Cin7 Shopify Integration: Sync Inventory & Orders

Cin7 is a cloud-based inventory and order management platform designed for product businesses that sell across multiple channels -- online stores, wholesale, marketplaces, and physical retail. Originally known as DEAR Systems (acquired in 2021), Cin7 now operates under two distinct products aimed at different segments of the market.

Cin7 Core (formerly DEAR Systems) targets small to mid-sized businesses. It offers around 30 integrations, strong manufacturing and bill-of-materials features, and a straightforward connection to Shopify. Pricing starts at USD 349 per month for the Standard plan (5 users, 6,000 sale orders per year), with Pro at USD 599 per month and Advanced at USD 999 per month.

Cin7 Omni is the enterprise and mid-market product. It offers 500+ integrations, advanced EDI and 3PL support, and enhanced multi-warehouse capabilities. Pricing for Omni starts at approximately USD 799 per month and scales with custom quotes based on your transaction volume and feature requirements.

Who is Cin7 for? If you are a multi-channel business selling both wholesale and direct-to-consumer, managing 500 or more SKUs, and need centralised inventory control across warehouses, Cin7 is built for your scale. If you run a simpler Shopify store with fewer products, Cin7 will likely be more platform than you need.

The Cin7 Shopify integration connects your Shopify store (or multiple stores) to Cin7 so that product data, inventory levels, orders, and customer records stay synchronised between the two platforms. Cin7 acts as the central hub for inventory and order management, while Shopify remains your customer-facing storefront.

Products created in Cin7 can be pushed to Shopify, and products already in Shopify can be imported into Cin7. The sync covers product names, descriptions, prices, images, variants, and SKUs. Once linked, changes made in Cin7 -- such as updating a price or adding a variant -- are reflected in Shopify automatically. This bidirectional capability ensures your product catalogue stays consistent without manual updates on both platforms.

When stock levels change in Cin7 -- whether through a purchase order receipt, a stock adjustment, a warehouse transfer, or a sale on another channel -- those updated quantities are pushed to Shopify. This prevents overselling, which is particularly important if you sell the same inventory across Shopify, Amazon, and wholesale channels simultaneously. Cin7 supports location-level inventory, so you can map specific Cin7 warehouses to specific Shopify locations.

Orders placed on your Shopify store are automatically downloaded into Cin7 for processing. Once an order is picked, packed, and shipped in Cin7, the fulfilment details -- including tracking numbers and carrier information -- are pushed back to Shopify. Your customer receives the shipping notification directly from Shopify, keeping the experience seamless.

Customer records from Shopify orders are created or updated in Cin7 automatically. This gives your warehouse and sales team full visibility of customer details without switching between platforms. If a returning customer places a new order, Cin7 matches them to their existing record rather than creating a duplicate.

Cin7 supports connections to multiple Shopify stores from a single account. This is valuable for businesses that operate region-specific storefronts (e.g., a EUR store for Europe and a GBP store for the UK) or separate brand stores that share the same inventory pool. Each store connection is configured independently, allowing different sync rules and location mappings per store.

Setting up the Cin7 Shopify integration requires some preparation. Rushing the connection without configuring your Cin7 account properly is the most common cause of sync errors.

Before connecting Cin7 to Shopify, ensure the following are in place:

• Unused integration connection -- check your Cin7 plan's integration limit. The Standard plan includes 2 integration connections, Pro includes 4, and Advanced includes 6. Each Shopify store uses one connection.
• Chart of Accounts -- if you plan to sync Cin7 to an accounting system (Xero or QuickBooks), set up your Chart of Accounts in the accounting system first. Cin7 imports these during the accounting integration setup.
• Tax rules -- configure your tax rules in Cin7 before connecting Shopify. Cin7 needs to know how to handle VAT or sales tax on incoming orders. Mismatched tax rules are a common source of sync failures.
• Locations -- set up your Cin7 warehouse locations and map them to the corresponding Shopify locations. This determines which warehouse's stock levels are displayed on your Shopify store.

Follow these six steps to connect Cin7 to Shopify:

1. Navigate to integrations -- in Cin7 Core, go to Integrations > E-Commerce > Shopify and click Add New.
2. Enter your Shopify store URL -- provide your myshopify.com domain (e.g., yourstore.myshopify.com). Cin7 will redirect you to Shopify to authorise the connection.
3. Authorise in Shopify -- log in to your Shopify admin and approve the permissions Cin7 requests. These include access to products, orders, inventory, customers, and fulfilment data.
4. Map locations -- back in Cin7, map each Shopify location to the corresponding Cin7 warehouse. This determines where orders are fulfilled from and which stock levels Shopify displays.
5. Configure product sync -- choose whether to import existing Shopify products into Cin7, push Cin7 products to Shopify, or both. If you have existing products on both sides, use SKU matching to link them without creating duplicates.
6. Run initial sync -- trigger the first synchronisation. Cin7 will download existing Shopify orders (from a date you specify) and push current inventory levels to Shopify. Monitor the sync log for errors during this initial run.

After the connection is established, fine-tune these settings:

• Orders -- set the order download frequency and choose whether to import orders as sales orders or sales invoices. Configure how Shopify discounts, shipping charges, and tips are mapped to Cin7 line items.
• Tax -- map Shopify tax lines to your Cin7 tax rules. If you sell across multiple tax jurisdictions, ensure each Shopify tax rate maps to the correct Cin7 equivalent.
• Locations -- confirm warehouse-to-location mappings. If you add new Shopify locations later, you will need to update these mappings.
• Payments -- configure how Shopify payment methods (credit card, PayPal, Shopify Payments, etc.) are mapped to Cin7 payment methods. This affects how payments are recorded when syncing to your accounting system.

By default, Cin7 pushes inventory updates to Shopify whenever stock levels change. Verify this is enabled in the integration settings. You can also configure the sync interval for order downloads -- most businesses set this to every 5-15 minutes for near-real-time order processing. For a broader look at keeping stock levels accurate across platforms, see our guide to Shopify inventory sync.

No integration review is complete without an honest look at the problems. The Cin7 Shopify integration has well-documented issues that you should be aware of before committing.

Multiple users report that Cin7 struggles with Shopify exchanges and returns. When a customer exchanges an item in Shopify, the return and new order may not sync correctly to Cin7 -- resulting in inventory discrepancies, incorrect financial records, or orders that require manual intervention. This is a particular pain point for fashion and apparel businesses where exchanges are frequent.

While Cin7 advertises near-real-time sync, users frequently report delays of 15 minutes to several hours, particularly during high-volume periods. Sync errors can also occur silently -- orders may fail to download or inventory may not update without a clear error notification. Monitoring the sync log regularly is essential, but the error messages themselves are often vague and unhelpful for diagnosing root causes.

If you have existing products in both Cin7 and Shopify with slightly different SKU formats, the integration may create duplicates rather than matching them. SKU matching is case-sensitive and format-sensitive, so "WIDGET-001" and "widget-001" are treated as different products. Cleaning up duplicates after a botched initial sync is time-consuming and may require Cin7 support assistance.

The Cin7 Shopify app currently holds a 1.8-star rating on the Shopify App Store, with approximately 62% of reviews being 1-star. Common complaints include unreliable syncing, poor customer support response times, difficulty cancelling subscriptions, and the integration breaking after Shopify platform updates. While some of these reviews may reflect older versions of the app, the volume and consistency of negative feedback is a genuine red flag that warrants careful consideration before committing to a USD 349+/month platform.

To be fair, inventory management is inherently complex, and users who encounter no issues rarely leave reviews. But the gap between Cin7's marketing and the real-world experience reported by Shopify merchants is wider than it should be for a product at this price point.

Cin7 is a powerful platform, but it is not the right fit for every Shopify merchant. Here is a realistic assessment of where it excels and where it falls short.

Cin7 makes sense when your business meets most of these criteria:

• Multi-channel wholesale + retail -- you sell through Shopify, Amazon, eBay, and wholesale channels simultaneously, and need a single inventory source of truth across all of them.
• 500+ SKUs -- you manage a large product catalogue with variants, bundles, and kits that need centralised tracking.
• Complex warehousing -- you operate multiple warehouses or use third-party logistics (3PL) providers, and need location-level inventory visibility and automated fulfilment routing.
• Manufacturing or assembly -- you produce finished goods from raw materials and need bill-of-materials (BOM) tracking with COGS flowing to your accounting system.

If three or more of these apply, Cin7 is likely worth the investment despite its integration rough edges.

Cin7 is overkill if:

• You run a simple Shopify store with straightforward fulfilment -- Shopify's built-in inventory management may be sufficient.
• You manage fewer than 100 SKUs -- the complexity and cost of Cin7 is not justified for small catalogues.
• You do not sell wholesale or across multiple channels -- Cin7's core value proposition is multi-channel inventory orchestration.
• Your budget is tight -- at USD 349/month minimum, Cin7 is a significant recurring cost that only pays off at scale.

If Cin7 is not the right fit, consider these alternatives:

• Katana -- purpose-built for manufacturers selling on Shopify. Stronger production planning features, simpler interface, and better Shopify App Store ratings. Ideal if manufacturing is your primary use case.
• Trunk -- a lightweight multi-channel inventory sync tool. No order management or warehousing features, but it keeps stock levels consistent across Shopify, Amazon, and eBay at a fraction of Cin7's price.
• FinTask -- if your primary pain point is the accounting side (getting Shopify data into Xero or QuickBooks accurately), FinTask offers an accounting-first approach to Shopify integration that does not require an enterprise inventory platform in the middle.

For a broader comparison, see our guide to the best Shopify integrations.

Most businesses running Cin7 with Shopify also need the data to flow through to an accounting system. Cin7 supports direct integrations with both Xero and QuickBooks Online, creating a three-tier data pipeline: Shopify (storefront) to Cin7 (inventory and orders) to Xero or QuickBooks (accounting and tax).

Cin7's Xero integration is its strongest accounting connection. Sales invoices, credit notes, purchase invoices, payments, and COGS journal entries all sync from Cin7 to Xero automatically. The integration imports your Chart of Accounts and tax rules from Xero during initial setup, and supports invoice consolidation to prevent your Xero ledger from being flooded with individual transaction lines.

For the full setup walkthrough, see our Cin7 Xero integration guide. If you are connecting Shopify directly to Xero without Cin7 in the middle, see our Shopify Xero integration guide instead.

Cin7 also integrates with QuickBooks Online. The data flow is similar to the Xero integration: sales and purchase transactions created in Cin7 are pushed to QuickBooks as invoices, bills, and journal entries. The QuickBooks integration is available on all Cin7 Core and Omni plans at no additional cost, though it is worth noting that the Xero integration is generally considered more mature and better documented.

Here is how data moves through the full stack when you run Shopify + Cin7 + Xero (or QuickBooks):

1. Customer places an order on Shopify -- Shopify captures the order, payment, and customer details.
2. Cin7 downloads the order -- the order appears in Cin7 within minutes, with customer and product records matched or created automatically.
3. Cin7 updates inventory -- stock levels are adjusted in Cin7 and pushed back to Shopify (and any other connected channels) to prevent overselling.
4. Cin7 creates a sales invoice -- based on the order, Cin7 generates an invoice with the correct line items, prices, tax, and discounts.
5. Cin7 syncs to Xero/QuickBooks -- the invoice, payment, and any COGS journal entries are pushed to your accounting system at the next sync interval.
6. Your accountant sees clean data -- revenue, COGS, tax liabilities, and inventory valuation are all up to date in Xero or QuickBooks without manual data entry.

This three-tier approach works well at scale, but it introduces two integration points (Shopify-to-Cin7 and Cin7-to-accounting), each of which can fail independently. If simplicity and accounting accuracy are your priorities over advanced inventory features, a direct Shopify integration to your accounting system may be a better fit.

Below are answers to the most common questions about the Cin7 Shopify integration.

Cin7 is a capable platform for businesses that genuinely need enterprise-grade inventory management across multiple channels. But if your primary challenge is getting accurate Shopify data into your accounting system -- without the complexity, cost, and integration headaches of a full inventory management platform -- there is a simpler path.

FinTask connects Shopify directly to Xero and QuickBooks with an accounting-first approach. Revenue, fees, taxes, and payouts are mapped to the correct accounts automatically, with no middleware required. You get clean financial data in your accounting system without managing a USD 349+/month inventory platform.

Try FinTask -- simpler Shopify + accounting integration, built for businesses that value accuracy over complexity.