Stock Display

how stock ("inventory") works sparklayer works by taking the inventory (stock) data from your ecommerce store (e g shopify) and showing the same inventory to your b2b customers whether you're managing inventory manually or via a backend system (e g erp), sparklayer will simply display the inventory you've set up via these methods setting up stock locations per customer sparklayer also supports stock locations ("inventory locations"), allowing you to specify which locations you want specific customer groups to use stock from you can learn more in customer groups docid 5 lwmnohhjbjjppg9e6vh show stock levels (inventory) stock levels are retrieved automatically from your ecommerce platform (or integration if you're using the sparklayer api docid\ lhkqo8t7 a0hargvyfgtt ) and you can choose to display these to your customers as well as customise the status messages to get started, you'll need to ensure you're using the latest version of sparklayer (2 0 and above) and you can check this frontend integration guide docid\ qwxsym9x5 pviogutekcp once setup, within the sparklayer dashboard, go to customer groups and you can then configure how you want your stock display to work you can read our full guide on how these configurations work in customer groups docid 5 lwmnohhjbjjppg9e6vh for versions of sparklayer before 2 0 updating the display you can update the default display by adding code to your frontend integration guide docid\ qwxsym9x5 pviogutekcp frontend integration guide docid\ qwxsym9x5 pviogutekcp about how to update display settings on sparklayer / add the below code into the sparklayer core script / / please refer to our help guide on how to do this / display { stock { show true, max 50, last 5, low 15, }, }, / end of code / you can adjust the rules of the status messages shown to customers by changing the variables in the configuration code above status details behaviour max the maximum stock level you want to show to customers stock displays as "xx+ available" stock displays as "xx+ available" last let your customers know that the stock level is down to its last items message shows as red"last stock" message shows as red"last stock" low let your customers know that stock level is low message shows as orange"low stock" message shows as orange"low stock" on smaller screens, if you have variants enabled with stock display, the product detail interface docid\ jkcjbyuanjzp75i8ul7mt will display a "stock key" indicating to the customer the stock status shown in the table above setting a maximum stock level if you're wanting to set a maximum stock level that your customers see, you can configure this via the sparklayer dashboard for example, if you set the limit to 100 , it will display as 100+ to the customer if the stock level exceeds this showing stock on product cards you can also display live stock levels in the product card interface docid\ mrp z0qizq2qksseujylv to enable this please product display docid\ m3df4f0eyc2rm vuarg9h pre order & back order products sparklayer has full support for different stock status messages and it's possible to set up products as pre order / back order this will allow products to be added to an order and concurrently show the pre order / back order messaging to the customer to enable this within shopify set the product as ' continue selling when out of stock ' set a stock level of zero (or less) please note activating "continue selling when out of stock" will also take affect to non b2b customers, allowing them to purchase additional inventory if you'd prefer to restrict this, you may want to create specific products that only show for your b2b customers and we've a shopify customisations docid\ ddiv5tdancaywtoj0vyb7 of some recommended approaches please refer to the sparklayer technical docs updating language and text you can update the default text by adding code to your frontend integration guide docid\ qwxsym9x5 pviogutekcp languages & international docid\ klrs7wtxn3wncdy8z5zvu about how to update text on sparklayer / add the below code into the sparklayer core script / / please refer to our help guide on how to do this / translations { en { "pdp messaging back order" "pre order", "product card messaging back order" "pre order", } }, / end of code / setting pre orders / back orders at a variant level it's also possible to configure pre ordering / back ordering at a variant level, allowing you to set an exact amount of stock you want to allow customers to be able to pre order / back order to enable this, sparklayer uses special settings (sometimes referred to as metafields or attributes ) that allow additional data to be stored against products setting up metafields on shopify 🤖 automatically add this to your shopify store by going to configure metafields 📖 learn more about how metafields work in shopify metafields & data mapping docid\ bxwngb6b1n7qffhtnu7pk item details custom data type variants metafield type this must be set as an integer namespace this must be set as sparklayer key this must be set as min stock level value this must be set as a negative integer a negative integer , e g 6, 12, 20, etc if you're using customer groups docid 5 lwmnohhjbjjppg9e6vh , you can also set reserve stock levels on a per location basis view example metafield configuration item details custom data type variants metafield type this must be set as an json namespace this must be set as sparklayer key this must be set as stock location data value this must be set per location with the location id taken from your ecommerce platform \[ { "location id" "123", "min stock level" 99999999, }, 	{ "location id" "789", "min stock level" 150, } ] item details custom data type variant level (products) metafield type this must be set as an integer namespace this must be set as sparklayer key this must be set as min stock level value this must be set as a negative integer a negative integer , e g 6, 12, 20, etc for more information, please refer to the sparklayer technical docs setting a custom "restock" date "custom dates" allow you to set an exact date when the product is expected to be available it’s a great way to give the end customer better visibility of when to expect receipt of the products on order, and helps deliver an overall better customer experience use cases could include setting a "due in" date of when you're expecting the product to be in stock setting an "estimated shipping" date of when you're expecting the product to ship to enable this, sparklayer uses special settings (sometimes referred to as metafields or attributes ) that allow additional data to be stored against products setting up metafields on shopify 🤖 automatically add this to your shopify store by going to configure metafields 📖 learn more about how metafields work in shopify metafields & data mapping docid\ bxwngb6b1n7qffhtnu7pk item details custom data type variants metafield type this must be set as an date namespace this must be set as sparklayer key this must be set as restock date value this must be set in the appropriate date format, e g 17/11/2022 (for the uk) if you're using customer groups docid 5 lwmnohhjbjjppg9e6vh , you can also set reserve stock levels on a per location basis view example metafield configuration item details custom data type variants metafield type this must be set as an json namespace this must be set as sparklayer key this must be set as stock location data value this must be set per location with the location id taken from your ecommerce platform \[ { "location id" "123", "restock date" "2023 12 12" }, 	{ "location id" "789", "restock date" "2024 12 12" } ] item details custom data type variant level (products) metafield type this must be set as an date namespace this must be set as sparklayer key this must be set as restock date value this must be set in the appropriate date format, e g 17/11/2022 (for the uk) for more information, please refer to the sparklayer technical docs updating language and text you can update the default text by adding code to your frontend integration guide docid\ qwxsym9x5 pviogutekcp languages & international docid\ klrs7wtxn3wncdy8z5zvu about how to update text on sparklayer / add the below code into the sparklayer core script / / please refer to our help guide on how to do this / translations { en { "pdp messaging back order due" "due {restockdate}", } }, / end of code / managing "pre order" / "back order" products if you're running a store that combines both retail (dtc) and b2b, you may want to offer your b2b customers the option to purchase special "pre order" / "back order" products that regular retail customers cannot purchase perhaps you need your b2b customers to order "pre season" or you have a special range of products that aren't available to regular customers setting up pre order / back order products out of the box, shopify doesn't allow you to specify products to hide or show based on a specific customer type one of the most effective ways to "restrict" products is to use the following approach create a brand new product (or range of products) and set this up as normal (e g with images, description, etc) using a third party app (such as locksmith ), you can then configure the product to only show on your website on certain conditions (e g the customer logged in has the tag b2b set against them) via sparklayer, you can then configure your b2b pricing and any settings required (e g quantity rules docid\ cmxfrpgjqxfz9vjztvv0d ) allowing your b2b customers to then purchase them when a regular customer (i e not a b2b customer) visits your store, they won't see any of the special products you've set up via the method above nor will they be able to purchase them whilst this approach does require duplicating data, it can be an effective way to manage "pre order" / "back order" products that you only want your b2b customers to see managing orders with pre order / back order products alongside setting up pre order / back order products (as detailed above), it's also possible to add automations to streamline the management of orders that have these products within them one way is to use built in shopify automations to do this using the shopify flow app and the process broadly works as follows tag products that are on pre order / back order with a special tag when an order is placed with a product that has this tag, add a tag to the order itself within shopify, add a filter to segment any orders that have this tag to get started, you can follow these steps first, within your shopify catalogue, add a tag of b2b pre order to any product(s) that you want to make pre orders / back orders next, download the shopify flow app and upload the below sample files when run, orders and draft orders that have pre order / back order products within them with have a special tag added b2b pre order https //archbee doc uploads s3 amazonaws com/kxppjrvfk15e9wxbmkatp/jrcsuhqe0xlgs47idhu6v draft order tag an order if products have b2b pre order tag assigned flow https //archbee doc uploads s3 amazonaws com/kxppjrvfk15e9wxbmkatp/9d0cqyfqytovmva wts1u order tag an order if products have b2b pre order tag assigned flow finally, within the shopify orders admin, you can set up a basic filter to segment all orders that have the tag b2b pre order you can then use this to manage your internal workflows (e g how you fulfil items) for more information, please refer to the sparklayer technical docs hiding pre order and back order messaging sparklayer will by default show products as pre order if they match the criteria set within your store you can learn more about how to disable this showing below sparklayer will show the pre order stock message based on the following criteria on a product (or variant) level, "track quantity" is enabled the product (or variant) is set to "continue selling when out of stock" the inventory (quantity) is 0 or less to disable the message showing in sparklayer, you can apply the following turn off "track quantity" turn off "continue selling when out of stock" for more information, please refer to the sparklayer technical docs stock locations ("inventory locations") stock locations allow you to specify which stock (or "inventory") locations you want specific customer groups to see stock display settings from if your b2b store is set up with multiple stock locations (e g by geography), it's a great way to ensure your b2b customers are viewing stock disaply settings from the relevant location looking to enable stock locations? you can learn more about how this works in customer groups docid 5 lwmnohhjbjjppg9e6vh reserving stock if you're installing sparklayer on a single website and you are looking to run both dtc and b2b at the same time, it will be necessary to use the same stock pool behind the scenes from an inventory point of view, this essentially means that both dtc and b2b customers will be ordering from the same stock source which can pose challenges for example, your b2b customers could place large orders which inhibit dtc customers from being able to order sparklayer has a way to solve this using a special setting called "reserve stock quantity" it works as follows a product is set up within your store with a reserve stock quantity, e g 50 both dtc and b2b customers can order this product via your store when the total stock level reaches 50 , b2b customers will be prevented from adding the item to their order dtc customers can continue to order the item, thus reserving stock for them to enable this, sparklayer uses special settings (sometimes referred to as metafields or attributes ) that allow additional data to be stored against products setting up metafields on shopify to learn more about how to configure metafields on shopify for sparklayer, please refer to shopify metafields & data mapping docid\ bxwngb6b1n7qffhtnu7pk item details custom data type variants metafield type this must be set as an integer namespace this must be set as sparklayer key this must be set as reserve stock quantity value this must be set as an integer, e g 50 item details custom data type variant level (products) metafield type this must be set as an integer namespace this must be set as sparklayer key this must be set as reserve stock quantity value this must be set as an integer, e g 50 for more information, please refer to the sparklayer technical docs stock status messaging within the frontend interfaces docid\ ccz1vnh0o6d 722w35xpa , sparklayer will display the "stock status" of a product (and its variants), allowing customers to easily see the inventory availability providing you have the "show stock levels (inventory)" configuration enabled, you can then adjust the messaging that is shown by overwriting the default language settings updating language and text you can update the default text by adding code to your frontend integration guide docid\ qwxsym9x5 pviogutekcp languages & international docid\ klrs7wtxn3wncdy8z5zvu about how to update text on sparklayer / add the below code into the sparklayer core script / / please refer to our help guide on how to do this / translations { en { "pdp messaging back order" "pre order", "pdp messaging back order due" "due {restockdate}", "pdp messaging out of stock" "out of stock", "pdp messaging low stock" "low stock", "pdp messaging last stock" "last stock", "pdp messaging in stock" "in stock", "pdp messaging un sellable" "unavailable", } }, / end of code /