Catalogue Architecture
Part of Ecommerce platform integrations
Defining the source of truth for stock quantities
Decide who owns physical, committed and saleable stock by SKU and location, and how to prevent duplicate adjustments and stale counts.
Set who owns stock for each saleable SKU and location, then define how that source supplies the quantity customers can buy. Physical stock, stock committed to orders and storefront availability answer different questions. Without a rule for overwrites between connected systems, a shortage can be hidden or the same sale counted twice.
Define each quantity
Record what on hand, committed and available to sell mean in the proposed setup. Shopify explicitly separates on-hand, available, committed and other inventory states.
Its available quantity is stock a merchant can sell, while committed inventory is set aside and unavailable to sell. Shopify’s order lifecycle moves available inventory into committed when an order is placed and decrements committed inventory after fulfilment.
An external stock system must account for those actions when sending quantities; it cannot simply treat every Shopify state as an editable count.
WooCommerce’s Products settings include an Inventory section. Check the relevant settings and any extensions before choosing WooCommerce as the quantity owner.
Decision / Record for each SKU and location
- Physical count
- Where receipts, counts, damage and returns are recorded
- Saleable quantity
- Which system calculates or supplies storefront availability
- Commitments
- When an order holds or reduces stock in each system
- Locations
- Which location can supply each sales channel
- Correction
- Who approves a change and where its reason is recorded
Map stocked sizes separately if they have separate identifiers. A product-level total cannot show which size can be supplied.
Inventory States in Shopify vs WooCommerce
- On hand
- Physical stock present in inventory
- Available to sell
- Stock ready for customers to purchase; excludes committed items
- Committed
- Stock reserved for active orders; deducted when order is fulfilled
- WooCommerce Inventory Setting
- Configurable via Products > Inventory settings; requires extension review
Key Decisions for Stock Ownership by SKU and Location
- Physical count locationWhere receipts, damage and returns are recorded
- Saleable quantity ownerWhich system calculates or supplies storefront availability
- Commitments trackingWhen an order holds or reduces stock in each system
- Location supply mappingWhich location can supply each sales channel (e.g., online, retail)
- Correction approval processWho approves changes and where the reason is logged
Give each change a route
A warehouse or order-management system may own physical counts and send a saleable quantity to the store. Another business may manage stock in the commerce platform and send changes outward. Choose the route that matches where receipts, orders and returns are actually recorded, and name the permitted writer for each quantity. Document supervised exceptions such as stocktake corrections.
Specify whether each transfer is an absolute quantity or a change by a stated amount. Keep the originating order or adjustment reference. Otherwise, a store reduction followed by a warehouse reduction for the same order can become a second subtraction.
Decide how to handle stale stock
Set an acceptable update delay for low-stock items. Decide what the storefront does when the source cannot provide a trustworthy number. Pausing sales or holding back an allocation may be appropriate for an item that cannot be backordered; this is a business rule, not a universal threshold.
Compare quantities by SKU and location at an agreed interval. Investigate differences after an order, cancellation, return awaiting inspection or manual count.
An ownership map is usable when staff can identify the authoritative quantity, its last relevant change and who can correct customer-facing availability.
Stock Management Best Practices for Australian Businesses
- Storefront action on stale data
- Pause sales or hold allocation if backorder not allowed
- Difference investigation triggers
- After order, cancellation, return awaiting inspection, or manual count
- Ownership map utility
- Staff must identify authoritative quantity, last change, and correction authority
