PML Stock Take for Shopify: The Inventory Count App Physical Retailers Actually Need (2026)

April 17, 2026
Shopify Tips
12 min read
PML Stock Take for Shopify: The Inventory Count App Physical Retailers Actually Need (2026)

If you run a physical retail store on Shopify, you’ve probably already heard: Stocky is sunsetting. Shopify’s own inventory management app, the one that came bundled with POS Pro, is being deprecated. That leaves every retailer who relied on it for stock takes, purchase orders, and cycle counts looking for a replacement. Most of the alternatives either cost too much, need dedicated hardware, or require a POS Pro subscription just to function. PML Stock Take by Pimsical is the one that doesn’t. Built for Shopify certified, 4.9 stars across 61 reviews, starts at $10.79/month, works on any POS device you already own, and doesn’t need POS Pro. This guide covers what it does, how it works, and why physical retailers are switching to it.

In this guide

Why stock takes matter for physical retail

Stock takes are the most tedious task in physical retail. They’re also the most important. Without regular counts, your Shopify inventory drifts from reality: theft, miscounts at receiving, damaged goods not written off, returns processed wrong. A store with 2,000 SKUs that doesn’t run stock takes quarterly ends up with 5-15% discrepancy between what Shopify thinks is on the shelf and what’s actually there. That discrepancy means overselling online (customer orders an item that doesn’t exist), lost sales in-store (item is in the back room but marked as zero in the system), and bad purchasing decisions (reordering stock you already have, not reordering stock you’re actually out of).

The reason most retailers skip stock takes or do them badly: the process is painful. Walk around the store with a clipboard, count everything, type numbers into a spreadsheet, compare against Shopify, manually adjust discrepancies. Hours of work, high error rate, and by the time you’re done, the numbers have already changed because you sold stuff during the count. The right tool makes this a 2-hour job instead of a 2-day ordeal. That’s what PML Stock Take is built for.

The Stocky sunsetting problem

Stocky was Shopify’s own inventory management app. It handled purchase orders, stock transfers, and demand forecasting. A lot of physical retailers built their ops around it. Then Shopify announced it’s sunsetting Stocky, folding some features into the core admin and deprecating the rest. Merchants who relied on Stocky’s stock take workflow, PO generation, and transfer tracking are left without a replacement inside Shopify’s native toolkit.

One of PML Stock Take’s App Store reviews says it directly: “We installed this app for the recently-added PO options, especially as Stocky is sunsetting.” That review is from a yarn shop in Canada (A Twist of Yarn) that specifically migrated from Stocky to PML. They’re not alone. The Stocky deprecation is creating a migration wave, and PML is positioned as the cleanest landing spot because it covers the three pillars Stocky handled: stock takes, purchase orders, and transfers.

What PML Stock Take actually does

PML Stock Take Inventory Count for Shopify POS

PML Stock Take by Pimsical is a Leeds, UK-based app built specifically for Shopify physical retailers. Built for Shopify certified, launched November 2023, 4.9 stars across 61 reviews (57 five-star, zero one-star). The developer is Jordan Finneran, who runs Pimsical as a Shopify operations specialist studio (they also build Retail OS for stock room management, a Staff Discounts app, and a Peoplevox warehouse integration).

Core capabilities:

  • Stock takes with barcode scanning. Create a stock take for any location, scan every product using your POS device’s camera or a connected barcode scanner. The app tracks what’s been scanned and what hasn’t, so you know exactly where you left off if you need to pause.
  • Multi-device simultaneous scanning. Multiple team members can scan on different devices at the same time, all feeding into the same stock take. One merchant (PTFC Authentics) reports running up to 13 devices simultaneously. That turns a full-store count from a weekend job into a few hours.
  • Purchase orders. Create, manage, and track POs from the Shopify admin or directly from POS. Auto-generate POs based on stock levels, or create them manually. Ship, receive, and reconcile, all within the app.
  • Transfers. Move stock between locations with tracked transfers. Includes rapid replenishment (Complete plan): set minimum stock levels per product per location, and the app flags when replenishment is needed.
  • Exports and reports. Predefined and custom exports covering stock take results, cycle counts, missing items, transfer history, and PO status. CSV exports for accounting integration.
  • No POS Pro required. This is a big deal. Many inventory apps require a Shopify POS Pro subscription ($89/month per location). PML works on standard Shopify POS. For a 3-location retailer, that’s $267/month saved on POS Pro alone.
PML Stock Take inventory levels dashboard for Shopify

Multi-device simultaneous scanning

This is the feature that separates PML from the clipboard-and-spreadsheet approach. Open PML on your POS devices (phone, tablet, POS Go, whatever you have), assign team members to sections of the store, and everyone scans simultaneously into the same stock take. The app handles conflict resolution (two people scanning the same item) and progress tracking (which sections are done, which aren’t).

PTFC Authentics (an authenticated sports apparel retailer) runs 13 devices at once during their counts. Their testimonial: “The app allows us to use the POS Go as a mobile scanning device, running up to 13 devices simultaneously. Jordan’s contributions have significantly enhanced our operational efficiency.” For a store with thousands of authenticated jerseys where every barcode matters, multi-device scanning isn’t a convenience feature, it’s the difference between a 1-day count and a 1-week count.

You don’t need special hardware. Any device running Shopify POS works: iPhone, iPad, Android tablet, POS Go. Use the device camera for barcode scanning or connect a Bluetooth barcode scanner for faster throughput. The app works with whatever you already own.

Purchase orders and transfers

Stock takes tell you what you have. Purchase orders and transfers fix what’s missing. PML handles both:

  • Purchase orders: Auto-generate POs based on current stock levels vs reorder points, or create manually. Track shipment status, receive against POs, reconcile quantities. The PO workflow runs from both the Shopify admin and directly from POS, so your receiving team can process incoming shipments on the shop floor with a tablet.
  • Transfers: Move stock from your warehouse to a retail location (or between retail locations). Create, ship, and receive transfers with barcode verification. On the Complete plan ($37.79/mo), rapid replenishment auto-flags products that drop below configurable minimum levels per location.

This is the part that makes PML a Stocky replacement rather than just a scanning tool. Stocky handled POs and transfers; PML covers both workflows in one app, without requiring POS Pro.

PML Stock Take export and reporting features

Pricing

PlanPriceLocationsKey features
Basic$10.79/mo1Unlimited users, unlimited stock takes, multi-device scanning, POs + transfers
Growth$21.79/moUp to 3Everything in Basic for more locations
Complete$37.79/moUp to 15Everything + replenishment limits, founder email support

All plans include a 14-day free trial. All plans include unlimited users (no per-seat pricing), unlimited stock takes, simultaneous multi-device scanning, and purchase orders + transfers. The only difference between tiers is location count and replenishment features. For a single-location boutique, Basic at $10.79/mo is the entire solution. For a 3-store chain, Growth at $21.79/mo. For 15 locations with automated replenishment alerts, Complete at $37.79/mo.

Compare that to the cost of NOT having stock take tooling: a 10% inventory discrepancy on $200K of stock is $20K in phantom inventory. The app pays for itself in the first count.

Real merchant results

Pimsical reports on their website that PML has processed 4,850+ stock takes covering over £42 million worth of inventory. Those are their numbers, not independently audited, but the scale matches the review volume and customer list.

Verified customer brands visible on pimsical.app: Heat (sneaker authentication), PTFC Authentics (authenticated sports apparel), Charcoal Clothing, Love Marlow. Swanky Agency (a Shopify Plus agency) partners with Pimsical for retail consulting engagements.

“We’ve tried for several years to find the perfect app for taking inventory for our retail boutique and we finally found it! This app makes the process so smooth and easy. We’re able to complete it in less than a day! Exporting and verifying counts is as easy as the count itself. Highly recommend this app!”

The Sweetwater Co., United States, February 2026, PML Stock Take on the Shopify App Store

Why combined listings stores need stock take tooling more than anyone

This section is for stores that split colorways, sizes, or materials into separate Shopify products and group them visually using an app like Rubik Combined Listings. If that’s your catalog structure, inventory management gets harder in a specific way that most guides don’t address.

A single hoodie sold in 8 colors with 3 sizes each: in a traditional Shopify setup, that’s 1 product with 24 variants (24 inventory lines, all under one product record). With combined listings, that’s 8 separate products with 3 variants each (still 24 inventory lines, but spread across 8 different product records). Same total count, but 8x the organizational surface area. Each color has its own barcode set, its own PO history, its own transfer record. PML’s barcode scanning workflow handles this naturally because it scans per product, not per variant group. One scan per barcode, regardless of how the products are grouped on the storefront.

The operational payoff: accurate inventory in PML means accurate swatch visibility in Rubik Combined Listings. RCL has a real-time sync feature that auto-hides out-of-stock products from the swatch row on your collection pages. That feature is only as reliable as your inventory data. If Shopify thinks cream is in stock but your shelf is empty (because nobody ran a stock take in 3 months), the cream swatch stays visible, customers click it, and they land on a product page that can’t be purchased. Bad experience, lost trust. Regular PML stock takes keep the numbers real, which keeps the swatch row honest.

The purchase order angle matters too. When cream runs low, you PO just cream from your supplier. Not all 8 colors. Not a blanket reorder. PML’s per-product PO system maps perfectly to the separate-product-per-color architecture that combined listings uses. Same for transfers: move navy from your warehouse to store #2 because store #2 sells more navy. PML tracks the transfer per product, RCL reflects the updated stock on the storefront per swatch. Two apps, two layers, one clean inventory-to-storefront pipeline.

If you also run Rubik Variant Images for product page gallery filtering (showing only the selected size’s photos), the full stack is: PML keeps inventory accurate per product per location. Rubik Combined Listings groups the products visually with swatches. Rubik Variant Images filters the gallery per variant inside each product. Three apps, three distinct operational layers, no overlap.

Setup walkthrough

  1. Install PML Stock Take from the Shopify App Store. 14-day free trial on all plans. No credit card to start.
  2. Open the app on your POS device. PML appears in your Shopify POS app list. Open it on any device you want to scan with.
  3. Create a stock take. Select the location, choose whether to count all products or a specific collection/vendor. Decide whether staff can action the count from POS or admin only.
  4. Scan. Point the device camera at barcodes (or use a connected Bluetooth scanner). Each scan registers the product and increments the count. Multiple devices can scan simultaneously into the same stock take.
  5. Review and action. When scanning is complete, review discrepancies between counted and expected quantities. Export the results as CSV for records. Action the stock take to update Shopify inventory levels.

For purchase orders: go to the PO section, create or auto-generate a PO based on stock levels, send to your supplier, then receive against the PO when inventory arrives (scan incoming items to verify quantities). For transfers: create a transfer from source location, ship it, then receive at the destination location with barcode verification.

Try PML Stock Take free for 14 days

Frequently asked questions

Do I need Shopify POS Pro to use PML Stock Take?

No. PML explicitly works without POS Pro. This is one of its main selling points versus Stocky (which required POS Pro) and other inventory apps. Standard Shopify POS is enough.

Is PML a replacement for Stocky?

Yes, for the stock take, purchase order, and transfer workflows. Stocky also had demand forecasting, which PML doesn’t currently cover. But for the three operational pillars (count, order, transfer), PML covers what Stocky did plus multi-device scanning (which Stocky didn’t have).

How many devices can scan at the same time?

Unlimited on all plans. PTFC Authentics reports running 13 devices simultaneously on a single stock take. The app handles concurrent scanning with real-time sync so two people scanning the same barcode won’t create duplicate counts.

What devices work with PML?

Any device running Shopify POS: iPhone, iPad, Android tablets, Shopify POS Go. Use the built-in camera for barcode scanning or connect a Bluetooth barcode scanner for faster throughput. No dedicated hardware purchase required.

Can I export stock take results?

Yes. Predefined and custom CSV exports covering stock take results, cycle count data, missing items, transfer history, and purchase order status. Useful for accounting, insurance documentation, and year-end audits.

Does PML work for multi-location stores?

Yes. Basic covers 1 location ($10.79/mo), Growth covers up to 3 ($21.79/mo), Complete covers up to 15 ($37.79/mo). Contact Pimsical for more than 15 locations. Each location can run independent stock takes, POs, and transfers.

Co-Founder at Craftshift

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