How can I set a low stock threshold to avoid overselling?

[NMLPC]

 I'm looking for a solution to the below problem:

Our inventory and fulfillment processes are 100% manual and therefore have some human error involved. I'm looking for a way to hold back / reserve inventory in shopify at all times so no product actually sells down to 0. I want to have an accurate inventory in shopify but I also want to have units reserved for the occasional oversell. 

Looking for an app or innate shopify solution - anyone have any tips? 

[Skye]

Hi, @NMLPC.

Thanks for the post! I hope your day is off to a good start. The answer to this is tricky, as it really depends on your forecasted sales for the week/month. In addition, it would depend on how quickly you are able to receive, or produce the extra inventory. 

It can be as easy as enabling "continue selling when out of stock" in Shopify so that your stock is able to go into the negative. Or, by using an app such as Stockbot Inventory Forecasting. This app uses your sales history to predict stock levels and the inventory required for the upcoming days. Additionally it has low stock notifications so you know when you need to replenish your inventory.

In the meantime, can you tell me a bit more about your products and business model ? This will help me provide a more tailored approach.

[NMLPC]

We're actually having the opposite problem. I want it to stop selling with 5 units left in inventory. Is there a solution for this? 

[Skye]

Hi, @NMLPC.

Thanks for following up! I'm not currently aware of an option to completely stop selling once 5 is left in stock. However, the above app provides a notification when the stock level hits a set number. 

Another potential work around is to simply sell to zero, however internally when a product is at 0, that would mean you have 5 left in stock. When you have 5 listed in Shopify, it would actually mean you have 10, and so on. While this suggestion is a bit juvenile, it is an option.

[NMLPC]

Thanks! 

[TBG1]

Was just looking at modifying some code we have that does this from the theme.  In our product-form.liquid page we have the following...

<div class="product__buy">
<div class="form__control product__quantity">
<label class="form__label" for="quantity">{{ 'product.general.quantity' | t }}</label>
<input type="number" pattern="[0-9]*" name="quantity" min="1" step="1" value="1" required="required">
</div>

{%- if product.selected_or_first_available_variant.inventory_quantity >5 -%}
<button type="submit" class="button button--primary button--no-disabled-opacity product__add-to-cart" {% if settings.cart_page != 'page' %}data-action="add-to-cart"{% endif %}>{{ 'product.general.add_to_cart' | t }}</button>
{%- else -%}
<button type="submit" class="button button--secondary button--no-disabled-opacity product__add-to-cart" disabled="disabled">{{ 'product.labels.sold_out' | t }}</button>
{%- endif -%}
</div>

[kentsportswear]

@TBG1 This is great info, and I saw something similar posted on Reddit as well. Thanks!

However, I'm having no luck locating the necessary spot to insert/modify said code on our Prestige theme.

Have posted on the Shopify experts page too and reached out to a few specifically with no results. Do you, or anyone else, know someone who could assist?

[Alicell]

I can help you, please contact me by alice.liu@orispark.com

[CandidFounders]

NMPLC We solved this using Draft Orders + Stock Reservation. We did a video on it here - https://youtu.be/mRUcIfXICOw

Basically what you do is create a Draft Order on Shopify from the Shopify Admin, add all of the items you want to reserve to the draft then reserve the stock. You can set a particular day to release it back, or set the date for a really long time. Once you've saved that order, to check its working have a look at the Inventory tab and see if its marked as unavailable due to the draft order you created. 

Hope that helps, thanks, Andy