SHOPLINE Live | Lock Inventory Settings

SHOPLINE's "Lock Inventory" feature will allow merchants to set up a lock inventory period prior to the livestream, so when customers place orders through the livestream, their items will be automatically reserved until the deadline set by the merchant. With this feature, customers can keep shopping during the livestream and complete the checkout process at a later time. 

This feature is available to merchants streaming through SHOPLINE Live, Facebook, and Instagram. 

*Reminder: The "Lock Inventory" feature is currently only available to merchants whose online store shipping warehouse is bound to the "Default Warehouse". If your online store warehouse is not bound to the default warehouse but other shipping warehouses, inventory reservation will fail, or the inventory will not be updated successfully. 

This article will cover the following: 

• Lock Inventory Rules
  
• How to set up Lock Inventory
  
• Customer orders made during a livestream  
  
• Notes
  

 

1. Lock Inventory Rules

Lock Inventory is only available for orders made via livestream. It will not reserve product orders placed through the online store. 

• Products added to a customer's cart on the online store website will only be deducted from a store's inventory when the customer completes the checkout.
• Completing the checkout process for a product reserved using Lock Inventory will not trigger a further deduction from that product's inventory. 

 

Main Scenarios:

Scenario	Outcome
The customer adds livestream product to the livestream cart	Inventory is deducted and locked
The customer increases the order quantity in the livestream cart	Inventory is deducted and locked
The customer reduces the order quantity in the livestream cart *Note: Facebook Live does not support reducing order quantity in the livestream cart by commenting	Inventory is reverted and unlocked
The customer removes livestream product from the livestream cart *Note: Facebook Live does not support removing products in the livestream cart by commenting	Inventory is reverted and unlocked
All product inventory is locked	The customer cannot further add products
Reserve time has expired, but customers still haven't completed the checkout	The inventory is reverted immediately and unlocked *Note: The products in the customer's cart will not be removed. Customers can still check out if the products are in stock.

 

When products have unlimited quantity:

Scenario	Outcome
Unlimited Quantity: Customer adds livestream product to livestream cart	Inventory is not deducted or locked The checkout page will still show a livestream reserve message
Customer removes livestream product from livestream cart *Facebook Live does not support removing products in the livestream cart by commenting	Inventory is not reverted and unlocked

 

2. How to set up Lock Inventory

Proceed to SHOPLINE Admin > [Social Commerce] > [SHOPLINE Live] to add a livestream, then select the livestream channel and enter the livestream introduction. In the Advanced settings, you can choose whether or not to switch on the Lock Inventory feature. 

*Note: Lock Inventory is switched on by default. You can switch off this feature if you do not need to reserve inventory for customers.

 

If you switch on Lock Inventory, you will need to select a lock inventory period. The system will reserve inventory for your customers for that period of time you set. 

The selected time will display in the field, click Create to complete the livestream setup. 

 

*Note: Before you begin the livestream, you can click the gear icon to edit Lock Inventory settings. Once you start the livestream, you will not be able to edit the lock inventory period. 

 

3. Customer orders made during a livestream 

Once the livestream and Lock Inventory settings are confirmed, you can begin a livestream where customers can place orders.

Customers who add products to their shopping cart using SHOPLINE Live will see a reserved inventory period in their cart.

On the checkout page, customers will see the products, the reserved inventory quantity, and the reserved period.

*Note: As long as you have switched on the Lock Inventory feature, livestream checkouts through Facebook and Instagram will also display information related to the reserved inventory.

 

*Note: If the customer placed an order for the same product during different livestreams, the inventory reserve tag will show the amount reserved for each livestream. Hover the mouse over the reserved quantity and it will show the reserve date and time as well as which livestream the product is placed from.

 

4. Notes

• The inventory of products purchased in the online store (non-livestream ordering products) will not be reserved, and there will be no inventory reservation reminder.
• If the customer later increases the quantity of livestream products on the checkout page, the inventory will not be locked, and the inventory will be locked only when the customer returns to the SHOPLINE Livestream to add the product quantity, or comment keywords in the Facebook Live.
• The reminder "Live Stream limited time reservation" will not appear after the lock inventory period has expired.
• When the lock inventory feature is enabled, the locked status will not appear in the product log and the Inventory Management. You can check the reserved inventory quantity by going to the Product Overview in the SHOPLINE Live backstage.
  Please see SHOPLINE Live | Product Sales Overview to learn more about viewing the reserved inventory on the Overview page.
• If the customer has not checked out after the lock inventory period, the system will unlock the product inventory, but will not remove the product from the shopping cart. If the item is still in stock, the customer can still place an order on the checkout page. If the item is out of stock, the customer will see the product marked "sold out" on the page and cannot proceed to checkout.