[intro] When you have completed this Guide, you will have enabled the Stock Control functionality on your EKM online shop and configured the settings to ensure that your shop remains stocked with Products. [/intro]

[remember] You can operate your EKM online shop with Stock Control turned off, however, this would translate on the system as all of your Products having infinite stock levels. Whilst this is not an issue for many shops where drop shipping and digital products make up the product range, this is not recommended for shop owners where products can and will go out of stock regularly. [/remember]

1. From the Dashboard, click the Settings tab:

2. Click Stock Control on the left-hand side:

3. This will display the page where you turn the Stock Control functionality on, by ticking the box:

[caution] By turning on the Stock Control functionality, you will need to add values for each of your Products so that the system knows how many units you have in Stock. This can be added in the Inventory Manager feature or by using spreadsheets and the Import/Export System. Whichever method you use, be sure to complete this task as otherwise, the system will presume you have no Products in stock by default. [/caution]

4. Ticking the box will reveal the Stock Control Settings:

Out of Stock Products

You need to select your option from the drop-down menu so your EKM online shop knows what to do when a customer tries to purchase a Product that is out of stock. 

Out of Stock Message

You can reword the text within this field to something more suited to your Products and company ethos, but try and keep it as brief as possible, as the message length could negatively impact your Theme. Don’t forget to double-check it for spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. 

Default Variant Action

If you sell any Products with Variants, such as different colours and sizes, you need to select the most applicable option from the drop-down menu so your EKM online shop knows which variant to display when the default is sold out. 

Stock Warning Level

The settings on this drop-down menu depend on what kind of products you are selling on your EKM online shop. If it can take a few weeks for your Products to arrive from your supplier and your Products are very popular, you may want to set this drop-down menu to a high number, which means you’ll receive a low stock email notification with enough time to spare to order more Products and replenish your stock. 

[remember] If you have a lot of out-of-stock Products on your EKM online shop, this can be a bad experience for your customers, especially if more than one Product that they want is out of stock. Consider how often you can resupply your EKM online shop with Products as you edit these settings. [/remember]

Enable Back In Stock Alerts

This will display a field on the Product page of any out-of-stock Products where customers can enter their email address to receive a notification when that particular item is back in stock. On the Product page, it looks like this:

When the customer has added their email address and clicked the Submit button, they will see a short message:

When the email arrives with the customer, the default version looks like this:

[remember]You can edit the default Back In Stock email on the Outgoing Emails page within the settings of your EKM online shop. [/remember]

5. When you have finished amending the Stock Control Settings, you can use the Plain English Summary at the bottom of the page to check your configuration before you click the green Save button:

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[contact] If you need our help with your EKM online shop, contact your Account Manager or Customer Support, who will be able to point you in the right direction. We're open from 8am-6pm weekdays and 9am-5.30pm on the weekends. If you'd like to suggest a feature or an upgrade on any of the EKM platforms, please let us know on the EKM Suggestions board. If you have a non-account specific question ask the EKM Team, join us in EKM Community.  [/contact]