sold using serial numbers for each product
Project Components
If you deal with project based materials with unique one-off pieces that must be included to complete the project requirements serialization can enable accuracy
Rental
If you are renting out certain items serialization can confirm each individual asset so it has a consistent process for loaning out and returning the correct asset back to stock
Explore the Full SKUSavvy WMS Stack
Run Your Warehouse
Everything you need to purchase inventory, move items around, track items and organize your warehouse
All Your Order Channels
Bring all your orders together in one place to easily make changes then pick, pack, and ship on time
Shipping Done Simple
Address verification, rate shopping, international addresses, and tracking all conveniently combined