How it works

Follow these 6 simple steps to start receiving email alerts whenever your product inventory drops to out-of-stock levels

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Order Created
This step monitors your Shopify store for new orders, which is when inventory levels change and products might go out of stock.
This trigger activates automatically whenever a customer places an order in your Shopify store. It captures all the order details including which products were purchased and in what quantities. No configuration is needed - MESA connects directly to your Shopify store's order data and passes the complete order information to the next step for processing.
Time to complete: Auto-configured (0 minutes)

Retrieve Shop
This step gets your shop's domain information, which is needed to create proper admin links in the notification emails.
This step automatically retrieves your shop's basic information including your myshopify domain name. The workflow uses this data to build direct links to your Shopify admin panel in the email notifications. No input is required from you - MESA automatically fetches your shop details and stores them for use in later steps.
Time to complete: Auto-configured (0 minutes)

Loop
This step processes each individual product in the order separately, since orders often contain multiple different items that each need inventory checking.
The Loop step takes the line items from the order and processes them one at a time. For each product variant in the order, it runs the remaining workflow steps to check inventory levels and send notifications if needed. This ensures that if someone orders 3 different products and 2 go out of stock, you'll get separate notifications for each one.
Time to complete: Auto-configured (0 minutes)

Retrieve Product Variant
This step gets the current inventory quantity for each specific product variant, which is the key data needed to determine if it's out of stock.
This step fetches detailed information about each product variant including its current inventory quantity, SKU, and product ID. It uses the variant ID from the order line item to look up the most current stock levels in your Shopify store. The inventory quantity retrieved here is what gets compared against your out-of-stock threshold in the next step.
Time to complete: Auto-configured (0 minutes)

Filter
This step determines whether the product's inventory has dropped to your defined threshold, preventing unnecessary notifications for products that are still in stock.
The Filter step compares the current inventory quantity against your specified out-of-stock threshold. You'll configure the threshold value during setup - enter "0" if you want notifications only when completely out of stock, or a higher number like "5" if you want early warnings when stock gets low. Only products that meet this condition will trigger email notifications in the final step.
Time to complete: 1 minute
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Send Email
This step delivers the actual notification with product details and admin links so you can take immediate action on out-of-stock items.
The Send Email step creates and sends the notification message to your specified email address. You'll configure the recipient email address during setup. The email automatically includes the product's SKU, current inventory level, and a direct link to the product in your Shopify admin panel. The message is sent only for products that passed the inventory threshold filter.
Time to complete: 1 minute

Make it your own

Customize this workflow even further:

Set custom inventory thresholds
Configure different warning levels for different product types, such as alerting at 10 units for bestsellers but only at 0 for slow-moving items.
Add Slack notifications
Extend the workflow to post out-of-stock alerts directly to your team's Slack channel alongside email notifications.
Track restock patterns
Store inventory alerts in a Google Sheet to identify which products go out of stock most frequently and optimize your purchasing schedule.
Deploy restocking automation
Connect to your supplier's API to automatically generate purchase orders when key products hit your restock threshold.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take for the notification to arrive after a product goes out of stock?
The notification typically arrives within 1-2 minutes of the order being placed that causes the out-of-stock condition. The workflow triggers immediately when Shopify processes the order and checks inventory levels in real-time.
Will I get multiple notifications if the same product goes out of stock from several orders?
No, you'll only receive notifications when the inventory level crosses your threshold. Once a product is already at or below your threshold, subsequent orders won't generate additional notifications until inventory is restocked above the threshold and then drops again.
Can I set different out-of-stock thresholds for different products?
This template uses one threshold for all products, but you can duplicate the workflow and use Shopify's product tags or collections to create separate notification rules for different product categories with their own inventory thresholds.
What is a template?
Templates are pre-made workflows by our team of experts. Instead of building a workflow from scratch, these have all the steps needed to complete the task.
Can I personalize a template?
Yes! Every step can be customized to meet your exact requirements. Additionally, you can even add more steps and make it more sophisticated.
Are templates free?
Yes! Our entire library containing hundreds of templates are free to use and customize to your exact needs.

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