Many brands grow in the same order. First a webshop, then bol or another marketplace, and one day a retailer or a group of independent shops. Logistics often doesn't grow along with it: parcels go through a fulfilment partner, pallets leave from your own garage or a separate warehouse. Two stocks, two truths.
The problem with two stocks
- Your webshop shows "in stock", but the last item is in the other warehouse.
- You regularly have to move stock between locations, with transport costs and mistakes as a result.
- You reorder too early because you lack the full picture, and end up with too much stock.
- Or the other way round: a large retail order empties your stock and your webshop sells what's no longer there.
One stock, multiple channels
On paper the solution is simple: all channels draw from the same physical stock, and that stock is fed back to your webshop and marketplaces in real time. In practice that requires a partner or system that can handle both parcels and pallets, and is connected to everything you sell through.
Reserve stock per channel
One stock doesn't mean everything is up for grabs. Work with a buffer or reservation per channel. A few ways to do that:
- Safety stock for your webshop: only show stock above a minimum online, so you don't oversell while a retail order is being picked.
- Reservations for planned retail orders: if you know the retailer will order next week, set those quantities aside.
- Priority rules: agree which channel comes first when stock runs low. The retailer that can fine you, or your most loyal webshop customers?
Watch your packaging units
Retailers usually order per carton or per layer, consumers per item. If you break open a carton of 12 for webshop orders, you can no longer send it to the retailer as a full carton. A good system therefore takes both full packaging units and single items into account, and only breaks open a carton when it has to.
What you need
- 1One physical stock location for all channels.
- 2Integrations with your webshop, marketplaces and ERP, so your stock syncs automatically.
- 3Rules for buffers and priorities per channel.
- 4A partner that can ship both parcels and pallets correctly.
That last point is exactly what Sendwit is built for: pallets, cartons and parcels from one stock, with integrations for Shopify, WooCommerce, Lightspeed, bol and your ERP. Read more about our e-commerce and retail fulfilment.