Knowing what you can promise
A retailer asks for sixty units. The warehouse has a hundred, but twenty are reserved for other orders, five are waiting for inspection, and another fifteen have been ordered without stock being reserved yet. Before accepting the purchase, the sales team needs to know how many units remain available.
A shelf count is the beginning of that answer. Existing commitments, the condition of the goods, and where they are stored determine what the business can promise.
Know where the goods are
A building identifies a place where stock is held, such as a warehouse or store. A location identifies a position within it, such as a shelf, bin, or inspection area.
Stock at another building may be useful, but it has a different journey to the customer. Fifty units across the country cannot always replace fifty units at the warehouse shipping today. Keeping quantities by building lets the team compare the supply with the delivery requirement.
The operation handling the goods should confirm the count. If a warehouse partner manages the stock, its receipts, shipments, and corrections need to reach the people making promises from that stock.
Account for condition and commitments
Physical stock is the quantity present. Excluding unavailable goods, such as the five units awaiting inspection, leaves ninety-five usable units.
An allocation reserves stock for particular fulfillment work. The twenty allocated units are still in the warehouse, but they are committed to other orders. Removing those reservations leaves seventy-five unallocated units.
The fifteen units ordered but not yet allocated are also a commitment. Subtracting them leaves sixty Available to Sell. That is the quantity the sales team can offer to new demand on this basis.
When those fifteen units are allocated, their commitment moves from unallocated demand into reserved stock. It should not be deducted twice. Keeping the quantities distinct lets the warehouse reserve specific goods without changing the underlying promise to customers.
Check the arrival date before promising more
Another hundred units may be incoming from a supplier or another building. Incoming supply can include goods still awaiting dispatch as well as goods already traveling.
Combining current availability with incoming quantities gives a future available position. Its usefulness depends on dates and destinations. A delivery expected next month cannot support a retailer order that must leave tomorrow.
For the sixty-unit request, the sales team can confirm the available quantity at the relevant warehouse. If the retailer wants eighty, the team needs to check whether incoming supply will arrive in time or agree on a later delivery for the additional twenty.
Choose what each channel can offer
A website may display fewer units than the business has available. The team might keep a buffer for count differences or offer stock from only certain buildings. Inventory syndication distributes those offered quantities to selling channels.
If the website shows zero while the warehouse has stock, check the commitments and selling policy before changing the count. The right action might be to release an old reservation, confirm an inspection, or change the channel’s offer. Each resolves a different reason the goods cannot currently be sold.