Just because a product is currently out of stock or in limited supply doesn't mean it won't be more available for purchase in the future. Reap all the benefits of product page SEO, help shoppers keep track of their preferred products, and even amp up demand for low inventory products with Treez Ecommerce's inventory management tools and configurations.
Low Stock vs. Out of Stock Products
In Treez Ecommerce, a product is considered Out of Stock if its remaining sellable inventory equals zero (0). A product is considered Low Stock if there are fewer units remaining in sellable inventory than the quantity set for your Menu Display Quantity Threshold in SellTreez configs. For example, if I have Low Stock enabled and have set my Menu Display Quantity Threshold for all product categories to 5, then products with 4 or fewer sellable units remaining will be displayed with a Low Stock label on my Treez Ecomm website.
By default, both the Low Stock and Out of Stock product display configs are disabled. This means that no out of stock products will be displayed on your website, and no products will be displayed with the Low Stock label, regardless of how many units they have remaining.
You can enable either or both features independently of one another. Learn how below.
Displaying Low Stock Products
Some retailers prefer to keep their lowest-inventory items only available for purchase in-store. Treez Ecommerce allows you the option of enabling Low Stock labels to indicate to customers that they're limited in availability but can still be purchased in-store.
Here is an example of how a low stock product will appear on a Treez Ecommerce site:
How to Display "Low Stock" Product Labels on Your Website
Here's how to display low inventory products to online shoppers but prevent them from being purchased through your website:
Navigate to your Treez Ecommerce Admin panel --> Settings
Click into Customization
Under the Global header, find the Low stock products config and turn it On (green)
Click Update in the upper right to save your changes
Open the Store Status dropdown menu in the far upper right and click Publish to publish your changes
Then, login to Treez and select a store in the lefthand menu to open that location's SellTreez instance.
In SellTreez, navigate to the primary Config Page (open lefthand menu --> Configuration --> Config Page.)
Find and select the Ecommerce page in the Configurations list.
Find Menu Display Quantity Threshold in the configs list and click the down arrow to expand it.
In the Global Minimum Inventory Quantity box, input the quantity you want to set as the minimum inventory threshold for products to display without a Low Stock banner.
If you would like to set category-specific thresholds (e.g. for prerolls, merch, edibles, etc.), click the toggle to the left of each relevant category in the list to turn it On (green) and then enter your desired minimum threshold quantity in the corresponding box.
Go back to Treez Ecommerce Admin and click Publish in the Store Status menu to push your changes to your website.
Voila! Refresh your site and look for the Low Stock label on expected products.
How This Differs from Other Ecommerce Platforms
With other Treez-integrated ecommerce sites, the minimum inventory quantity threshold is used to set the minimum for a product to display on the retailer's online menu at all. For example, typically this means that using a threshold of 0 allows out of stock products to appear online, while using a threshold of 1 would hide out of stock products from the menu. To account for limited stock items, using a threshold of 5 would hide any product with less than 5 units available from their website entirely.
With Treez Ecommerce's Low Stock feature, retailers can continue to attract shoppers with their preferred products without creating inventory and customer service headaches for your retail team to manage.
Displaying Out of Stock Products
If you want shoppers to be aware of products that you'll be restocking in the near future, you have the option to display out of stock products on your Treez Ecommerce online menu without allowing customers to purchase them.
Here is an example of how an out of stock product (left) will appear on a Treez Ecommerce site, vs. an available product (right):
Note: The first iteration of the Out of Stock display feature hides the Add to Cart button from product cards, but still displays it on the product detail page. While shoppers can add Out of Stock products to their cart from the product detail page, no one will be able to submit an order containing out of stock product(s). They will be prompted to remove the item from their cart upon checkout.
How to Display Out of Stock Products on Your Website
Pro Tip: Before enabling Out of Stock Products to be shown, review your product catalog and deactivate any out of stock products that you don’t plan to restock anytime soon. This will help keep the majority of your site shoppable and avoid leaving visitors with a poor impression of your store's inventory management.
Here's how to display low inventory products to online shoppers but prevent them from being purchased through your website:
Navigate to your Treez Ecommerce Admin panel --> Settings
Click into Customization
Under the Global header, find the Out of stock Products config and turn it On (green)
Click Update in the upper right to save your changes
Open the Store Status dropdown menu in the far upper right and click Publish to publish your changes
Voila! You should now see out of stock products displayed on your website.