How to Track Stock Across Two Shops and One Godown

A garment or footwear wholesaler can track stock across two shops and one godown by keeping one SKU identity with a separate quantity at every location. Goods are first received where they physically arrive, transfers move them between locations, and every invoice deducts them from the selected dispatch location.

This gives the owner two truths at the same time: how much stock the complete business owns and exactly where each piece is available.

At a glance

Business event	What should happen
New stock reaches the godown	Add it to the godown, not directly to a future shop
Goods move to Shop 1	Transfer from godown to Shop 1
Goods move between shops	Transfer from the actual source to the actual destination
A bill is created	Select the dispatch location and deduct its exact SKUs
A sale is returned	Restore eligible stock to the invoice location
Pieces are damaged or missing	Record a reason-based removal at that location
Owner checks the whole business	Use business-wide units and stock worth
Owner checks one branch	Open that shop or godown's location catalogue and totals
Customer opens a shop online	Show only stock available at that public shop

The difference between total stock and location stock

Suppose one shirt design has four colour-size SKUs. Its current quantities are:

SKU	Bhiwandi godown	Borivali shop	Andheri shop	Business total
Black · M	40	12	8	60
Black · L	35	10	5	50
White · M	30	6	4	40
White · L	25	7	3	35
Total	130	35	20	185

The owner owns 185 pieces, but that number cannot answer whether the Borivali staff can sell 15 Black · M pieces. That decision must use the Borivali balance of 12.

My Local Shops therefore keeps stock under each exact SKU and location. It does not create three unrelated copies of the same product.

First create the real physical locations

In Inventory Manager, a location is either:

• a Shop, which can be used for operations and can have a public My Local Shops profile; or
• a Godown, which is an internal inventory location and is never treated as a public storefront.

Create the locations that physically hold or dispatch stock. Do not create a fake shop for every shelf, staff member or billing phone. The seller's current subscription plan determines how many locations can be used; see current plans and location limits.

Receive stock where it actually arrives

If a transporter unloads 300 pieces at the Bhiwandi godown, record those 300 pieces at Bhiwandi even when 100 pieces are intended for Borivali tomorrow.

The correct sequence is:

1. receive 300 pieces into the Bhiwandi godown;
2. verify the received colours, sizes, costs and quantities;
3. transfer the selected assortment to Borivali; and
4. transfer the other selected assortment to Andheri.

Adding 100 pieces directly to Borivali before they leave the godown hides what physically happened. It can also make both locations look correct only by coincidence while movement history remains incomplete.

Stock may be entered manually in Inventory Manager or received through a completed Trade Manager workflow. In both cases, the destination location matters. Read the Inventory Manager complete guide for the complete product-creation and receiving flow.

Transfer stock instead of subtracting and adding manually

A transfer represents one internal movement:

Source location loses the pieces. Destination location receives the same pieces. The business still owns the same total quantity.

Suppose 12 Black · M shirts, landed at ₹112 each, move from Bhiwandi to Borivali.

Measure	Before transfer	After transfer
Bhiwandi Black · M	40	28
Borivali Black · M	12	24
Business-wide Black · M	60	60
Business-wide value of these 60 pieces	₹6,720	₹6,720

The godown's stock worth decreases by ₹1,344 and Borivali's stock worth increases by ₹1,344. The business-wide stock worth does not change because this is not a purchase or sale.

Inventory Manager supports both:

• a single-SKU transfer from the SKU detail; and
• a grouped transfer for several colours and sizes of one product.

The grouped flow is useful when one carton contains an assortment. The owner selects the source, destination and quantities for the required SKUs, then saves them together. The system does not silently complete only part of the transfer if one selected balance has changed.

For detailed restock, transfer, adjustment and write-off examples, read How to Restock, Transfer, Adjust and Write Off Inventory Safely.

What happens when another device changes the same stock?

Two phones may act on the same SKU at nearly the same time. For example:

1. the owner starts transferring 10 pieces from the godown;
2. billing staff sells 4 pieces from that godown before the transfer is saved;
3. only 8 pieces are now available; and
4. the original transfer of 10 must not create negative stock.

Protected stock writes read the latest committed balance while saving. If the requested quantity is no longer available, the transfer or invoice is rejected so the user can review the new quantity. Several selected variants are handled together, preventing a half-completed assortment from being mistaken for a successful full transfer.

This protection allows the owner and staff to use connected apps on multiple devices. It does not remove the need to record every physical movement.

View only the products held at one location

The main Inventory Manager product catalogue represents the seller's inventory. Opening a shop or godown from Locations opens the same grouped product experience, filtered to that location.

The location catalogue supports the same practical behaviour:

• one row per product design rather than one row per colour-size SKU;
• search by product name, item code, base SKU or full SKU;
• category filtering;
• in-stock, out-of-stock and all-stock views;
• alphabetical or last-stocked sorting; and
• server-side pagination rather than downloading the complete catalogue.

The difference is scope. A Bhiwandi godown catalogue includes products associated with Bhiwandi. A Borivali shop catalogue includes products associated with Borivali. This is useful when the owner wants to count, replenish or investigate one physical location.

What the location and business dashboards mean

Moving stock internally should not make the business appear richer or create extra units. The system separates business-wide totals from location-level totals for that reason.

Business-wide dashboard

The Inventory Manager dashboard shows seller-wide figures such as:

• Stock worth: the current landed-cost value of stock across all locations;
• Total units: the sum of available pieces across all locations; and
• SKUs: distinct SKU records in the seller's inventory.

A transfer does not change these seller-wide totals.

Location view

Each shop or godown maintains its own:

• total units; and
• stock worth.

A transfer updates the source and destination figures in opposite directions. The location product count is calculated from products associated with that location, while units and value use maintained location totals.

This lets an owner answer different questions without repeatedly reading every SKU document:

• “How much stock does my complete business own?”
• “How much value is kept at Borivali?”
• “Which products are currently available at Andheri?”

Always bill from the location dispatching the goods

Order Manager and Staff Bill ask for a billing location. That selected shop or godown determines:

• which location's stock is shown as available;
• where the selected quantities are deducted;
• which location details are used for the invoice where applicable; and
• where an eligible returned item is restored later.

If Borivali supplies the customer, do not create the invoice from Andheri merely because that was the last location used on the phone.

Both billing apps remember a recently selected location for convenience, but the user can change it. Staff Bill loads locations belonging to the connected owner and allows the staff member to select the correct billing origin. At present, a staff member is not permanently locked to only one shop, so the business should make location selection part of its billing routine.

The product picker then shows stock relevant to that location. A wholesale product can be opened once and several colour-size types can be added together. Learn that flow in How to Create One Wholesale Invoice with Multiple Colours and Sizes.

Returns go back to the original invoice location

When an eligible item is returned through an invoice-linked credit note, the stock is restored to the invoice's recorded location. This is another reason to select the correct dispatch location while billing.

If the customer physically returns goods to a different branch, the clean operational sequence is:

1. record the return against the original invoice so billing and stock history remain linked; and
2. transfer the restored stock to the location where it will actually remain.

Do not change a quantity directly only to make the destination screen look correct.

What customers see on the MLS website

The public website follows shop-level availability, not the seller's private business-wide total.

Consider a product with this stock:

Location	Available pieces	Public effect
Bhiwandi godown	50	Does not create a public shop listing
Borivali shop	0	Product is not shown as normally available at Borivali
Andheri shop	6	Product can appear at Andheri when MLS visibility is enabled

A customer does not need to see the exact private quantity. They need to know whether the selected type is available at that shop. If one SKU is sold out while another SKU of the product remains in stock, the sold-out type stays visible as Out of stock while the available type can still be selected.

Moving the last available pieces from Borivali to Andheri can therefore move the product's public availability. The owner does not need to maintain a second catalogue manually, although website caching means a public change may take a short time to appear everywhere.

Read How Product Visibility, Price Visibility and Out-of-Stock Display Work on MLS for the complete customer-facing rules.

A simple daily routine for two shops and one godown

At the godown

1. Receive stock into the godown where it was counted.
2. Verify every colour-size SKU and landed cost.
3. Use a grouped transfer for each shop's assortment.
4. Keep the transfer note short and useful, such as a dispatch reference.

At each shop

1. Confirm that received cartons match the recorded transfer.
2. Create every invoice from the shop that supplies the goods.
3. Record damage, loss or samples with the correct reason.
4. Transfer stock when another branch physically receives it.

For the owner

1. Review location units and stock worth.
2. Check stock-movement history when a balance looks wrong.
3. Use the In stock view for daily work and the Out of stock view for old sold-out designs.
4. Perform periodic physical counts at each location.

Common mistakes to avoid

Keeping only one combined quantity

A combined balance cannot prevent one shop from promising stock held somewhere else.

Recording a transfer as new stock

Adding stock at the destination without reducing the source inflates business-wide units and stock worth.

Billing from the remembered location without checking it

The invoice may deduct stock from the wrong branch and attach the wrong operational location.

Treating a godown as a customer-facing shop

A godown can hold and dispatch inventory, but it is not published as a storefront on MLS.

Correcting discrepancies without a reason

Use the physical event: receipt, transfer, sale, return or reason-based removal. A bare number change makes later investigation harder.

Running separate current books for every location

Location-wise notebooks may show local balances, but every transfer then depends on two manual entries staying consistent. Keep one connected inventory truth and use location filters for separate views.

Frequently asked questions

Can the same SKU exist in all three locations?

Yes. One SKU can hold separate quantities in two shops and one godown. Its business total is the sum of those balances.

Does a transfer change cost or profit?

No. A normal internal transfer preserves the SKU's landed cost and the business-wide stock value. It only reallocates units and value between locations.

Can I transfer several colours and sizes together?

Yes. Open the grouped product and use the bulk transfer flow to enter quantities for the required SKUs.

Can billing staff see owner profit or cost?

Staff Bill is designed for billing-counter work without exposing sensitive owner cost, profit and reports. The staff member does need access to the owner's selectable billing locations to issue stock from the correct place.

Is a staff member locked to one shop?

No. The current Staff Bill flow lets connected staff select from the owner's available shops and godowns. The selected location is remembered for convenience and can be changed.

Will stock in the godown appear on my public shop page?

No. Only eligible stock at a public Shop location contributes to that shop's website availability. A warehouse or godown is private operational inventory.

What if two people try to sell or transfer the last pieces?

Stock-changing writes validate the latest committed balance. An operation that would exceed current availability is rejected instead of producing negative stock.

Can another subscriber see my location stock?

No. Seller and staff access is scoped to the relevant owner relationship. Public customers see buyer-safe shop availability, not private quantities, costs or godown records.

One inventory truth for every location

The most useful multi-location system is not three isolated stock books. It is one product and SKU structure that can answer both how much the business owns and where each piece is available.

Receive goods where they arrive. Transfer them when they physically move. Bill from the location that supplies them. Record returns and losses through their proper workflows. The dashboard, location catalogues, invoices and public shop availability can then follow the same operational truth.

Explore Inventory Manager, review all connected business apps, or check current plans.