Explained simply

This page explains, without jargon, how Inklura keeps your stock and prepares your supplier orders, and above all when each thing happens. The times and quantities quoted are examples: your own supplier slots and lead times are set in the back office. The back office is in French: screen and button names are given here in English, with the French label in brackets.

1. What makes a stock number move

Inklura keeps a signed counter per product: it can be positive, zero or negative. Four families of events move it:

A cancellation does the reverse movement: cancelling a reception removes what it added; cancelling a customer delivery puts back what it removed.

The first three rows are movements: they add or subtract. A count is different. You say "at this exact moment, there are 12 on the shelf" and Inklura starts again from 12. Entering 0 is a real count: it does reset the counter to zero, including when it was negative.

This leads to a rule that avoids a lot of surprises: when automatic validation catches up a reception or a delivery whose planned date is earlier than your latest count (or your latest stock entry), it treats the event as already included in that number. It closes the paperwork without replaying the movement, otherwise it would be counted twice.

When the counter is negative

A "Recount −N" badge (« À recompter −N ») does not mean a customer is still waiting for N units. It simply says:

Inklura has recorded N more outflows than inflows.

The most common cause is a reception that was not recorded while the customer deliveries were. The number can therefore be right from the journal's point of view and wrong on the shelf.

What to do:

1. count the product physically;
2. enter the result, 0 included;
3. record the next reception when it arrives.

The correction screen is Stock gaps (« Écarts de stock », /manage/ecommerce/vendors/orders/phantom-stock, labelled « Stock fantôme » in some versions of the back office). The pencil on product lists and product sheets also sets an absolute value.

2. How a supplier order is calculated

For each product and for each supplier slot, the reasoning is:

customer need not yet covered + optional margin − retained stock = suggested quantity

Quantities already ordered on a sent order or planned on another slot are not ordered a second time. The result never goes below zero, then it is rounded up to the supplier's pack size.

"Retained stock" does not always mean "displayed number"

Before subtracting stock, Inklura checks that it is credible:

• an untracked product counts as 0: the order covers the whole need;
• a just-in-time product is calculated as if its available stock were 0: the need is ordered, because its stock is not kept like a regular shelf's. If you counted or entered its stock yourself, that validated stock is subtracted normally;
• negative stock is brought back to 0: it never inflates the order;
• customer deliveries already promised but not recorded yet (gone, or due before the next arrival) are taken out of the available stock, since those units are no longer free.

Then four rules shape the order:

1. One order per supplier and per slot. The same supplier can therefore have one order for Monday and another for Wednesday. Within one slot, several customers' needs are combined on a single product line.
2. Always whole packs. A need for 3 yogurts from a supplier selling packs of 6 triggers one pack.
3. Stock is consumed in slot order. The first upcoming need uses the available stock; later slots order what remains.
4. Never a past slot. Demand that arrives too late is not quietly slipped into an old email. If no remaining slot can deliver in time, it is flagged and left for you to handle directly.

Generic (or "umbrella") products

Several products in your catalogue can come from one purchase. Example: you sell apples by the piece, in bags of 4 and by the kilo, but the grower only sells crates of 20.

Inklura then uses a generic product, which is a virtual purchasing reference:

1. it converts then adds up the needs of the store products linked to that generic;
2. it subtracts their physical stock, converted into the same unit;
3. it converts the remainder into crates;
4. it rounds up to the next whole crate.

With 12 apples by the piece and 2 bags of 4 ordered, the need is 20 apples. If 6 apples remain in stock across the linked products, the net need is 14: one crate of 20 is ordered.

The generic product itself carries no physical stock: its child products carry it. Stocks are only added up when the link and the conversion factor are configured; two products that look alike but are not linked stay independent.

3. The timeline: what happens when

This is what explains most "I don't understand my stock any more" moments. The starting point (D0) is when the customer order comes in.

Three important points:

• Staging is not sending. The time on the order is a target slot. The email only goes out after your approval, unless you turned on Automatic sending (« Envoi automatique ») on the supplier's record: the order then goes out on its own at the slot time, if the pre-send check is green. This option also needs Sending allowed (« Envoi autorisé ») to be on and a destination address to be filled in. A draft that was never sent is never turned into an automatic supplier reception.
• Why wait 12 h? A planned date is not proof. The sweep runs every 2 hours and only assumes events that are old enough.
• Automatic validation is a safety net, not the normal way. Confirming the reception or the round at the physical moment gives stock the right time and removes the lag.

If a reception was wrongly assumed, the Assumed receptions panel (« Réceptions supposées ») on the Stock status screen (« État de Stock », /manage/ecommerce/inventory/stock-ledger) lets you cancel it: the added stock is removed, the supplier order goes back to awaiting reception (you can still confirm it if the goods arrive), and automatic validation will not assume it received again.

4. Example: a merchant with two waves a week

Example: a merchant places most supplier orders in two waves a week. These are example times; each supplier's record remains the reference, and two suppliers can have different slots.

The reception lead time is set supplier by supplier, so each order's planned reception and automatic net follow its own supplier's schedule.

The same journey, in hours

A customer orders on Monday at 10:00 for delivery on Thursday at 11:00, from a supplier set on wave 1. The automatic validation times are indicative: they depend on when the sweep runs.

On wave 2, an order entered on Tuesday at 10:00 follows the same mechanics: Wednesday 22:00 slot, collection Thursday 09:00, planned reception Thursday 22:00 and automatic stock in Friday around 10:00 if nobody confirms. This wave covers Friday and Saturday deliveries, but also the following Monday and Tuesday.

The same journey, with quantities

A simple product: yogurts sold in packs of 6.

Both columns end on the same number. In between they can differ: Inklura does not see the real collection, it only knows your confirmation or, failing that, the planned date and its grace period.

5. Why a number moves "on its own"

Inklura sees neither the boxes arriving nor the customers leaving. If nobody confirms or cancels, it eventually assumes what was planned did happen:

"This supplier reception was planned more than 12 hours ago: I consider it received and add the stock."

"This customer round was planned more than 12 hours ago: I consider it delivered and remove the stock."

This net saves you from ticking everything by hand. It explains the main automatic movements; the stock movement journal shows the source, date and author of each change. Calculating or staging a supplier order never moves stock by itself.

Key points

1. A reception adds, a customer delivery removes, a correction makes a movement, and a count replaces the value. Entering 0 is allowed and effective.
2. "Recount −N" is not a customer debt: N more outflows than inflows were recorded. Reordering reads it as 0; recount so the number matches reality again.
3. The calculation uses a retained stock (never negative, 0 for an untracked product or an unvalidated just-in-time product), then rounds up to the pack size. It creates one order per supplier and slot, not one permanent order per supplier.
4. A supplier email goes stage → review → send. Inklura removes 0 lines, refuses empty emails and blocks a preview that has gone stale.
5. Each supplier has its own slots and reception lead time; the planned reception and the automatic net follow from them.
6. Confirming the reception and the round at the physical moment remains the best method: the 12-hour automatic net only catches what was forgotten.

To go further: the Overview gives the full map of the system, and A typical week walks through the week on both calendars (physical and Inklura) with an interactive timeline.