Syncing Inventory Across 140 Stores in Real Time
How a real-time sync layer closed the gap between what Cresthill's stores had and what its website said they had.
Overview
Cresthill Retail Group runs 140 physical stores alongside a growing e-commerce storefront. Inventory counts lived separately in each store's point-of-sale system, the central warehouse system, and the website — and none of them agreed for long.
The Challenge
Customers regularly ordered items online that were already sold out in-store, and store staff had no visibility into real-time online demand. Nightly batch syncs meant every system was working from numbers that were, at best, hours old — leading to overselling, cancelled orders, and manual reconciliation work every morning.
- ›Inventory counts synced only once nightly across stores, warehouse, and website
- ›Frequent overselling of online-only stock that had already sold in-store
- ›Store staff unable to see real-time online demand for their own inventory
- ›Manual reconciliation consuming hours of staff time each morning
- ›No single source of truth for stock levels across the business
The Solution
We built an event-driven sync layer that publishes every sale, return, and stock movement — in-store or online — as a real-time event, updating a single central inventory store that every system reads from. Stores and the website now see the same numbers within seconds of a transaction.
- ›Event-driven architecture streams stock changes from POS and warehouse systems in real time
- ›Central inventory service acts as single source of truth for all 140 stores and the website
- ›Automatic reservation holds prevent overselling during checkout on both channels
- ›Store dashboard gives staff live visibility into online demand for their stock
- ›Rolled out in phases across store regions to avoid disruption during peak season
Rollout Phases
| Phase | Scope | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 | Pilot — 12 stores + website | 6 weeks |
| Phase 2 | Regional rollout — 60 stores | 8 weeks |
| Phase 3 | Full rollout — remaining 68 stores | 10 weeks |
| Phase 4 | Monitoring & tuning | Ongoing |
Key takeaways
- ›Single event-driven inventory source replaced three disconnected systems
- ›Reservation holds at checkout stopped overselling on both channels
- ›Phased regional rollout avoided disruption during peak trading periods
- ›Store staff gained a live view of online demand for the first time
Figures reflect Cresthill's internal reporting during and after rollout; results may vary by store format and region.
Results
Stock levels across stores, warehouse, and the website now reconcile automatically, in real time. Overselling incidents dropped sharply, morning reconciliation work was eliminated, and store staff gained visibility they'd never had into how their local stock was moving online.
97%
Reduction in overselling incidents
<5 sec
Average sync latency across channels
140
Stores synced to a single inventory source
0
Manual morning reconciliations needed
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