01The Problem
What wasn't working
A multi-brand retail group managed inventory across warehouses and stores in separate systems, causing overselling and stockouts.
02The Challenge
Where it started
Different teams used different units of measure, and not all stock was sellable — display stock, damaged stock, and reserved stock all counted differently. The system had to represent stock as a set of states, not a single number.
03Research & Planning
Finding the real problem
We mapped the entire stock lifecycle with warehouse leads and merchandisers: receiving, transferring, reserving, selling, and writing off. The team surfaced that reserved-but-unpaid online carts caused the biggest overselling problem, so cart reservation became a core design driver.
04Design
Designing for the people who use it
We designed the system around a single, live stock ledger. Every screen shows the same numbers. The interface uses stock-state badges and a change timeline, so a warehouse clerk can see not just that a number changed, but why and by whom.
05Architecture
The technical blueprint
A central Node.js service owns the stock ledger, with Kafka streaming stock events to channel adapters and dashboards. PostgreSQL is the system of record; Redis provides low-latency reads for the point-of-sale integration. Each channel connects through an adapter that treats the ledger as the single source of truth.
06Development
Building in shippable increments
We built the ledger and the web store integration first to solve the overselling problem in the highest-traffic channel. Warehouse operations and store POS followed. Migrating stock data required a reconciliation pass with physical counts at two warehouses before going live.
07Final Solution
What shipped
A centralized inventory and order management system syncing stock across warehouses, stores, and online channels in real time.
Retail 360 now runs every channel off one inventory ledger. Overselling has been eliminated at the root — a cart cannot reserve stock that is not actually available — and peak-season stockouts dropped sharply.
08Key Features
What the product does
- Real-time inventory sync across stores and warehouses
- Order routing that picks the nearest fulfillment point
- Stock-level thresholds and replenishment suggestions
- Purchase order management with supplier tracking
- Channel integration for web and marketplace stores
- Audit trail for every stock movement
09Technology
The stack
- React
- TypeScript
- Node.js
- PostgreSQL
- Redis
- Kafka
- Docker
