Tracking what you have.
WHY TRACK IT
Selling something you do not have produces a cancellation, a refund and a bad review.
HOW TO ENABLE IT
WooCommerce settings, products, inventory. Enable stock management.
PER PRODUCT
Set the quantity. The shop decrements on each sale.
PER VARIATION
Set stock individually where sizes or colours differ.
Otherwise an out-of-stock size remains orderable.
LOW STOCK ALERTS
Set a threshold. You receive notification before running out.
BACKORDERS
Decide whether to allow them.
If you do, say clearly on the product page when it will ship.
WHAT GOES WRONG
Stock not decremented because an order failed partway Manual sales not recorded Variations not tracked separately
FOR A PHYSICAL SHOP AS WELL
Selling in person and online from the same stock needs a deliberate process.
Otherwise you oversell.
WHAT TO CHECK WEEKLY
That recorded stock matches actual stock.
