Guide / orders beyond the store
The best order management software for Shopify stores
The store handles store orders. The question is everything else: phone orders, wholesale, partials, returns — and which software runs those against the same truth.
The short answer
- Shopify already manages store orders well — the gap is every other order: phone, trade portal, wholesale accounts, partials.
- The criteria: webhook import into one record, allocation from live stock, pick and pack, partial-shipment handling, the ledger handoff.
- The wholesale test: can trade customers order themselves at their own pricing, writing to the same stock the store sells?
- BSimple meets all of it — from $180/month (AUD) with a free trial.
- Where it fits: this page is one step of the order management walkthrough.
- 01The short answer
- 02The criteria that decide, store by store
- 03Where BSimple fits
The criteria that decide, store by store
Import as events. Store orders should land in the order system the moment they happen — webhooks, not exports — because the order book that disagrees with the store is a reconciliation job in waiting. Allocation from live stock. Every order — store, phone, portal — promises against the same quantities; that is what makes overselling structural rather than vigilance-based. Fulfilment on the document. Pick and pack run against the order, delivery slips carry the same numbers, and partial shipments invoice what shipped while the remainder stays visible. The wholesale question. Trade accounts need their own pricing and their own portal — orders landing in the same record the store sells from. The ledger handoff. Online invoicing stays between Shopify and accounting; the rest pushes from the order system on approval. The Shopify integration checklist tests the connection lines, and the order systems list groups the market.
Where BSimple fits
We build BSimple, so weigh that. It runs the criteria as designed behaviour: Shopify orders import via webhooks into the same record as every other order; allocation comes from live multi-location stock with negative-stock guardrails; picking and packing run against the order with delivery slips; partial shipments invoice what shipped; the customer ordering portal gives each trade account its own products and pricing through a unique secret link; approved invoices push to Xero or MYOB — online invoicing deliberately stays between Shopify and the ledger. Plans start at $180/month (AUD), and the free trial runs one of your own orders through the whole loop.
The boundary: BSimple is not a storefront and not a marketing tool — it is the order record behind the store, plus the stock and purchasing that feed it. The inventory management overview shows the record, and the Shopify pairing guide weighs the inventory side.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Shopify need order management software at all?
While store orders are the only orders, no — the store admin is the record. The first phone order, trade account or partial shipment breaks that, and the order management question becomes: what record do the other orders write to, and does the store agree with it?
Do store orders and portal orders conflict?
Not when they allocate from one record: the portal order and the store order draw from the same live quantities, so whichever comes second sees the truth. Conflicts are a property of two records — the software question is which tool removes the second record.
Can we handle partial shipments properly?
In BSimple, yes: pick what shipped, invoice what shipped, and the order shows the remainder. Partial handling is the standard stress test for order software — the vendor guide lists it among the exceptions to demand in a trial.
What does order management for a Shopify store cost?
BSimple starts at $180/month (AUD) with the order workflow — import, allocation, picking, partials, portal, ledger handoff — included alongside stock and purchasing. Price the oversells and the phone-order transcription the software removes; the licence line is not the whole bill.
BSimple