Component stock synced to the storefront

> Cost: Free to try up to 30 SKUs. Beyond that Katana quotes a custom annual contract.

Honest note: rule-based inventory math, not AI. The story is vendor-published: "overselling eliminated in peak seasons" and "24/7 accuracy between Katana and Shopify", with no counts of oversells before or after. Katana's own plan page today offers a Free tier (30 SKUs) and a custom contract. Older public tiers (Standard, Professional) are no longer listed. Notice that a studio with "hundreds of colors" likely exceeds 30 SKUs.

Prerequisites

• A Shopify store and admin access.
• A Katana account created at katanamrp.com.
• For each bouquet: a list of stems (type, color, count), and for each stem: materials and quantities (paper, wire, tape, glue, packaging).
• Optional: QuickBooks Online for accounting.

Step-by-step setup

Step 1. Connect Shopify. In Katana: Integrations Marketplace → Shopify → Connect, enter the store name, Authorize, Install.

Step 2. Map locations. On the Shopify configuration page, Inventory tab, map every Shopify location to a Katana location. Syncing can't be activated until all are mapped.

Step 3. Import products. Products tab → import. This creates the SKU mapping everything else relies on.

Step 4. Model stems as products, bouquets as recipes. In Katana, a subassembly is treated as a product (not a material). Create each stem as a product with a recipe of its materials (paper, wire, tape, glue). Then give each bouquet a recipe of stems plus packaging. Using products as components creates a multi-level BOM. Katana can auto-create manufacturing orders for subassemblies.

Step 5. Import initial stock, then turn on sync. Import customers (optional) and initial stock levels, then click Activate sync. Paid Shopify orders become Katana sales orders; stock pushed to Shopify is In stock − Committed.

Step 6. Check before a launch. Before a seasonal peak, review committed vs available stems and create purchase orders for materials from the shortage list. Katana can generate POs for missing materials directly from a manufacturing order.

Step 7. QuickBooks (optional, not verified here). The case also uses QuickBooks Online. I could not confirm the click path or plan requirement, so check Katana's help center for the QuickBooks article before relying on it.

What success looks like

Bouquets you can't make stop being sellable. Reordering materials follows real demand before peak.

Common issues & fixes

• Stock didn't sync: the SKUs must match in both systems.
• Sync can't be activated: unmapped Shopify location.
• Stock import blocked: pause sync, import, resume.

Easier: let your AI do it

Katana's pricing page says you can run Katana from Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini through its MCP server, listed under the custom Advantage plan. The setup isn't documented in the pages I could check, so I haven't verified the click path. Start with the manual steps above; if you're on Advantage, ask your Katana contact to enable it.

Optional: Maintenance

• Update stem recipes when materials change; reorder materials before each season.

Copy-paste prompt

I make paper flowers. Here are my bouquets and which stems each uses: [PASTE]. Create a table with columns: bouquet, stem type, stem count, plus a list of unique stems with materials per stem (paper color, wire, tape, glue, packaging) in the quantities I give you. Don't invent quantities; mark unknowns as "ask me".

Sources

• Case: Katana case study, paper-flower studio. Credit: the studio's founder (vendor-published).
• Katana Help: How to connect Shopify to Katana
• Katana Help: Understanding product recipes / BOMs
• Katana Help: Automatically create manufacturing orders for subassemblies
• Katana Help: Sync stock levels from Katana to Shopify
• Katana pricing