LineNow supports five ordering workflows because real procurement does not start from one place.
Sometimes you know exactly what you want and need to build a purchase order manually. Sometimes inventory tells you what is running low. Sometimes you want the system to auto-add items when they cross a threshold. Sometimes you want to ask AI to build the cart. Sometimes the order is a dropship sale that needs to turn into supplier POs without a stocked-inventory workflow.
Related product walkthroughs:
This guide is for a buyer evaluating or setting up LineNow. It explains where each path starts, what the buyer reviews and which downstream event to test. The order-creation methods guide covers the broader choice, including shopping lists for external checkout.
Quick answer
LineNow supports five ordering workflows: manual purchase orders, inventory-based purchase orders, automatic cart staging, AI cart building, and dropshipping purchase orders. A prepared cart is not a sent order. Supplier proposals need review, physical receipts establish what arrived, and dropship fulfillment must be kept distinct from receipt into your own stock. Agree the controls for each enabled path.
1. Manual purchase orders
Manual ordering is the default when the buyer already knows what they want.
In LineNow, the buyer opens purchase orders, selects the supplier or source, searches products by name, SKU, or pack, enters quantities, adds notes, and creates the order. The order can then be sent to the supplier and tracked from the same workflow.
Manual POs matter because not every purchasing decision should be automated. A chef may need a special order for an event. A retailer may want to restock a seasonal item. A manufacturer may need a one-time component buy. The system should make manual ordering fast without forcing every order through a recommendation engine.
Best for:
- known replenishment orders
- one-off supplier orders
- special events
- new items without enough sales history
- operator-controlled purchasing
2. Inventory-based purchase orders
Inventory-based ordering starts from the inventory screen instead of a blank PO.
The inventory planning table provides stock status, current inventory, usage per day, days until stockout, sales, margin, and replenishment fields. The operator can filter by supplier, stock status, incoming status, or recipe, then add items directly to the cart.
This is the everyday procurement workflow for stocked inventory. The buyer is not guessing from memory. They are reviewing the available operational data: what is out, what is low, how fast it is moving, when it may stock out, and what the item contributes. Check the data’s freshness and any missing counts before using the recommendation.
Best for:
- restaurants and cafes
- specialty retailers
- stocked Shopify/Square operators
- ingredient replenishment
- item-level margin-aware ordering
Related: Inventory Replenishment Software.
3. Automatic cart staging
Configured inventory replenishment lets the system add items to a cart when inventory falls below configured thresholds.
Auto-replenishment settings define item-level cart-building logic: when the item hits a reorder condition, LineNow can stage the item for purchasing.
The operator still controls the final send. That matters. Small businesses need automation that reduces repetitive work without removing human accountability for spend.
Best for:
- predictable replenishment items
- high-frequency staples
- items with known reorder thresholds
- teams that want staged carts, not uncontrolled auto-buying
Related: Reorder Point: Formula and How to Calculate.
4. AI cart builder
The AI cart builder lets the operator ask LineNow to build a cart from business data.
The AI interface offers suggested prompts including:
- Show me items below reorder point
- Which items am I ordering most frequently?
- Show me my top suppliers by order volume
- What are my out of stock items?
- Show me items with low inventory
- Which suppliers have I ordered from this month?
The AI cart builder is useful because it does not start from generic text. It starts from structured procurement, inventory, supplier, and sales data already in LineNow. The output can become a reviewable cart. Inspect the item matches, purchase units, quantities and reasons before adding recommendations. A prompt is a request for analysis, not proof that its result is accurate or an authorization to send an order.
Best for:
- operators who know the business question but not the exact item list
- fast weekly ordering
- cross-supplier cart building
- exploring stockout and reorder risk
Related: AI Procurement Software.
5. Dropshipping purchase orders
Dropshipping starts from the customer order instead of the inventory shelf.
LineNow’s sales-order workflow connects customer demand to supplier purchase orders. Configured dropship forwarding is separate from stocked-inventory cart staging; confirm which settings create an order, which send it, and how the supplier and customer details are mapped.
The Living Fit customer account describes one implementation. For your setup, test a customer order split between two suppliers, including custom selections, an unavailable item, a cancellation and tracking updates.
This matters because dropshipping procurement is structurally different from stocked inventory. The buyer is not deciding how much stock to hold. They are routing customer demand to the correct supplier with the right order details.
Best for:
- Shopify dropshippers
- hybrid stocked + dropship operators
- brands with multiple fulfillment suppliers
- customer-order-driven purchasing
- supplier routing workflows
Related: Procurement for Shopify Dropshippers.
Check the handoff for each path
The possible starting points include:
- a blank PO
- a reorder alert
- a forecast
- a dropship order
- an AI prompt
The useful combination depends on the business, suppliers and ordering frequency.
The same operator may manually order a seasonal product, replenish milk from inventory, stage recurring staples automatically, ask AI for a low-stock cart, and route dropship orders to suppliers before lunch.
Keep the order context across the paths your team uses. Stocked receipts, dropship fulfillment and accounting posting remain different events; confirm each connector and configuration instead of receiving dropship goods into a store by default.
For a stocked-order test, request 24 units, accept a supplier proposal for 20 and physically receive 18. The four units not accepted are a purchasing decision; the two missing from the accepted delivery are a receiving exception. Keep both visible without treating either as delivered stock.
For dropshipping, use the customer destination and fulfillment evidence instead. A supplier’s shipment confirmation should not add those units to your store inventory. Check partial fulfillment and customer updates independently from supplier billing.
Agree the order, receipt, fulfillment and finance events to exchange, plus the owner of failed or duplicate updates. These handoffs make the closed-loop procurement workflow reviewable across the paths your team uses.
Related
- Purchase Order Automation Software
- Five Ways to Build a Purchase Order
- What Is a Living Purchase Order?
- Three-Way Matching vs. Living POs
- AI Procurement Software
- Inventory Replenishment Software
Which of the five paths does your week need first? Book a demo and confirm the setup and add-ons in current pricing.