How do you track inventory at the POS while also selling Online?

[lgmbts]

We sell at our POS and online.  Some items we have limited quantities of.  Right now, there is no way for our register operator to know when we sell out of an item that we are tracking inventory on, and it allows an oversell.  Why can't the POS communicate with the online store and not allow an oversell?

[Joe]

Hi again, @lgmbts 👋 Thanks for reaching out to us here on the Seller Community. We can provide some clarity here.

Your Online Store inventory management feature should pull inventory tracking from both your in-person sales as well as through the Online Store. I've gone ahead and merged your post into an existing thread of Sellers who were also looking for information regarding Inventory tracking. Take a look at this Best Answer from Valentina to insure that your settings are correctly established.

Also, here is a helpful thread for setting up Low Stock Alerts for items while selling in-person. This should help prevent over-selling while in-person transactions are taking place.

Let me know if that gets you where you need to be!

[lgmbts]

I'm not sure I'm being clear about the problem.  So here it is stripped down: At the POS there is NO way for the cashier to see, live time, what inventory is available, and what is sold out. Inventory is synced, but the POS STILL allows overselling. And according to a rep from Square, this is by design.  Which for our circumstance makes no sense whatsoever.  If I'm tracking inventory, it's because we have a limited stock and need to have live inventory accurate, real time.

[AshleyK]

Hey @lgmbts thanks for explaining that. I hear you - having real time inventory alerts and reports could be really useful for a lot of sellers. You may want to consider our Square for Retail subscription which will allow you to view your inventory amounts at each location and transfer stock between locations within the app. 

[lgmbts]

If you are suggesting that a restaurant switch to Square for retail - it doesn't suit our purpose.  We have one location.  We sell through our register, and the online store.  Currently inventory can't be seen by the register operator, and the register allows items to be oversold.  This isn't about moving inventory from location to location.  This is about having a live inventory that has a hard stop at the register when something is sold out.

[jljproducts]

I look forward to hearing some response from Square on this as well...!

I have the same problem with my organization, for our promotional products. Inventory is often seen as mismanaged because items are oversold through the POS while they are also sold online. 

I wonder if it makes sense to create two "locations" and divide the inventory among the two (POS as one and online as the other "location")...but that doesn't seem sustainable or as efficient as you'd think inventory management should be.

[JustinC]

You're right - the POS app doesn't stop the sale of an item when stock reaches 0, unlike Square Online. I suggest setting up low stock alerts to get notified when it's time to re-up. 

Setting two separate locations is the best workaround for the time being, although not ideal.

@jljproducts

[lgmbts]

For those of us who need to have our hands held a bit when it comes to using your technology, how do I set up 2 separate locations when I only really have one?  And I only have one register?

[Alex_]

Hi @lgmbts,

Please check out this support article on how to set up multiple locations.

To get a bit more personalized help, we recommend contacting our Support Team directly. They will be your best resource in getting this inquiry addressed. Also, having a specialist that can look into the specifics of your account will be highly beneficial.

Check out ways on how to get in contact with them by visiting here.

[lovemychaos]

I'm late to this thread, and while it's not a perfect solution, this is how we handle this.  It's a two step process.  

Let's say we're getting low on prime rib.  We have 10 orders left.  

Prevent online oversell

1.  Go to items in the dashboard, turn on tracking and add inventory number.  (This takes care of online orders not being oversold)  It sounds like you've already figured this part out.  BUT... if you're using open tickets, I would highly recommend you leave a couple out of tracking for in-person/online overlap sales.  

Alert staff of stock left

2.  On the POS app, you can 86 an item or temporarily track low stock items.   

Go to the sales screen> actions> item availability.  Enter the number of prime ribs left, etc.  Once this is done, the item will visually count down on the item button when ordering the item. 

I've attached photos of what this look likes.  The item counts down as it's sold (paid for... if your using open tickets).  Once it's gone, the item will grey out and the server gets a message. 

This countdown is the only part that item tracking (Dashboard) and item availability (POS) actually sync.  The sale of the item triggers the count down.  

In a perfect world... these two separate ways to track would "talk" to each other. 

Also if you use open tickets, the inventory doesn't change until it's paid for.  That creates an entirely different challenge.  For that we went old school and make everyone wear a two-way radio.  LOL

Hope this is helpful... and not too confusing.  

Availability count on item.Hard to see in this photo... but "Saturday Prime Rib Dinner" is grayed out once all have been sold.Message when staff clicks on the grayed out item.