Real Time Stock Updates: Preventing Oversells, Backorders, and Customer Frustration

Stock updates are not a detail, they are the promise

Real time stock updates matter because stock availability is the promise you make at checkout. Research shows that when inventory signals lag reality, brands oversell, create backorders, and trigger support tickets that cost real money. Customers do not see inventory systems. They see whether the item they bought ships on time.

Many brands come to G10 after living through the same painful cycle. A SKU sells well, the storefront keeps taking orders, and then the warehouse discovers the inventory is not there. The brand refunds orders, customers leave angry reviews, and the team spends days cleaning up. Real time stock updates are how you stop the cycle by keeping availability aligned with what is actually on the shelf.

As Maureen Milligan said, "Most of the customers who come to us from another 3PL, their challenges have always been access to their data, order accuracy and efficiency, and basically just meeting the committed requirements. So we've seen a lot of people come disillusioned by their last 3PL, where their orders weren't getting fulfilled in time, their inventory accuracy was not there, and they were not able to satisfy customer orders." Real time stock updates address that disillusionment by making inventory levels visible and dependable.

Real time updates require real time inventory event capture

Real time stock updates are only possible when inventory events are captured as they happen. If receiving updates occur hours later, or if adjustments happen without immediate system updates, the storefront will still show the wrong availability. Research shows that delayed receiving and delayed inventory adjustments are common causes of oversells because the system does not reflect reality quickly enough.

Bryan Wright described the kind of timestamped history that supports real time visibility when he said, "Absolutely. We have portals that show you the data. We have history that shows you all of that tracking. It shows the product landed on the dock at 8 o'clock. At 8:10, John picked it up and took it to location XYZ, and at 10 o'clock, we picked two items off of that pellet in the location 1, 2, 3, 4, order, you know, ABC, and at 11 o'clock, we packed it, we put it in this box and put this label number on it, and all the way through the process onto the truck and to the customer." Real time stock updates depend on that same chain of events, applied to inventory movement and status changes.

Scan-based workflows keep stock updates accurate

Real time stock updates do not mean much if the underlying counts are wrong. Accuracy comes from scan-based execution. If inventory moves without scans, the system will show availability that does not exist.

As Connor Perkins said, "You want everything to be scanned in the warehouse, nothing done on paper. You can lose a lot of money in this industry by you know having people ship stuff wrong, or store it wrong, and now it's lost somewhere. So having a 3PL and WMS that is 100% scan-based is crucial." Scan-based execution is what turns real time updates into real time truth.

Connor also said, "One of the pain points our clients have experienced with previous 3PLSs is inventory accuracy; maybe their previous 3PL wasn't great at picking the orders accurately. So they were losing money by shipping wrong items or wrong quantities of items." When inventory accuracy is weak, stock updates become misleading, and the customer experience breaks even when the website looks polished.

Real time updates must account for reserved and allocated inventory

Many brands confuse on-hand inventory with available inventory. Real time stock updates should reflect what is actually available to sell, not just what is physically in the building. Research shows that oversells often happen when allocated inventory is treated as available inventory across channels.

A strong approach is to separate inventory states: available, allocated, picked, packed, shipped, damaged, and inbound. When those states update in real time, the brand can make better promises. When they do not, the brand will oversell, then scramble to fix it.

Receiving speed is a stock update problem, not just a dock problem

When inventory arrives but does not show up quickly, you lose sales. When inventory is received incorrectly, you create backorders. Receiving speed and receiving accuracy both matter for real time stock updates, because they determine whether the system reflects inbound reality.

Real time stock updates are most valuable during high-demand periods when inventory arrives and sells quickly. If receiving is slow, the business either sells inventory it does not have or fails to sell inventory it actually has because it is not visible yet.

Portals make real time stock updates usable for brands

Real time stock updates are only helpful if brands can see them without waiting for a report. A portal that shows inventory levels and accuracy signals makes real time updates practical for planning and merchandising.

As Maureen said, "We're in the last stages of developing a new portal that will give customers real-time visibility to their on-time order fulfillment, inventory accuracy, and even inventory levels so that they can monitor those things directly in our systems." Real time stock updates become actionable when brands can monitor inventory levels directly and confirm that the numbers match what is happening.

She added, "A lot of the 3PL customer expectations are that order fulfillment is happening extremely timely, that our inventory is accurate, that we're able to execute on their orders very quickly, and get them shipped the same day. So what these real-time portals provide our customers is 100% visibility." Stock updates are part of that visibility because inventory truth supports on-time fulfillment.

Transaction history is what explains stock changes

When stock drops unexpectedly, teams need to know why. Real time stock updates become much more useful when they include transaction history that explains changes. Research shows that without an audit trail, teams waste time debating whether a change was caused by orders, adjustments, receiving variances, or process gaps.

As Connor said, "Our clients get best-in-class visibility and transparency. They can see their daily orders, they can see KPIs, and they can see historical transactions. They can look at a daily level or go into the more granular version where they're looking at transactional history on an item." Real time stock updates become trustworthy when you can trace the transactions behind them.

He also said, "You have easy access to reporting and you can export to Excel, or really any format that you like you know directly from our WMS portal." Reporting access helps brands validate stock behavior and share findings internally.

Real time stock updates reduce oversells and support tickets

Oversells create refunds. Backorders create tickets. Both damage repeat purchase behavior. Real time stock updates reduce these problems by keeping available-to-sell inventory aligned with real inventory movement and allocation.

As Maureen said, "We will take in your inbounds, we will get them received and reported back to you within our SLAs, and oftentimes more quickly than what we contracted for. We will ship your orders out the day they're required. And our inventory accuracy is generally right there at that 99.7% that we agreed. So that's one of the areas where we really do excel, and where we've been able to win business." Real time stock updates make that accuracy visible and help prevent customer-facing surprises.

Real time updates rebuild confidence after bad inventory data

Brands often switch 3PLs because inventory stopped being believable. A SKU showed in stock, but it was not. A shipment arrived, but the system never reflected it in time. Real time stock updates rebuild confidence by aligning availability with reality and making changes traceable.

As Maureen said, "For customers who have come to us from a bad 3PL relationship, they experience relief. They're suddenly seeing their business scaling, that the data supports what we agreed to, and then the trust begins to build." Real time stock updates contribute to that relief because inventory truth makes planning possible again.

Real time stock updates are now essential

As ecommerce moves faster, inventory must keep up. Real time stock updates require real time event capture, scan-based execution, portals that expose inventory levels, and reporting that explains changes with transaction history.

As Connor said, "This is one of our strengths. G10 is on the cutting edge for this kind of transparency and feedback for clients." If your brand wants fewer oversells, fewer backorders, and fewer customer apologies, real time stock updates are a practical place to focus.

If you want to see what real time stock updates look like when every inventory movement is captured and visible, ask for a walkthrough that maps your current inventory surprises to a clearer, more defensible visibility model.