Twelve bottles, three listings
Your web shop lists the Sancerre three ways: single bottle, case of six at a small discount, case of twelve at a larger one. Each listing has its own stock number. On a good Saturday, the shop sells nine bottles over the counter. The website still shows two dozen available in twelves, because nobody changed it. A trade customer orders two dozen online. You have three bottles.
Or the reverse: the single-bottle listing says zero because someone set it that way to protect case stock, and a customer who only wanted one bottle goes elsewhere.
Three counts for one wine
The root cause is that the platform thinks the bottle and the case are different products. It keeps a separate number for each and has no idea they come from the same rack. Staff keep the numbers roughly in line by hand, which works until it is busy.
- Each pack size is a separate product with separate stock.
- EPOS sales reduce bottle stock but not case listings online.
- Staff guess at a split between bottles and cases.
- Original wooden cases are worth more than a case made up from loose bottles, and are not tracked separately.
- Mixed cases draw on the same bottles again.
What drift costs
Overselling means cancelled orders, which trade customers remember. Underselling means lost sales on bottles you have. And somebody spends part of each week adjusting three stock figures per wine across hundreds of wines, never quite catching up.
For fine wine there is an extra wrinkle: a case in its original wooden case is not the same as twelve loose bottles, and the price and the customer's expectation both reflect that.
One pool, many pack sizes
- Stock for each wine and vintage is held in bottles, in one place, fed by the EPOS and the web shop.
- Each pack size listing reads from that pool: a case of six is available while there are at least six bottles, and so on.
- You can reserve a minimum number of loose bottles for the shop floor, so the website does not take the last ones.
- Original cases are held as a separate, flagged unit, so an 'original wooden case' listing only shows when one really exists.
- Mixed cases draw each bottle from the same pool, so they can never be sold from stock that has already gone.
- Case prices are calculated from the bottle price and your discount rules, so a price change is made once.
| Listing | Stock shown | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Single bottle | All loose bottles | Always available while stock lasts |
| Case of six | Pool divided by six | Hidden below six bottles |
| Case of twelve | Pool divided by twelve | Hidden below twelve, or your reserve |
| Original wooden case | Count of intact cases | Separate unit, never made up |
| Mixed case | Each bottle from its own pool | Only offered if every bottle is available |
The discounts and reserves are yours to set. We make sure every listing is looking at the same bottles.
One number to trust
The Saturday rush in the shop reduces the case listings online within moments. A trade customer ordering two dozen only sees what can actually be supplied. Price changes happen once. And the weekly stock tidy-up across three listings per wine disappears.
When you open a case of an older vintage to sell by the bottle, you record it once and every listing updates: fewer original cases, more loose bottles.
Signs your pack sizes are drifting
- You list the same wine as a bottle, a six and a twelve with separate stock.
- You have sold cases you could not make up.
- Someone adjusts case stock by hand each week.
- Original cases and loose bottles are not distinguished online.
- Case prices do not update when the bottle price changes.