Manage inventory and availability messaging

11 min

You can manage the Inventory Management system within Optimizely Configured Commerce manually or integrate it with an ERP. Inventory clearly displays on the website to show customers whether a product is In Stock, Low Stock, or Out of Stock.

Inventory availability

Product availability displays in a variety of locations on the website. If a pickup fulfillment method is selected, inventory throughout the storefront displays for the currently selected warehouse only (excluding alternate warehouses). When changing from pickup at a warehouse to shipping, inventory availability displays based on the ship to record's default warehouse (including alternate warehouses, if configured and supported).

Global inventory availability messages

To correctly show availability, the Inventory Management system displays one of three messages: In Stock, Low Stock, and Out of Stock. You can configure these messages by going to Admin Console > Administration > Site Messages and searching for "inventory".

The message can return simple text or actual availability. To show the available quantity amount, add "" in the Message box. For example, if " in stock." is entered into the field, the "" is converted to display the actual quantity available, controlled by the product's Warehouses tab or via a real-time call to the ERP. See Real-Time inventory for more information.

Note

For the quantity to display accurately, the item's Track Inventory toggle must be Yes. For shipping inventory messaging, the system does not show the warehouse like it does for pickup. You can assign alternate warehouses, which would summarize the inventory (that is Minneapolis Warehouse + St. Paul Warehouse) before showing it to a customer. Since there could be any number of alternate warehouses with inventory, the system does not display the warehouse name.

Note

Configured Commerce supports embedded HTML in site messages, but it does not support use of front-end code like Angular or React directly inside a site message.

When you configure the site message to show the exact quantity and assign a product alternate units of measure, the quantity available changes based on the selected unit of measure. For example, "Each" and "Case" are units of measure for the same product where a case = 10 units of the product and 50 total units of the product are in stock. If "Each" is selected, the site message shows 50 in stock. If "Case" is selected, the site message shows 5 in stock.

Inventory site messages display when Show Inventory Availability is set to Always or Secure. If set to Never, inventory site messages do not display on the website; if set to Secure, only users who are signed into the website see the current inventory. Users not signed in see a message called Inventory_SignInForAvailability.

Inventory_AvailableStock

This site message replaces the Translation Dictionary record Available. The default message is In Stock.

In Stock means the product is available in greater quantity than the value set for Low Stock. For example, if the Low Stock value is 5, any quantity of stock at 6 or greater is considered In Stock.

Inventory_LowStock

This site message replaces the Translation Dictionary record for Low Stock. The default message is Low Stock.

Low Stock means the product has a low amount of inventory remaining. Using the example above, if the product quantity is between 5 and 1, the status changes to Low Stock. You can set the threshold for this availability status with Low Stock Threshold.

Note

If you set a Low Stock Level on a specific product (Catalog > Products > edit a Product > Details), this overrides the global Low Stock Threshold.

Inventory_OutofStock

This site message replaces the translation dictionary record for Out of Stock. The default message is Out of Stock.

Out of Stock means the product has no inventory allocated; however, the product still appears on the website. If Allow Backorders is set to On, users can still order the product. To prevent users from purchasing an out of stock item, change Allow Backorders to Off.

Non-Tracked Inventory

You can have untracked products in the Admin Console. Configured Commerce assumes the product is always available. Use non-tracked inventory for special orders or services. Go to Product > Details and change the Track Inventory toggle to No.

Product-specific inventory availability messages

You can set a custom availability message for a product by going Catalog > Products > Edit > Details. Go to Inventory & Fulfillment and add the desired text for Custom Availability Message. This message displays as the availability message for the product throughout the site, such as Call for availability.

You can also set a Low Stock Level value for products that require a different stock threshold than the global default. For example, you may need a higher Low Stock Level value for popular items that are replenished frequently. Set this value by going to Catalog > Products > Edit > Details > Inventory & Fulfillment.

Availability message workflow

The system checks the product for a Custom Availability Message.

If a custom message does not exist, the system checks if there is a Safety Stock value set for the product's default warehouse (Catalog > Products > Edit > Warehouses).

Note

The Safety Stock value is assessed for the product's default warehouse only, not for any alternate warehouses that may belong to the product.

If there is no Safety Stock value set, the system checks the product for a Low Stock Level value.

If all of the above = False, the system uses Low Stock Threshold to determine the appropriate availability message.

Note

To limit inventory visibility to only those users who are signed into the website, set Show Inventory Availability to Secure. Users not signed see the Inventory_SignInForAvailability message.

Real-time pricing

You may want to provide customers with pricing information in real-time. This real-time data, called from the ERP, displays on the Product page and the Review and Pay page to provide customers with accurate pricing. The Generic pricing services, however, depend on pricing refresh integration jobs that typically run over night and therefore can be less accurate.

Real-time inventory

You may want to provide customers with inventory information in real-time. This real-time data, called from the ERP, displays on the Product page and the Review and Pay page to provide customers with accurate inventory information. The Generic Inventory Services, however, depend on inventory refresh integration jobs that typically run over night and therefore can be less accurate. Real Time Inventory Service - Insite behaves like Generic Services and provides decrementing quantity for products in warehouses during checkout.