With Stocky winding down, a lot of stores are shopping for a PO app for the first time and finding the category confusing, the listings all claim the same things. Here is the checklist I would use, based on what causes pain after you switch, not what looks good on a feature grid.
Six things that matter, roughly in order
- Real migration off Stocky, not just "import your POs." The part that eats a weekend is rebuilding suppliers, lead times, and the SKU-to-supplier-to-cost mapping. Ask specifically whether it imports suppliers and lead times, because that is the actual migration.
- Reorder points from your own sales velocity. A static "reorder at 10" is guessing. You want the app to read how fast each product sells and how long the supplier takes, then tell you what to reorder and when.
- Supplier lead times as a first-class field. Lead time is what turns a reorder point into a reorder date.
- Landed cost, not just item price. An app that stores only the bare item cost gives a margin figure that is quietly wrong.
- Receiving that matches reality. Partial and over-shipments happen, you want to receive what actually arrived and have Shopify update from it.
- Multi-location, if you have it. Otherwise skip it.
What I would ignore: a giant feature list you will never touch, and anything priced like an enterprise system. Most stores under a few thousand SKUs need the six above and not much else. Judge any app against the checklist, not the marketing.
If you have already switched off Stocky, what ended up mattering most in the app you picked?
Receiving eats the time. Not reorder points.
Boxes show up not matching the PO. Partial here, a few extra there.
Apps that only let you receive the exact quantity ordered fight you every week.
Test that in the trial.