Square and Thrive Team to Help Retailers Manage Inventory

Square has expanded its partnership with inventory management reporting system Thrive.

The expanded collaboration is designed to help sellers manage their catalogs, sales and stock between their in-store and eCommerce platforms, including Shopify, the companies said in a Tuesday (Dec. 16) news release.

The integration lets retailers create and edit products within Square, and have those updates automatically reflected on Shopify, the release said. With Square serving as the “source of truth,” sellers get to avoid overselling, automate reordering, and not to have to spend time managing multiple systems.

“Having a dependable and scalable inventory management system is essential for the success of local businesses, particularly in the lead-up to busy periods like the holiday season,” the companies added.

“Alongside surging eCommerce, it is important for retailers to maintain a strong neighborhood presence and engage their in-person community at this time of year.”

The release noted that half of Square’s retail sellers operate across channels, which complicates the act of keeping shelves stocked, orders accurate and customers happy.

“Sellers today increasingly operate across channels, but keeping them in sync shouldn’t multiply their workload,” said Morgan Kuntze, global partnerships lead at Square parent Block.

“Our partnership philosophy is to ensure sellers can seamlessly run and grow their businesses with Square, while also using their preferred industry and channel-specific tools. Our new Thrive integration makes it easy for retailers who use both Shopify and Square to enjoy seamless channel management — so they can spend less time reconciling their systems and more time connecting with customers.”

PYMNTS wrote about some of the headaches facing retailers earlier this year, noting they were dealing with a consumer landscape in which each error in stocking the right goods can add up to excess costs or lost sales.

Shoppers have grown more selective in their spending, and expect the items they want to be available when they want them. That report was written in September, though more recent data shows consumers are still selective when it comes to retail spending, pulling back on big ticket and discretionary items.

“Against this backdrop, inventory management has become a lever for profitability, and some retailers are turning to artificial intelligence to balance efficiency with customer satisfaction,” PYMNTS wrote, citing retailers such as Macy’s, Walmart, Kohl’s and Target.

“Their latest earnings results show that smarter, AI-driven inventory systems are helping to keep shelves stocked.”