Shopify bill of materials: how to track the components in what you make

For makers who turn parts and raw materials into finished products.

If you make what you sell, you keep two kinds of stock. There is the finished product, which Shopify counts, and there are the components that go into it, which Shopify does not. A bill of materials is how you connect the two, and Shopify has no built-in way to do it. This guide explains what a bill of materials is, why you need one, and how to add one to your store.

What is a bill of materials?

A bill of materials, or BoM, is just the recipe for a product: the list of components it uses and how much of each. A tote bag might be half a metre of canvas, one zipper, two rivets, a label, and some thread. A candle might be 120 grams of wax, 12 grams of fragrance, one wick, and a jar. The BoM is that list, attached to the finished product so software can do something useful with it.

Does Shopify have a bill of materials?

Not natively. Shopify tracks the finished product as a single item with a stock number. It has no concept of the parts inside it, so it cannot reduce your canvas when a bag sells, warn you that you are almost out of zippers, or tell you what a bag costs you to make. To get a bill of materials, you add a small app on top of Shopify.

Why a bill of materials is worth having

Once each product has a BoM, three things become possible:

Automatic component deduction. When you make or sell a product, its components come off your stock on their own, so your material counts stay honest without hand counting.
Real low-stock alerts. The thing you actually run out of is components, so alerts on components are the ones that save a production run.
True cost and margin. Add up the components at what you paid and you know exactly what each product costs to make, and what you keep when it sells.

When components come off: production or sale

A bill of materials can deduct components at two different moments, and picking the right one keeps your counts accurate.

At production, if you build a batch ahead of time and sell from stock. The components come off when you log the batch.
At sale, if you make to order. The components come off when the order comes in.

Deducting at both moments would double count, so a good tool lets you choose per product. Plenty of shops build some products ahead and make others to order.

Your options for a BoM on Shopify

Two kinds of app can add a bill of materials, and they suit different needs.

Bundle and kit apps

These treat each component as a hidden product with its own SKU and link them to the finished item as a bundle. Components come off when the finished item sells. It works and is often cheap, but you have to keep every component in your product catalog, which gets unwieldy with many parts, and these apps usually do not track what a product costs to make.

Maker and manufacturing tools

These treat components as materials rather than products, and add recipes, costing, and often batch tracking. They match how makers think. The catch is that the long-established ones tend to be priced for larger businesses and can be heavy to set up.

How to add a bill of materials with Benchtop

Benchtop is the tool we built for this, and it is free to start. It adds materials, recipes, cost, and both production and sale deduction inside your Shopify admin.

Add your materials and what you paid, so Benchtop knows your component stock and costs.
Build a recipe for a product: pick the Shopify variant and list the components one unit uses. That recipe is your bill of materials.
Choose when components come off, when you make a batch or when the product sells.
Let it run. Components deduct on their own, low-stock alerts stay accurate, and each product shows its cost and margin.

Common questions

Is a bill of materials the same as a recipe?

In practice, yes. Manufacturers say bill of materials, makers say recipe, and both mean the list of what goes into one finished unit.

Can one component be used in several products?

Yes. A label or a jar can appear in many recipes. When any of those products is made or sold, that shared component draws down, so you always see the true remaining stock.

Is there a free option?

Yes. Benchtop is free to start, including automatic component deduction, up to a generous number of materials and recipes.