The challenge
The company, a modern DTC paint and home décor brand, frequently offered pre-orders and forward inventory on upcoming product runs — a common practice that their standard Brightpearl-Shopify integration did not natively support. Without accurate forward allocation, pre-order inventory was at risk of double-selling or misallocating before stock physically arrived at their fulfillment location. This created operational complexity and customer experience risk during high-demand product launches.
What we built
- Designed and built a custom forward inventory allocation layer within the Brightpearl-Shopify integration to reserve incoming stock against confirmed pre-orders before goods arrived
- Implemented pre-order tagging and status logic within Brightpearl so allocated inventory was tracked separately from available-to-sell stock
- Built Shopify availability rules that reflected forward allocation state, preventing oversell on pre-order SKUs during open order windows
- Created automated allocation release workflows that transitioned reserved stock to fulfillable status upon warehouse receipt confirmation in Brightpearl
- Established reporting hooks so the operations team could view outstanding pre-order commitments against inbound purchase orders in real time
The outcome
- Pre-order oversell incidents eliminated following deployment of forward allocation logic
- Inventory planning accuracy improved, giving the team clear visibility into inbound stock requirements versus outstanding customer commitments
- Customer experience during product launches improved as pre-order statuses remained accurate and consistent throughout the fulfillment cycle
- The company's operations team gained confidence to run larger pre-order campaigns knowing inventory allocation would be managed automatically