Canal seamlessly syncs inventory from Suppliers to Retailers. However, it’s important to note that Canal Suppliers manage their inventory in a variety of ways, which may impact what you see on the Retailer side. The three main scenarios include:
Track quantities in Shopify
Supplier inventory is tracked in Shopify and syncs dynamically to your Retailer. Once inventory reaches zero, no additional orders can be placed for these products. Throughout Discover and Proposals, products will be flagged with warnings when inventory is running low or out of stock - but will not be blocked from being included in a proposal.
Track quantities in Shopify and allow selling when out of stock
Supplier inventory is tracked in Shopify and syncs dynamically to your Retailer. These suppliers allow “continue selling when out of stock” to allow for preorders or to account for inventory made on demand, and choose to Unlist products from Canal when inventory is unavailable. Products may sometimes reflect negative inventory quantities; but if the product remains listed to Canal, orders can be placed for these products regardless of the quantity.
No inventory tracked in Shopify
Suppliers track inventory on a platform other than Shopify and choose to Unlist products from Canal when inventory is unavailable. These products will always appear as In Stock in the Canal app with 100 units of inventory.
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Checking inventory levels
To view inventory levels for your Canal products, navigate to the "Inventory" tab.
The number shown at the product level is the cumulative in-stock inventory across all variants. Expand the product to expose the inventory level of each variant. In the absence of quantities, you may see the below labels:
- In stock: The Supplier is tracking their inventory quantities on a different platform.
- Out of stock: The Supplier is currently out of stock. While no action is required, some Retailers choose to remove out of stock products from their site. We also recommend reaching out to the Supplier to request an alternative product in the meantime.
Inventory information can also be viewed on the product in Shopify. If you have any specific questions about your suppliers’ inventory practices, we recommend reaching out to your Supplier directly utilizing Canal’s inbox functionality.