Stores, online and marketplaces: one stock, one order flow

Context

In shoes and apparel, stock is tracked by product, color and size, and is often shipped to stores as a size run (e.g. a set of sizes 36-40 of one color in fixed ratios). The same stock is sold in the stores, in the online store and on marketplaces. Reflecting a sale in one channel accurately and quickly in the others, and knowing what each store will need and when, is at the heart of the operation.

Problem

• Store stock requests were created manually and only by size run; a store missing a single size had to request the whole run.
• The old calculation counted unbalanced transfers (ones that don’t fit a full run) as runs too.
• Noticing that a store had run out of a size was left to the attention of store staff.
• There was no report showing store transfers by store, product and color.

Approach

• Unit and size-run requests: A store can now request by size and quantity, or by size run. When a transfer is prepared, unit requests are fulfilled first, then the remaining stock is converted into runs and distributed to run requests.
• Minimum stock rules: A threshold can be set for each store and size. When stock falls below it, the store team gets an instant notification plus a summary email every morning; the analytics dashboard has a “Minimum Stock Alert” card.
• Transfer report: Transfers by store, product and color; rows that don’t fit a full run are highlighted, and the report can be exported to Excel.
• Permissions: Users only see data for the stores and warehouses they are authorized for.

My contribution

I built most of the store and warehouse modules, and designed and implemented the request, rule and report work above end to end.