Retail
Syncing stock between a shop and four marketplaces
A clothing shop sold on four marketplaces and over the counter. Stock was updated by hand each evening, so overselling was routine.
Orders cancelled for being out of stock down from 11% to 0.6%
- Client
- Client asked not to be named
- Duration
- 4 months
- Engagement
- Fixed price
Context
One size M shirt could sell at the counter and on two marketplaces at the same time, because all three believed they had it. Staff pushed quantities to each marketplace at the end of the day, which means the data was wrong all day.
Every cancelled order cost seller-rating points, and a low rating pushes listings down the search results.
What was built
One warehouse record is the source of truth. Every sales channel reads and decrements from it; no channel keeps its own count.
The hard part was not syncing but handling a marketplace that stops responding. The system queues and reconciles when the marketplace returns, rather than skipping and letting the two sides drift apart permanently.
Data capture runs on a phone, at the place the work happens. The real user of this screen is standing up, busy and has one hand free, so it carries only the fields that are actually required.
Outcome
Orders cancelled for being out of stock fell from 11% to 0.6%.
The residual 0.6% comes from damaged items found at packing, which is no longer a sync problem. I told the client up front that this was the floor for this approach.