On this page
Start with one source
Before you connect anything, decide which system decides the stock. That differs per type of seller:
- Dropshipper or reseller: the wholesaler or supplier. You hold nothing yourself.
- Shop with a webshop: your POS, because in-store sales are deducted there.
- Own warehouse or 3PL: your WMS or stock program.
- Mix: several sources, which you add up per product.
Every other place (webshop, marketplaces) only reads. If someone adjusts stock there too, you get differences you can no longer explain.
Push or pull: who starts the update?
With push, the source system itself sends a message as soon as stock changes. That is fastest, but the system must support it and your tool must be able to receive it. With pull, your tool fetches stock at set times through an API, a feed or a file.
| Push | Pull | |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | Right after the change | Behind by up to one interval |
| Requires | Support on both sides | A reachable API, feed or file |
| Risk | Missed messages if a connection drops | Old data between two rounds |
Many wholesalers and POS systems only offer pull. Then the interval decides how current you are. For the last step, from your tool to the marketplace, the same applies: send an update at every change if the channel allows it.
How often should you sync?
There is no fixed number. It depends on how fast products sell and how costly a cancellation is. A direction:
- Fast movers with little stock: as short as the source and the channel allow.
- Items with plenty of stock: a longer interval is fine.
- As soon as an item is nearly out: sync more often or add a buffer. See prevent overselling.
A shorter interval only helps if the source itself is current. If your supplier updates its stock once a day, syncing every minute does not make your numbers more accurate.
Feeding sales on your channels back
Syncing runs both ways. Besides stock going from the source to the channels, every sale on a channel must lower the stock and send that number to the other channels. Otherwise you sell on the webshop what sold on the marketplace an hour earlier.
Also watch reservations (an order in a cart or not yet paid), returns and count corrections. Decide per case whether that stock counts, and write it down so all channels behave the same.
How StoreLinkr does it
StoreLinkr fetches stock from wholesalers, POS systems and WMS systems (such as Exact Online, Picqer and Stockhub) and keeps it for 15 minutes at most, so your webshop does not show old numbers.
- Stock from several locations is added up to one total. You can also add your own manual warehouses and adjust them per product.
- When a new order arrives, the quantity is deducted from the right warehouse and the updated stock goes straight to every connected channel.
- Every change is logged per product and warehouse in a stock history, with its cause (import, order or manual).
Whether a supplier uses push or pull is decided by its system, not by StoreLinkr. Ask per connection how often the source itself updates. Details are on the page about stock management for your webshop.
Connect your stock automatically
See how StoreLinkr carries stock from suppliers, POS and warehouse to your webshop and marketplaces.
