Display real-time stock availability online.
Author:
Fluent Commerce
Changed on:
17 Oct 2025
Problem
Managing inventory in real-time as an omni-channel retailer or distributor is a complex challenge, with inventory distributed across multiple systems and constantly moving throughout the organisation. Inventory can be held across systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning tools (ERP), Point of Sale systems (POS), Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) and third-party Logistics providers (3PL) with no "single view" of what is available at any time.
This problem with distributed inventory systems means that retailers and distributors find it increasingly difficult to provide an accurate online stock availability promise. They are competing against businesses who are offering these promises, building reliability and trust with their customers. Without the right inventory and order systems, businesses cannot reliably promise inventory to online customers, which has significant revenue, cost and customer experience implications.
Example
A multi-brand retailer who sells Sporting Fashion and Apparel products online and through a vast store network was having problems showing online availability. For them, Inventory was housed across a number of key systems; ERP, POS, WMS and 3PL.
Given the complexity of these systems and the rapid movement of inventory across the organization they were unable to show real-time inventory, or make inventory promises to their online customers. As a result, they had issues with overpromising, resulting in unfulfilled items and canceled orders. This was driving significant costs to the business from a Customer Service handling, lost revenue, and driving poor customer experiences impacting their customer retention and loyalty.
Solution Overview
Fluent Commerce Order Management System (OMS) solves the challenge of displaying real-time stock availability online primarily through its Unified View of Inventory and the Fluent BIG Inventory module, which centralizes and processes inventory data from all sources to calculate and expose a near real-time Available to Promise (ATP) quantity to all sales channels.
Here are the key ways Fluent Commerce OMS achieves this:
1. Creating a Unified View of Inventory
Fluent OMS acts as an availability master, not just an inventory master, by connecting to and ingesting data from all your disparate stock systems.
Ingests Data from All Sources: It integrates with multiple systems like ERPs, Warehouse Management Systems (WMS), and Point of Sale (POS) systems across warehouses, distribution centers, and physical stores.
Near Real-Time Updates: It utilizes an event-based system, often using Inventory Delta updates, which only send and process changes to inventory positions as they happen (like a store sale or return), instead of relying on slow, periodic batch updates. This ensures the inventory picture is near real-time.
Single Source of Truth: It consolidates this data to provide a single, accurate view of stock across the entire business, preventing issues like overselling or underselling.
2. Calculating Available to Promise (ATP)
The platform converts physical stock-on-hand into what is Available to Promise (ATP) for a customer to buy online.
Configurable Business Rules: It allows you to apply rules and policies to the raw inventory data before displaying it online.
Safety/Buffer Stock: You can set buffer or safety stock levels for locations or channels (e.g., reserving a few units in a store for Buy Online, Pickup In-Store/BOPIS). This prevents customer disappointment by not listing the last physical unit as available for online shipping.
Virtual Inventory Pools: You can segment inventory into virtual pools, controlling which stock is made available to which sales channel (e.g., reserving more stock for your primary website than a third-party marketplace).
Managing Inbound/Future Stock: The system can factor in inbound stock (inventory that is in transit or expected to arrive) and allow you to sell against it using pre-order or backorder functionality.
3. Exposing Availability to Digital Channels
Fluent OMS uses its cloud-native, API-first architecture to deliver the accurate ATP data to the online storefront and other channels.
Fast API Connectivity: The platform is designed for high scalability and low latency, processing billions of API calls and inventory position updates, ensuring the digital storefront receives a fast response on stock availability.
Display on Customer Journey: The real-time ATP data is exposed to digital channels (website, mobile app, kiosks) to display accurate availability information for the customer before the 'Buy Button' on the Product Details Page (PDP) and throughout the checkout process.
Fulfillment Promise: This real-time visibility is used to power Fluent Order Promising, which not only shows if an item is in stock but also calculates and shows the fastest/most convenient delivery and pickup options based on the customer's location and available stock across all fulfillment nodes (stores, warehouses, etc.).
Solution
Inventory Ingestion
Inventory Ingestion in Fluent Commerce ensures that stock levels across all sales channels remain accurate and up-to-date, enabling effective inventory management. It allows businesses to send inventory updates to the platform using two distinct methods: Inventory Batch and Inventory Delta. Each method is tailored to different scenarios, depending on data volume, frequency, and operational needs.
