Article
Online Store and Stock: Syncing Orders into Zoho Inventory
Selling an item that turns out to be out of stock is the fastest way to lose an online customer. The cause is almost always unsynced stock.
First decide who owns the stock figure
One system must be the source of stock numbers, usually the inventory system, not the store. The store receives that number and displays it. If both systems believe they may change stock, a mismatch is only a matter of time.
Four data flows to map
- Products. Exactly the same SKU codes across all channels. This is non-negotiable.
- Stock. From inventory to the store, at what frequency and with what delay.
- Orders. From the store to inventory, including payment status.
- Financial documents. From orders into Zoho Books, so a sale is recorded once.
Decisions people forget
- Available versus committed stock. Items already ordered but not yet shipped must not be sold again.
- Cancellations and returns. Who puts stock back, and when.
- Bundles and kits. One bundle uses several SKUs, and all of them must decrease.
- Multiple warehouses. Which warehouse serves which region. See multi-warehouse Zoho Inventory.
Test with real orders
Before switching over, run ten real orders through the whole flow: order, pay, ship, return. Reconcile the numbers at the end. This test finds more problems than hours of discussion.
If you use several marketplaces
The more channels, the more important uniform SKUs and a single stock source become. Mapping and connections are part of our integration service.