How to Get a Daily Low-Stock Email in Shopify

Running out of stock costs sales and frustrates customers. A daily low-stock email is the simplest way to stay on top of reordering — one email every morning listing what needs attention. Here are two ways to set one up in Shopify.

Why a Daily Email Beats Real-Time Alerts

Real-time alerts sound useful in theory, but they create noise. If a product hovers around its threshold, you get pinged every time inventory moves. Over a week, that turns into dozens of notifications you start ignoring.

A daily digest solves this. You get one email each morning with everything that is low right now. You scan it once, place your orders, and move on with your day. Nothing gets buried, nothing nags you.

Method 1: Build It with Shopify Flow

Shopify Flow is a free automation tool built into every Shopify plan. You can create a workflow that watches inventory levels and sends an email when a product goes low. Here is a basic setup:

Step-by-step Flow setup

1. Open the Shopify Flow app in your Shopify admin and click Create workflow.
2. Set the trigger to Inventory quantity changed.
3. Add a condition: Inventory quantity is less than or equal to your reorder threshold (for example, 10).
4. Add an action: Send internal email. Set the recipient to your purchasing email address and format the subject and body using the available variables (product title, variant title, quantity, vendor).
5. Save and activate the workflow.

Limitations of the Flow method

This works, but it has three problems that grow worse as your catalog grows:

• One email per product. Flow triggers once per inventory change event. If 15 variants go low on the same day, you get 15 separate emails. There is no digest — just a stream of individual alerts.
• No mark ordered. Once a product triggers, it keeps triggering every time inventory changes until you restock it. If you have placed a purchase order but the shipment has not arrived, you keep getting alerts for items you have already reordered.
• Per-variant thresholds require tags. A simple Flow checks against a single number. If your bestsellers need a higher reorder point than slow movers, you have to tag products manually and build conditional branches into the workflow. That adds complexity and maintenance.

Method 2: Use an App That Sends a Daily Digest

If you want a single morning email instead of a stream of alerts, an app built for this purpose is a better fit. Restock Digest sends one daily digest email every morning with every variant at or below its threshold, grouped by vendor.

The key difference from Flow is the format. Instead of 15 separate emails, you get one list. Instead of re-alerting items you have already ordered, you click Mark ordered to snooze a row for 7 days. The list stays quiet while a purchase order is on its way.

How Restock Digest works

1. Install from the Shopify App Store and connect your shop.
2. Set your default threshold (for example, 10 units).
3. Optionally set per-variant thresholds for bestsellers that need earlier warnings.
4. Choose which location to watch if you have multiple warehouses.
5. The first digest arrives the next morning. From then on, you get one email every day at the same time.

Flow vs App: Which Should You Choose

Use Shopify Flow if you want a free option and do not mind building and maintaining a workflow that sends individual alerts. Use Restock Digest if you want a single morning email with no setup work and the ability to snooze items you have already ordered.

Tips for Setting Your Reorder Threshold

Whichever method you choose, picking the right threshold matters more than the tool. Set it too low and you run out before the shipment arrives. Set it too high and you tie up cash in safety stock.

A simple starting point: look at your daily sales velocity for each product, multiply by your supplier lead time in days, and add a buffer for demand spikes. For a product that sells 2 units per day with a 7-day lead time, a threshold of 20 (14 + 6 buffer) gives you a comfortable margin.

Review thresholds monthly. Products change, seasons shift, and suppliers adjust lead times. The right threshold today may be wrong in three months.

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