Retail Inventory Platform
A multi-location inventory and ordering system that unified stock data across warehouses and storefronts.
Overview
A growing retail business needed a single system to track inventory across warehouses and storefronts instead of reconciling numbers across disconnected tools.
Problem
Stock counts were tracked separately at each location, leading to overselling, delayed restocking, and manual reconciliation work every week.
Business Requirements
- Unified inventory view across all locations
- Low-stock and reorder alerts
- Role-based access for store and warehouse staff
- Reporting for purchasing decisions
Solution
We built a centralized inventory platform with a Next.js front end and a Django REST API, giving every location real-time visibility into stock levels and automated reorder alerts.
Architecture
The Django API exposes inventory and ordering endpoints backed by PostgreSQL, with Redis caching high-traffic read paths such as stock lookups during peak hours.
Key Features
- Centralized, real-time inventory dashboard
- Automated low-stock and reorder notifications
- Location-level permissions and reporting
- Purchasing reports for demand planning
Technology Stack
Challenges
Keeping stock counts consistent across concurrent updates from multiple locations required careful handling of write conflicts and caching invalidation.
Engineering Decisions
We used optimistic concurrency control on inventory records and a short-lived cache layer to keep the dashboard responsive without sacrificing accuracy.
Results
- A single source of truth replaced weekly manual reconciliation
- Reorder alerts reduced stockout incidents
- The architecture supports adding new locations without redesign
Have a similar project in mind?
Let’s talk about your requirements and how we’d approach it.