Stock Messaging allows you to control how product availability is displayed to customers on your ecommerce website.
You can configure messaging for retailer stock, supplier stock and incoming purchase order stock, giving customers a clearer indication of whether an item is available now, available from a supplier, or expected to arrive.
You can also choose which stock sources can be purchased online, whether stock quantities are shown, and how low-stock items are identified.
đ Supplier stock messaging is only available if you have supplier stock feeds enabled. If you would like further information on stock feeds, please reach out to support
Accessing Stock Messaging
Stock Messaging is configured in the Back Office > Online Store > Online Setup > Stock Messaging.
The settings allow you to configure the availability messages and options for each stock source.
Aggregated Stock Messaging
The Aggregated supplier and retail number setting controls how stock from different sources is presented to customers.
When the setting is disabled, stock sources are displayed separately, allowing customers to see where the available stock is coming from.
When the setting is enabled, the available stock sources can be presented using an aggregated availability display.
Stock Status Icon
You can choose whether to display stock status icons alongside your availability messages.
How Online Availability Is Determined
A product can be available to purchase online based on the stock sources you have enabled.
Retailer stock - Always contributes towards online availability.
Supplier stock - Only contributes towards online availability when Allow supplier stock to be purchased online is enabled.
Purchase order stock - Only contributes towards online availability when Allow incoming purchase order stock to be purchased online is enabled.
This means you can control whether supplier and incoming stock can make a product available for purchase, while retailer stock is always considered.
Stock messaging reflects the currently selected product or variant.
If different variants have different stock positions, the availability message will update when the customer selects a different variant.
Retailer Stock
Retailer stock is stock that you currently hold and can fulfil directly.
Retailer stock is always available as an online stock source and cannot be disabled.
You can configure messages for three stock states:
In Stock
Displayed when the available quantity is above your configured low-stock threshold.
For example:
In Stock
Available Now
In Stock - {quantity} available
Low Stock
Displayed when stock is available but the quantity is at or below your low-stock threshold.
You can set the threshold that determines when an item is considered low stock.
For example, if your threshold is set to 3:
4 or more = In Stock
1â3 = Low Stock
0 = Out of Stock
Example messages include:
Low Stock
Only {quantity} remaining
Hurry - only {quantity} left
Out of Stock
Displayed when there is no retailer stock available.
For example:
Out of Stock
Currently unavailable
You can also choose not to display a message for this stock state by leaving the field blank.
Supplier Stock
You can configure messages for:
In Stock
Low Stock
Out of Stock
You can also set a separate low-stock threshold for supplier stock.
Some suppliers only provide Yes or No as part of the stock feeds, these display as 100 or 0
As supplier stock may have a different fulfilment time, your messages can be used to communicate this to customers.
For example:
Available from supplier
{quantity} available from supplier
Available from supplier - allow 2-3 working days
Limited supplier availability
Currently unavailable from supplier
If the store is out of stock but there is supplier stock, it will not show out of stock for the store, only the supplier availability.
Incoming Purchase Order Stock
Purchase order stock is stock that you have already ordered but has not yet arrived.
You can choose whether incoming stock can be made available for customers to purchase before it arrives.
When disabled, incoming purchase order stock:
Does not contribute towards online availability
Cannot make an otherwise unavailable product purchasable
Will not be shown to customers
When enabled, incoming stock can contribute towards online availability and the configured message will be displayed.
For example:
Available to pre-order
Stock arriving soon
{quantity} arriving soon
Expected shortly - available to order
If an expected delivery date has been entered against the purchase order, this can also be included in the availability information shown to customers.
For example:
{quantity} expected on {expectedDate}
The expected delivery date is optional, so purchase order messaging will also work where no expected date has been provided.
For purchase order stock, an "available" status means that the incoming stock can be purchased. It does not mean that the stock is currently held by you.