Allocate limited stock between online and in-person sales

Selling the same stock online and in person can work, but only when each commitment reduces the quantity available elsewhere. A product physically sitting on a market table may already belong to an online order, while a website can continue offering a unit that was sold minutes earlier.

When reliable synchronisation is not established, use deliberate allocation and reconciliation. Do not assume that two sales channels share an inventory record merely because they belong to the same business.

Count the usable starting stock

Begin with a physical count by product and variant. Exclude damaged pieces, samples and items already committed to accepted orders.

Keep the count date and person responsible. A number copied from last week's sheet is not a current starting point.

For one-off items, confirm their individual identity. Similar-looking pieces may not be interchangeable if photographs or custom details distinguish them.

Allocate before the channels open

Suppose twelve sellable units are available. You might allocate seven to the online channel and five to an event. The total offered remains twelve.

The allocation is a controlled limit, not a physical transformation. Label event stock or use a clear transfer record so helpers know which pool they are selling from.

Do not leave all twelve available online while also allowing the event team to sell five unless a verified shared system prevents double commitment.

Record transfers explicitly

If the event needs two more units from the online allocation, reduce online availability before treating those units as available at the event.

Record the product, quantity, source, destination, time and person making the transfer. Avoid relying on a message that may be read later.

If the update cannot be confirmed, keep the transfer pending rather than promising the units in both places.

Protect existing reservations

An online order awaiting a defined confirmation step may already hold stock. Understand your process before reallocating that quantity.

Do not treat “not yet dispatched” as “available to sell again.” The customer commitment matters even while the item remains physically present.

Use the inventory guide to distinguish physical quantity, reserved quantity and available quantity.

Design for connection failures

At an event with unreliable connectivity, a fixed allocation can be safer than pretending that every sale will synchronise immediately.

Write the fallback before the event starts. Decide whether online sales pause for the affected items, whether the event uses a separate pool or whether a person coordinates transfers.

A manual fallback should have a clear end and reconciliation step. Otherwise temporary records can become a permanent second inventory system.

Reconcile after the event

Count remaining event stock and compare it with recorded sales, damaged items, gifts and transfers. Investigate differences before returning everything to online availability.

For example, five allocated units minus three sold leaves two, unless another documented movement occurred. A free sample is still a stock movement even though it creates no sales revenue.

Do not balance a discrepancy by inventing a sale or editing the opening count without an explanation.

Test a proposed integration

If you adopt synchronisation software, test a sale, cancellation, refund-related return, variant change and temporary connection failure.

Confirm the direction and timing of updates. Some integrations import orders but do not reserve stock in the way your process requires.

Do not use a marketing claim of “real time” as the entire verification. Observe the actual customer and staff behaviour under a controlled test.

Review the allocation decision

After several events, compare demand and leftover quantities by channel. Adjust future allocations from that evidence rather than automatically splitting stock equally.

Consider the cost of transferring stock and the risk of online disappointment, not just where the last sale happened.

The goal is one coherent picture of commitments. Whether the process is manual or integrated, every unit should have a clear state and should not be promised to two customers at once.

Include the packing team in this review so hidden holds and event transfers are not missed.