Understanding and Managing Inventory Available Online – SHOPLINE Help Center

When managing product inventory in SHOPLINE, you need to specify the quantity of each SKU at different locations. However, when selling products on your online store, the system calculates sales and inventory consumption based on the SKU as a whole, regardless of location.

This article explains how available inventory for online sales is calculated and managed.

What is Inventory Available Online?

When managing inventory, two key concepts are essential: location inventory and inventory available online. While both represent stock, they differ in scope and purpose:

Inventory Type Comparison

Inventory Type	Definition	Purpose
Location Inventory	The total inventory of a SKU across all sales channels, including online stores, physical stores, etc. It represents the actual physical stock of the product in all locations.	Used to manage inventory across all sales channels, ensuring accurate inventory data.
Inventory Available Online	The quantity of a SKU available for purchase on your online store. It represents the amount of a product that customers can see and add to their carts.	Used to control online sales and prevent overselling.

Note: For more details on location inventory management, please refer to "Managing Inventory."

Relationship Between the Two Inventories

Generally: Inventory available online is equal to the total of location quantities.
Special Cases: When there are multiple sales channels (e.g., online store, SHOPLINE POS), inventory available online may be less than the total of location quantities. This is because the online store's inventory might represent only a portion of the total inventory.

How is Inventory Available Online Calculated?

SHOPLINE offers three inventory management methods to calculate inventory available online. Let's use the following scenario as an example: a T-shirt has 10 units available at location A, 20 at location B, and 30 at location C.

Total of Location Inventories

This method adds up the available inventory of an SKU at all locations to get a total for online sales. When an order is placed, the system allocates the order to a specific location, reducing the inventory at that location and recalculating the available quantity. This is the default method and is suitable for most merchants.

Example: In this method, the available inventory of the T-shirt is 10 + 20 + 30 = 60 units. If a customer purchases 1 T-shirt, and the order is allocated to location A, the available quantity at location A becomes 9. The new total available quantity is 9 + 20 + 30 = 59 units.

Percentage-Based Calculation

This method allows you to set a specific percentage of the total inventory for online sales. When an order is placed, the system allocates the order to a specific location and recalculates the available inventory based on the set percentage. See "Sales Inventory Plan" for detailed setup instructions.

Example: If you set to sell 30% of the T-shirt inventory online, the available quantity would be (10 + 20 + 30) * 30% = 18 units. If a customer purchases 10 T-shirts, and the order is allocated to location A, the new available quantity would be (0 + 20 + 30) * 30% = 15 units.

Custom Available Inventory

This method allows you to set a fixed inventory for online sales, regardless of the actual quantity at different locations. When an order is placed, the inventory available online is reduced accordingly, but it does not affect the inventory in other channels. See "Sales Inventory Plan" for detailed setup instructions.

Example: If you set the available quantity to 100 units, the system will show 100 units available for online sales, regardless of the actual quantity at different locations. If a customer purchases 10 T-shirts, the system will recalculate the available inventory as 100 - 10 = 90 units. Inventory for other channels, such as SHOPLINE POS orders, will not be affected.

Note: The percentage-based calculation and custom inventory features are currently not available for all merchants. Contact us if you're interested in applying for early access.

Checking Inventory Available Online

In your SHOPLINE admin panel, you can view detailed information about a SKU's inventory available online, calculation method, and change history. To check the available inventory:

In your admin panel, go to Products and click on the specific product.
Locate the Inventory module, where you will see the SKU's Inventory available online.
You can view more details by clicking:

- See calculation method to see the detailed calculation process.
- Log to see the history of changes in inventory available online. The log details each change, including the time, value changes, reasons for changes, and notes.
  - Location Inventory Changes: If changes in location quantities cause changes in the inventory available online, you can click on the location to see the corresponding change records.
  - Order Changes: If orders cause inventory changes, you can click to view the corresponding order details.
  - Calculation Method Changes: If changes occur in the product's calculation method, you can also view the specific change reasons.