Inventory Visibility
"We Can't See Our Real Inventory"
You're selling on Shopify, Amazon, and growing into wholesale. Your inventory lives in multiple 3PLs, maybe FBA, and your own warehouse. But you can't answer a simple question: how many units do we actually have available to sell?
You're overselling because channels don't talk to each other. You're stocking out because you can't see what's inbound. You're reconciling inventory in spreadsheets every month because nothing matches.
See How Fulfil Solves ThisSound Familiar?
These are real problems we hear from brands every day
"We're overselling on Shopify because it doesn't know what sold on Amazon"
Inventory shows available on Shopify, but it was already allocated to an Amazon order. Customer places order, then gets an apology email.
"We have multiple 3PLs and can't see inventory across all of them in one place"
Each 3PL has their own portal. Getting a total inventory count means logging into multiple systems and adding numbers in a spreadsheet.
"Monthly inventory reconciliation takes days and we still find variances"
Export from each system, reconcile in Excel, find mismatches, chase down discrepancies. Repeat every month.
"Wholesale customers are asking about inventory and we can't give them a straight answer"
Big box retailer wants to place a PO for 5,000 units. Can you fulfill it? You're not actually sure without checking multiple systems.
"We can't see in-transit inventory, so we're always surprised by stockouts"
A shipment is on the water, but you can't sell against it. By the time it arrives, you've lost weeks of sales.
"We don't know which channel is eating our inventory fastest"
Amazon burns through stock faster than DTC, but inventory isn't allocated separately. Wholesale suffers because DTC and marketplace orders take everything.
The Real Cost
This Costs Real Money
Brands we talk to lose 5-15% of potential revenue to inventory visibility issues. The costs add up fast.
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$
Lost sales from stockouts
Customers buy from competitors. They might not come back.
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$
Chargebacks from overselling
Cancel orders, refund customers, damage your marketplace metrics. Amazon doesn't forgive easily.
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$
Staff time on manual reconciliation
Your ops team spending days every month reconciling inventory instead of improving operations.
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$
Missed wholesale opportunities
Can't commit inventory to big retailers because you don't trust your numbers.
Before Fulfil
200-500
out-of-stock incidents per day
After Fulfil
1-2
out-of-stock incidents per day
"With NetSuite, daily out-of-stock incidents used to be around 200-500 a day. Now with Fulfil, it's down to one or two a day."
— Robot 090, CFO & COO at dbrand
How Fulfil Gives You One Source of Truth
Fulfil connects all your inventory locations and sales channels into a single, live view. Connected directly to your financials.
Live Sync
Every Channel, Every Location, One Number
Fulfil tracks inventory across all your locations: warehouses, 3PLs, FBA, retail stores. It syncs availability to all your sales channels automatically. Not nightly batches. Not hourly updates.
- Native integrations with Shopify, Amazon, Faire, TikTok Shop, and more
- Pre-built connectors for major 3PLs (ShipBob, ShipMonk, Flexport, and 20+ others)
- FBA inventory visibility alongside your own fulfillment
- Automatic inventory decrements when orders come in
Quantity Fields in Fulfil
Quantity Pools Example
Product: Summer Collection Tee (1,000 units available)
Reserved for Target PO shipping next month
Always keep 20% for FBM backup
Available for Shopify and other DTC channels
Channel-Specific Control
Reserve Inventory for the Channels That Matter
DTC channels move faster than wholesale. Without control, your DTC orders eat inventory meant for a Target PO. Fulfil's Quantity Available Pools let you reserve inventory by channel, so you never disappoint a wholesale partner.
- Reserve specific quantities for wholesale commitments
- Set percentage holdbacks for slower channels
- Automatically deduct from the right pool when orders come in
- See real availability per channel, not just total inventory
Sell Inventory Before It Arrives
Why wait for inventory to hit the warehouse before selling it? Fulfil's forecasted stock feature lets you sell against inbound shipments, so you capture sales during lead time instead of losing them.
- Set availability forecast days per channel listing
- Include inbound supplier shipments in available-to-sell
- Factor in expected customer returns
- Apply cutbacks to prevent over-promising
Sell 230 units on your channel instead of just 50, without overselling.
Fulfil vs. Inventory Sync Tools
Tools like Stocky, Cin7, SkuVault, and Linnworks sync inventory between systems. Fulfil is the system.
| Capability | Sync Tools (Stocky, Cin7, etc.) | Fulfil |
|---|---|---|
| Sync speed | Hourly or daily batches. Stocky syncs every 1-4 hours. Cin7 can lag during peak. | Real-time. Order on Amazon decrements Shopify inventory in seconds. |
| Channel allocation | Manual holdbacks in spreadsheets. Update each channel separately when allocation changes. | Quantity pools automatically reserve inventory by channel. DTC can't eat wholesale allocation. |
| Inbound inventory | Can't sell until physically received. POs tracked separately from available inventory. | Sell against forecasted stock. Include inbound shipments in available-to-sell calculations. |
| Financial integration | Inventory counts only. COGS tracked in separate accounting software. Manual reconciliation monthly. | Inventory, COGS, and GL in one system. Every move creates journal entries automatically. |
| 3PL visibility | Each 3PL is a separate integration. Aggregated totals, limited bin-level detail. | All locations in one view. Drill down to warehouse, zone, bin, lot, serial number. |
| Reconciliation | Export from each system, reconcile in Excel, chase discrepancies. 2+ days per month. | One system of record. Inventory matches GL. Nothing to reconcile between systems. |
Brands That Fixed Their Inventory Visibility
Getting to Real-Time Inventory Visibility
Here's how brands typically go from spreadsheet chaos to one source of truth
Connect Your Channels
Shopify, Amazon, Faire, TikTok Shop, wholesale portals. Connect all your sales channels to Fulfil.
Connect Your Locations
Your warehouses, 3PLs, FBA. All feeding inventory data into one system in real-time.
Set Your Rules
Configure inventory pools, safety stock, cutbacks, and channel mappings to match your business.
Operate with Confidence
One dashboard, real-time numbers, no more overselling, no more spreadsheet reconciliation.
Common Questions
How quickly does inventory sync between channels?
Fulfil syncs inventory in real-time, not hourly or daily batches. When an order comes in on Amazon, Shopify sees the updated inventory within seconds. This matters during high-volume periods like BFCM when inventory moves fast.
What if my 3PL isn't on your integration list?
We have pre-built integrations with 20+ 3PLs including ShipBob, ShipMonk, Flexport, Deliverr, and many others. For 3PLs not on the list, we can typically integrate via their API, CSV/SFTP, or EDI. Most custom 3PL integrations are completed during implementation.
Can I reserve inventory for a wholesale PO that ships in 60 days?
Yes. Fulfil's Quantity Available Pools let you reserve specific quantities for wholesale commitments. Set a manual pool for "Target Spring PO" with 5,000 units reserved. Those units won't be available to DTC channels until the reservation is released.
How do I handle safety stock or buffer inventory?
Fulfil supports cutbacks at the channel and individual listing level. Hold back a percentage of inventory from being listed on any channel. Set a 10% cutback on Shopify to maintain buffer stock. You can set different cutbacks per channel or individual product listings based on sales velocity and risk tolerance.
Do I still need to do monthly inventory reconciliation?
For most brands, no. All inventory movements flow through Fulfil: receiving, transfers, adjustments, sales. There's nothing to reconcile between systems. Your inventory count in Fulfil matches your GL automatically. You'll still want periodic cycle counts to verify physical inventory matches system records, but the days of exporting from multiple systems and reconciling in Excel are over.
Related Solutions
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