You fulfill orders for a blue shirt from two warehouses: one in Canada and one in the United States. The Canadian warehouse has sold out, but the US warehouse still has 10 shirts.

A Canadian customer can still see the shirt in your store. They add it to the cart, then find out that the US warehouse cannot ship the order to Canada.

You want Shopify to use the warehouse that can serve each customer. Shopify can do this with your locations, shipping zones, and market settings.

Blue shirt inventory split between Canadian and US warehouses

Which Location's Stock Counts?

Shopify counts stock only from locations that can ship to the customer's address. It does not combine inventory from every warehouse and show the same result to everyone.

In this example, the Canadian warehouse is sold out and the US warehouse has 10 shirts. Because the US warehouse does not ship to Canada, those 10 shirts do not make the shirt available to a Canadian customer. A US customer can still buy it from the US warehouse.

Set Up Locations for Each Market

Keep one blue shirt product. Add the Canadian stock to the Canadian warehouse and the US stock to the US warehouse. Then tell Shopify which warehouse serves each market.

  1. Open Settings → Locations and check that both warehouses are set up.
  2. Open Markets and add or activate Canada and the United States as separate markets.
  3. Open Settings → Shipping and delivery. Add Canada to the Canadian location's shipping zone and the United States to the US location's shipping zone. Add the shipping rates for each zone.
  4. Open the blue shirt and enter the quantity held at each location.
  5. Review your order routing settings so Shopify chooses a location that has stock and can ship the order.

Regional markets are available on all Shopify plans. The number of active locations and some advanced market features depend on your plan, but this basic Canada and US setup does not require Shopify Plus.

What Customers Should See

After the setup, test the same product with an address from each market.

For the blue shirt, the expected result is:

  • A Canadian customer can buy it when the Canadian warehouse has stock.
  • A US customer can buy it when the US warehouse has stock.
  • If the Canadian warehouse has no stock and the US warehouse cannot ship to Canada, the Canadian customer cannot complete the purchase.
  • If both warehouses can ship to the same market, Shopify can use stock from either one and route the order according to your settings.

Shopify can block checkout based on the stock that can reach the customer. If you also want unavailable products hidden, turn on Show only fulfillable inventory in Settings → Shipping and delivery on older stores. Newer stores use fulfillable inventory by default.

Can Shopify Hide One Variant by Location?

A size or color is a variant in Shopify. Shopify tracks the stock for each variant at each warehouse.

For example, one size of the blue shirt can be sold out at the Canadian warehouse while the US warehouse still has it. If the US warehouse cannot ship to Canada, Shopify can stop the Canadian customer from buying that size. The size can still appear on the product page.

To remove that size from the page or collection, you need custom storefront logic or an app. This only hides the option on the storefront. The variant and its inventory still exist in Shopify.

If Shopify Shows the Wrong Availability

If a customer can buy from the wrong warehouse, or cannot buy when stock is available, check these settings:

Check the shipping zone. Make sure the warehouse ships to the customer's country.

Check the variant's stock. Make sure the variant has stock at the warehouse serving that market.

Check the market's locations. Make sure it is not using a warehouse that cannot ship to the customer.

Turn off Continue selling when out of stock. Shopify then stops the purchase when that market has no stock.

Test the product again with an address from each market. For more checks before a busy sale, read how to prevent overselling during a Shopify seasonal sale.

For more detail on Shopify's inventory quantities, read how Shopify purchase orders, transfers, and incoming inventory work.