Odoo 20 Inventory: New Reports, Returns and Shipping

Odoo 20 has a long list of inventory changes. Most are practical improvements rather than headline features. Several fix things warehouse managers have been asking for.

Reports you'll use

• Stock aging report. See how long stock has been sitting. Useful for spotting dead stock and for valuation reviews.
• Inventory at a past date. Check what you held on a given day, which helps with audits and month-end questions.
• Allocation report. See how incoming stock is allocated to waiting orders.
• Traceability report improvements, including expiry dates on the manufacturing side.

Stock aging and past-date inventory are the two we'd put in front of finance and warehouse managers first.

Smarter replenishment

Suggested stock levels for reordering rules give a starting point for minimum and maximum quantities. Treat them as a suggestion, not an answer. Review them against real lead times and seasonality. Our reorder points guide explains what to check.

There's also product replenishment improvements and company-specific customer lead times, which matters for multi-company groups that promise different delivery times.

Returns are simpler, and different

Odoo 20 introduces simplified returns and removes the old return wizard. The change should make returns faster. But warehouse staff who've done returns the same way for years will need a short walkthrough. Retest any custom code that hooked into the return wizard.

Barcodes and labels

• ZPL location barcodes for printing location labels on thermal printers
• Product packaging barcodes and variant-specific packagings
• Preview barcode instructions in the operation type

If you print location labels, ZPL support makes it easier to generate them straight to Zebra-compatible printers. See barcode warehouse operations for the wider setup.

Shipping and transport

• ShipStation connector
• Sendcloud pickup points and package references
• CMR documents for road freight, mainly relevant in Europe
• Variant-specific HS codes for customs

Routes and multi-company

• Location-specific push routes, which give finer control over where stock moves after arrival
• Intercompany flows between companies in the same database
• Landed costs for specific products, rather than spreading them across everything on a receipt

Location-specific push routes are worth a look if you've built workarounds for putaway. See Odoo inventory routes explained.

Valuation

• Inventory valuation adjustments
• Valuation without the Inventory app, for businesses that only need valuation in accounting
• COGS updated retroactively when cost changes after delivery (see accounting changes)

Other additions

• Picking notifications
• Vendor purchase reference on transfers

What to test before upgrading

1. Returns, end to end, including restocking and refunds
2. Any custom code touching returns, routes or barcode flows
3. Label printing, especially if you print ZPL
4. Carrier connectors and shipping labels
5. Valuation reports compared to production

Need help planning it? Our Odoo inventory service covers upgrades as well as new setups. For the rest of the release, see Odoo 20: what's new.