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About inventory management

NewStore Omnichannel Cloud allows you to manage inventory operations and stock locations using NewStore Associate App. You can also enable a store in your business to use NewStore as inventory master, instead of an ERP, to manage inventory-related operations and data.

If you use NewStore as inventory master for a store, these inventory operations rely on stock locations that help you manage salable and unsalable stock.

Integration-wise, once an inventory transaction is completed, an event is sent out to third party systems in your business via NewStore Event Stream. See Syncing inventory transactions using the Event stream .

Inventory receiving​

The inventory receiving process allows associates to receive inventory from a DC or another store to their store.

To identify this process, NewStore uses either an ASN as an electronic reference on the app, or a manually typed in reference number for a purchase order or a shipment.

To receive inventory in your store using NewStore Associate App, see Receiving inventory .

Inventory transfers​

The inventory transfer process allows associates to transfer inventory from their store to another store or DC in your business. Inventory transfers help stores fulfill endless aisle orders or in-store purchases.

To request the transfer, a transfer order is provided by the ERP. The transferred inventory is received against an ASN that NewStore Omnichannel Cloud creates for the receiving store.

To transfer inventory using NewStore Associate App, see Transferring inventory .

Inventory adjustments​

The inventory adjustment process allows associates to adjust stock on hand in their store.

To adjust inventory in your store using NewStore Associate App, see Adjusting inventory .

Cycle counts​

The cycle counting process helps increase the accuracy of stock on hand. Associates can use NewStore Associate App to work on count tasks scheduled for specific products and submit the product count.

To count inventory in your store using NewStore Associate App, see Cycle count inventory .

Choosing your inventory master​

To manage inventory-related operations and data, you can use an ERP or NewStore as inventory master.

Important

NewStore does not support reverting to an ERP after you have enabled NewStore as inventory master in the store. Ensure that you want to use NewStore as inventory master before you switch from an ERP.

An ERP as inventory master​

When you use an ERP as inventory master in a store or DC in your business:

  • The stock on hand in the store includes items that have been shipped or handed over from the store (in-store pickup) since the last stock import. The stock on hand for:
    • Shipped items is updated in real-time.
    • Items that are part of inventory transactions (such as transferred or adjusted inventory) is updated after a new stock import. See the note below.
  • Allocations for shipped items are removed immediately from NewStore Omnichannel Cloud.
Important

Use the Event stream to sync inventory back to the ERP after in-store inventory management operations have been completed. See Syncing inventory transactions using the Event stream .

NewStore as inventory master​

Only stores can use NewStore as inventory master, not DCs.

Important
  • NewStore is not the inventory master for stores in your business by default. To enable a store to use NewStore as inventory master, programmatically configure the location as inventory master.
  • NewStore does not support reverting to an ERP after you have enabled NewStore as inventory master in the store. Ensure that you want to use NewStore as inventory master before you switch from an ERP.

When you use NewStore as inventory master for a store in your business:

  • The stock on hand in the store is updated in real-time. NewStore calculates the stock on hand based on inventory transactions and items shipped from the store, using stock locations .

    note

    Shipped items may include items that are part of inventory transfers or adjustments.

  • Allocations for shipped items are removed immediately from NewStore Omnichannel Cloud.

  • You can use an API to import stock on hand directly for your stores, which can then be used for:

    • A full count of the items in the store.
    • An initial stock import into the store, when the store starts using NewStore to manage all inventory-related operations and data.

note
  • When you switch from an ERP to NewStore as inventory master in a store, an initial stock import is required to calculate the real-time stock on hand for the store. This can be achieved via the API.
  • Switch from an ERP to NewStore as inventory master immediately after a stock import into the store. This ensures that NewStore, as the new inventory master, has the accurate stock on hand for the store.
  • When importing stock, ensure that stock is not moved between stores due to in-store purchases, store fulfillment, or inventory movement.
  • NewStore recommends that all cycle counts created in NewStore Omnichannel Cloud due to a mispick are completed before starting a stock import.
Important

To set up NewStore as inventory master in a new store, import stock into the store with the availability set to 0. After enabling NewStore as inventory master in the store, perform a cycle count to update the stock levels to the correct values.

If you import stock with quantities higher than 0 but without a subsequent cycle count, then the stock on hand shows up wrongly as available in the store when you perform an availability export.

Stock locations​

Stock locations allow you to manage salable and unsalable inventory across your business.

note

This feature is only available if you use NewStore as inventory master, instead of an ERP.

When you create a store for your business, it is also considered as a stock location that contains only salable items. The inventory receive, transfer, and adjustment processes modify the stock on hand in the source and destination locations.

You can create additional stock locations for non-salable inventory so that the stock on hand will change accordingly.

For example, you can create a stock location specifically for items to be displayed as visual merchandise in your store. They are not meant to be sold. The items in this stock location are not included in any store's stock on hand. You can include them into you stock on hand by transferring them to a store.

For a guide on how to create stock locations for your business, see (Optional) Creating stock locations .

Important

NewStore uses the main stock location by default for receiving inventory (with or without ASNs) and sales related operations. NewStore does not support receiving inventory into any other stock location. Selling items in the store deducts the inventory only in the main stock location.

To move inventory to another stock location,

adjust inventory in your store.

Future inventory​

You can use future inventory to forecast and fulfill orders on a future date. NewStore includes future inventory when calculating stock on hand and ATP for products at the fulfillment location.

Important

NewStore only supports importing future inventory into warehouses or DCs, and not stores.

When setting up pre-orders for your business, use future inventory to determine the number of products that can be sold as pre-orders before the product becomes available for sale. See Managing pre-orders .

In NewStore Omnichannel Cloud, you can set future inventory at a fulfillment location using a stock import . During a stock import, specify the quantity and date for the future inventory at a specified fulfillment location. In each stock import, you can specify either the current stock on hand or future inventory to import for a product, not both. Run two import jobs to import both stock on hand and future inventory for a product.

For more information, See Importing data or the

tutorial .
note

You can import future inventory only as the future ATP for the product in the fulfillment location.

Items in inventory transactions such as receiving and transfers, created against shipment references (ASN) or purchase orders (PO), can also be considered as future inventory for the destination location. If you are expecting items in the warehouse from such inventory operations, and want to specify them as future inventory, set future inventory using an import job.

Once the items are received, they are added to the stock on hand for the fulfillment location and are not considered as future inventory anymore.

Future allocations​

If you have set up pre-orders for your business, you can use future allocations against future inventory to set aside items at a specific fulfillment location, to fulfill these orders on a future date.

When an order is placed in the NewStore platform with pre-ordered items, a future allocation is created if future inventory is available for the product at the fulfillment location. The status of the pre-ordered items changes to Pending in NewStore Omnichannel Manager. If no future inventory is available for the product, the status of the pre-ordered items changes to On Hold.

For more information on managing future inventory, see Importing data or the tutorial .

When the pre-ordered products become available for sale, the future allocations become regular allocations. The pre-ordered items are routed and fulfilled based on the inventory available at the specified fulfillment location. This includes future inventory that you have specified for import on that date at the location.

note

NewStore only supports importing future inventory into warehouses or DCs, and not stores. Therefore, future allocations are not applicable for store fulfillment.

For more information about managing pre-orders, see

Pre-orders .

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