Separate the places you operate
A shop, warehouse and vendor location may have different staff and responsibilities. Keep the location model aligned with how the business actually handles goods.
INVENTORY / LOCATIONS
The right stock. In the right context.
A location gives an inventory quantity a physical and operational meaning. Map the places where goods are stored, sold and fulfilled before interpreting stock across channels.
BUILT AROUND THE WORK
What this means
for your business.
Define saleable availability
Physical quantity, reserved quantity and the quantity a channel may sell are different concepts. Confirm the calculation and timing in your deployment so teams use the same definition.
Assign ownership
Choose who may receive goods, report an issue or correct a count at each location. Include the approval path for an unexpected difference.
THE DETAIL IN BUSINESS CONTEXT
Follow the item, not just the headline total.
A variant at a warehouse and the same variant at a shop have distinct location records. Movement, reservation and correction explain why available quantity changes.
The record identity
Variant, location, quantity and reason are part of an inspectable stock event.
The exception
A short receipt, damaged item or concurrent update requires a decision trail and a responsible person.
INSPECT THE RECORDS AND DECISIONS
One variant can have more than one stock story.
A warehouse and a shop may carry the same item, but each has its own physical count and responsibility. A location model should explain where a quantity belongs before it is used to promise availability.
Operating concepts to inspect in your setup; this is not a wire-format schema. Exact API fields belong in the source-derived reference.
- Variant
- The exact sellable option, rather than an ambiguous product name.
- Location
- The warehouse, shop or other configured place responsible for the quantity.
- Physical count
- What is actually present at the location at the time of inspection.
- Reservation
- A quantity already committed to other work in your operating model.
- Movement
- The reason stock arrives, leaves or changes at the location.
- Responsible team
- The people who can inspect and correct the record.
When one item is shown in two places
Inspect the location identity and movement history. Do not add totals together until the definition of availability is clear.
Before opening another location
Agree receiving, transfers, staff access and counting responsibility. Test an actual item through both locations.
Inspect the supplied workspace.
Supplied Agora inventory workspace. This capture provides interface context; the operating scenarios on this page use separately labelled sample data.
FOLLOW THE PROCESS
From the first step
to the next decision.
01
Map physical locations
List each stock-holding place and its operating owner.
Map physical locations→Check the product model→Test a stock change
02
Check the product model
Identify products and variants consistently at each location.
Map physical locations→Check the product model→Test a stock change
03
Test a stock change
Inspect the location record after a representative order or adjustment.
Map physical locations→Check the product model→Test a stock change
Operating walkthrough · Review the exact configuration for your business.
A CLEARER PICTURE
Good questions.
Useful answers.
Is a sales channel a location?
Not necessarily. A website may sell stock held at a warehouse or retail location. Define that relationship explicitly.
What should integrations preserve?
Carry the item and location identifiers together. A product-level total alone may lose the context required to fulfill an order.
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