Overview
EasyScan can publish the next expected arrival date for each Shopify product variant. This lets your storefront theme, integrations, or other Shopify tools read the earliest purchase order ETA for stock that has not yet been received.
The feature is optional and is turned off by default.
What the feature does
When a relevant purchase order changes, EasyScan:
Looks at all Ordered and Partially Received purchase orders containing the affected variant.
Ignores purchase order lines that have no units remaining.
Finds the earliest valid ETA.
Writes that date to the Shopify product variant metafield
easyscan.next_incoming_date.Deletes the metafield when no qualifying purchase order remains.
For example, if the same variant has outstanding purchase orders arriving on 15 June and 22 June, EasyScan publishes 15 June. After the first purchase order is fully received, the date changes to 22 June.
Turn on next incoming dates
In EasyScan, go to Settings.
Open Inventory.
Find Purchase orders, then Shopify inventory.
Enable Publish next incoming date to a product variant metafield.
Save your settings.
No manual metafield definition is required. The setting applies to the whole Shopify store, so you do not need to configure it separately for each EasyScan user.
Display the date on your storefront
EasyScan publishes the data automatically, but it does not change your Shopify theme. To display the date to customers, add the metafield to your theme or ask your theme developer to do so.
A basic Liquid example for the initially selected variant is:
HTML{% assign next_incoming_date = product.selected_or_first_available_variant.metafields.easyscan.next_incoming_date.value %}
{% if next_incoming_date %}
<p>Expected back in stock: {{ next_incoming_date | date: "%d %B %Y" }}</p>
{% endif %}The exact implementation depends on your theme. Themes with a variant selector may also need to refresh the displayed date when a customer chooses another variant.
Does this affect Shopify incoming inventory?
No. Next incoming dates and incoming inventory tracking are separate EasyScan features.
Next incoming dates only write a date metafield.
They do not change available, on-hand, committed, or incoming inventory quantities.
Enabling this setting does not enable Track incoming inventory in Shopify.
You can use either setting independently or enable both.
Is this a native Shopify field?
Shopify's metafield system is native, but easyscan.next_incoming_date is a custom field managed by EasyScan. It is stored on the Shopify product variant because different variants can have different purchase orders and arrival dates.
Working with multiple users
The setting is store-wide. Multiple EasyScan users can create, edit, or receive purchase orders without additional setup. EasyScan processes date updates per store so that an older update does not overwrite newer purchase order information.
Important behaviour
No immediate backfill: Turning the setting on does not scan every existing purchase order. A variant is updated the next time a relevant purchase order is changed.
Turning it off: Disabling the setting stops future updates. It does not remove values that have already been published.
Past ETAs: EasyScan does not automatically hide a past ETA if its purchase order still qualifies.
Missing or invalid ETAs: Purchase orders without a valid ETA do not contribute a date.
Received stock: When all remaining units are received or rejected, that purchase order no longer contributes to the date.
Troubleshooting
If a date is not available, check that:
The setting is enabled.
The purchase order is Ordered or Partially Received.
The purchase order has a valid ETA.
The variant still has units remaining.
The purchase order has been changed since the setting was enabled.
Your theme is reading the metafield from the correct product variant.
If the value in Shopify appears out of date after a purchase order change, contact EasyScan support with the purchase order number and affected product variant.