Magidoc

Real-Time Stock Levels

Why is this feature important?

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Real-time stock levels are important for a number of reasons but that doesn't mean that we need you to keep the stock level 100% in sync on Cloudshelf.

Instead, we take a much simpler approach, when you sync Product Variants you simply let us know if the variant is in stock and/or if it can be purchased.

This lets you handle the follow product types:

  1. In stock; available to purchase
  2. Out of stock; available to purchase (These might be pre-order items, or stock you know is arriving soon)
  3. Out of stock; not available to purchase (These might be items you have discontinued, or you just don't know when it's coming back in stock)

So having a couple of stock flags makes syncing super easy, and you can update these flags at any time... but it doesn't let a customer know where they can get an item.

That's where Real-Time Stock Levels come in, building on top the of existing stock flags, the screens in your stores will be able to make live stock level requests.

How does it work? (Customer Facing)

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When a customer views a product on your Cloudshelf Screens, the Cloudshelf will make a live request to get the stock level for that product.

It will then show the Real-Time Stock Level on the product page; depending on the configuration of the Cloudshelf it may also show stock levels at nearby stores or any warehouses.

How does it work? (Technical)

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This depends on your eCommerce Provider the current plan is to support the following:

  1. Shopify - This will all be handled automatically.
  2. Salesforce SFCC - This will require an update to the SFCC cartridge to support the new API endpoint.
  3. Custom Connectors - You will need to update your connector to support the new API endpoint, or host a small service that can handle the request. (We aim to create an open source small service to show how this works)

For custom connectors, you'll need to provide a URL we can call that follows this format:

Which would return a small JSON payload that looks something like this:

What's next?

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Please let us know what you think of this plan, and if you have any questions or concerns. We are always happy to help and discuss how we can make this feature work for you.

This document will be updated as development progresses, so please check back for updates.