Is it in stock? Let me check
A customer asks whether an item is available. Your team says they will check. That means logging into the supplier's trade site, searching the code, reading the stock indicator, or sending an email and waiting. For an order with twenty lines across four suppliers, the check takes much of the morning.
On the shop side it is worse. Your website shows items as available because nobody updated them, customers order, and then you have to apologise and refund.
Why stock information is out of reach
Suppliers know their stock, but share it in different ways. Some provide a proper feed. Some email a spreadsheet once a week. Many show stock only on their trade website, as a number, a colour or words like low stock. A few only answer on the phone.
| How the supplier shares stock | Typical fix |
|---|---|
| API or EDI | Direct integration |
| Scheduled CSV or FTP file | Automatic import |
| Emailed spreadsheet | Mailbox parser |
| Trade website only | Permitted, logged-in collection |
| Phone or email only | Request a feed; otherwise a structured request process |
Different suppliers also describe stock differently: exact counts, bands, or just in and out. Your system needs one consistent answer.
Timing adds to it. A weekly stock spreadsheet is out of date the day after it arrives, and a fast-moving line can sell out at the supplier while your website still shows plenty. The problem is not only getting the data but getting it often enough to be useful.
What manual stock checks cost
- Overselling, refunds and unhappy customers
- Slow quotes that lose orders to faster competitors
- Staff time spent checking rather than selling
- Conservative buying because nobody trusts the availability picture
How we automate supplier stock checks
- We list each supplier and how they share stock today, and ask for a feed or API where one might exist. It is always the better route.
- Feeds and APIs are integrated directly. Emailed spreadsheets are picked up from a mailbox and parsed.
- For suppliers whose trade websites are the only source, we confirm your trade agreement allows automated checks, then build a collector that logs in with your account and reads availability at a sensible pace.
- Stock descriptions are normalised into one scale, with rules you agree, such as treating low stock as a small fixed quantity.
- Updates flow into Shopify, WooCommerce, your ERP or your quoting tool through their APIs, with a buffer you set so you do not sell the last unit.
- Items that go out of stock at a supplier can be hidden or marked as backorder automatically, and a report shows what changed.
- If a supplier feed fails or a collector cannot read the site, the affected products are flagged and a named person is alerted, rather than showing stale availability.
Availability you can quote from
Staff answer availability questions from your own system, which is kept current from supplier data. The website shows stock that genuinely exists. Quotes go out sooner. And when a supplier's data is unavailable, the system says so rather than guessing.
Buyers also get a clearer picture of which suppliers run out most often, which helps with ordering decisions.
Where the same product is available from more than one supplier, the system can show availability from each side by side, so staff can switch source rather than lose the sale.
Customer service gets a cleaner answer to give as well. Instead of promising to check and call back, staff can see the supplier's position, the last time it was confirmed and any expected restock date the supplier publishes, and give the customer an honest answer on the spot.
Your own purchasing benefits too. When stock levels at suppliers are visible over time, you can see which lines tend to run short before busy periods and order ahead, rather than finding out when a customer order is already waiting.
Signs this is your problem
- You regularly sell items the supplier no longer has
- Staff check supplier websites or phone for availability
- Supplier stock arrives as emailed spreadsheets
- Quotes wait on availability checks