> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Inventory Distribution, Shopify > Inventory Distribution for Shopify stores. Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Metrics type:** [Supporting Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Ecommerce Platform](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) ## At a glance > Distribution of variants across inventory bands (out-of-stock, critical low, low, healthy, surplus). The fat-tail view of stock health, useful for catching slow-burn stockouts before [Inventory Alerts](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/products-with-zero-negative-stock) fires. | | | | ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | **What it counts** | `COUNT(active variants) GROUP BY inventory_band(totalInventory)`. Bands typically: ≤0 (OOS), 1-5 (critical), 6-20 (low), 21-100 (healthy), >100 (surplus). Bands are configurable per workspace. | | **VAT / tax treatment** | Not applicable, count metric. | | **Shipping** | Not applicable. | | **Discounts** | Not applicable. | | **Refunds** | Not applicable directly; restocked refunds add inventory which may shift a variant to a higher band. | | **Cancelled / voided orders** | Cancellations with restock=true return inventory to the band ladder. | | **Currency** | Not applicable (count of variants). | | **Channels / sources** | Inventory is store-wide; channels don't filter the distribution. | | **Time window** | `RT` (real-time, computed from latest indexed snapshot) | | **Alert trigger** | None directly; [OOS Spike Alert](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/oos-spike-alert) covers the OOS-band anomaly. | | **Roles** | owner, operations | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your Shopify data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading. ## Worked example A UK menswear DTC brand on Shopify, 1,420 active variants. Real-time snapshot 12 May 26. | Band | Count | Share | Note | | ------------------------- | --------- | -------- | ------------------------------------------- | | Out of stock (≤0) | 28 | 2.0% | Includes 4 negative-stock variants | | Critical low (1-5) | 96 | 6.8% | At-risk subset, will likely OOS in 2-7 days | | Low (6-20) | 184 | 13.0% | Watching, reorder POs in flight | | Healthy (21-100) | 642 | 45.2% | The bulk of catalogue | | Surplus (>100) | 470 | 33.1% | New launches, slow-movers, end-of-season | | **Total active variants** | **1,420** | **100%** | | Six things to notice: 1. **The OOS band is the present problem.** 28 variants currently OOS. Pair with [Inventory Alerts](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/products-with-zero-negative-stock) for the action list. The 4 negative-stock variants are the most urgent (oversells deepening). 2. **The Critical Low band is the future problem.** 96 variants at 1-5 units. At normal velocity, half of these will OOS within 7 days. This is where reorder POs need to land first; check [Stock vs Sales Velocity](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/stock-vs-sales-velocity) for predicted-OOS dates. 3. **The shape tells the story.** 78% in Healthy or Surplus suggests a healthy operation; \<60% in those bands suggests cumulative stockout drift. A brand with 30% in Surplus and 30% in OOS+Critical+Low is poorly balanced (over-orders some SKUs, under-orders others). 4. **Surplus isn't always bad.** New-launch SKUs appropriately start in Surplus. Long-tail clearance items in Surplus are problems (capital tied up, warehouse space). Pair with sell-through-by-SKU to differentiate. 5. **POS visibility is reduced.** POS sales drain inventory in real-time but the band shifts only when crossing a threshold. A variant at 6 units (Low) sells one at till and stays at 5 (Critical); the band changed without warning. 6. **The bands are ratios, not absolute counts.** A small store with 200 variants and a giant retailer with 200,000 will have the same shape if equally healthy. Don't compare absolute counts to peers; compare share percentages. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together Inventory Distribution is the strategic view; the tactical companions: | Card | Why pair it with Inventory Distribution | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [Products with Zero/Negative Stock](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/products-with-zero-negative-stock) | The OOS-band drill-down. The variants in your "Out of stock" bar. | | [Stock vs Sales Velocity](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/stock-vs-sales-velocity) | Forecasts which variants in Critical/Low will OOS next. | | [OOS Spike Alert](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/oos-spike-alert) | Real-time anomaly on the OOS-band count. | | [Top Products by Revenue](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/top-products-by-revenue) | Cross-reference; a top-revenue SKU in Critical band is a five-alarm fire. | | [Top SKUs](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/top-skus) | Volume drill-down; helps prioritise reorder by velocity. | | [Bottom Products](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/slow-moving-products) | The Surplus band's contributor base; slow-movers tying up capital. | | [Fulfillment Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/fulfillment-rate) | Persistent OOS in high-velocity SKUs drags fulfilment rate; pair to see the lagging effect. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in Shopify Admin:** Shopify doesn't expose an inventory-band distribution directly; reconstruct from: * **Products → Inventory**: filter by *Available less than*, *Available equal to*, *Available greater than*. Run for each band's threshold. * **Apps like Stocky, Inventory Planner, ShipBob Inventory**: typically expose distribution and forecasting; numbers should match within sync-lag tolerance (5-15 min). * **Reports → Inventory snapshot** (Shopify Plus only): closest equivalent. **Why our number may legitimately differ from a manual reconstruction:** | Reason | Direction | Why | | ------------------------------ | ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | **Band thresholds** | Either | We use 0 / 5 / 20 / 100 by default; your reconstruction may use different thresholds. Configurable in *Nerve Centre → Inventory*. | | **Active filter** | Theirs may be wider | Shopify's *Inventory* page can include draft and archived products by default. We filter to `status = ACTIVE`. | | **Multi-location aggregation** | Same approach | We sum `Available` across active locations; Shopify Admin can show per-location split. A variant with 0 in London and 50 in Manchester appears in Healthy here, not OOS. | | **Continue-selling-when-OOS** | No effect | Setting affects sales availability, not inventory band. | | **Sync lag** | Either, transient | 5-15 min. | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** | Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`amazon.amazon_inventory_distribution`](/nerve-centre/amazon_sp/amazon_inventory_distribution) | Independent | Amazon and Shopify have separate inventory pools unless multi-channel sync is enabled. | | WMS / 3PL dashboards | Should match | 3PL inventory should equal Shopify's "Available" for managed locations within sync tolerance. | ***
Documentation cross-reference (for agencies running multiple platforms) * [`bigcommerce.shp_inventory_dist`](/nerve-centre/bigcommerce/shp_inventory_dist) * [`adobe_commerce.shp_inventory_dist`](/nerve-centre/adobe_commerce/shp_inventory_dist)
## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **What's a healthy distribution shape?** Rough heuristics: * **Healthy + Surplus**: 70-80% combined. Below 60% means you're chronically under-stocked. * **OOS + Critical**: \<10% combined. Above 15% means you're losing sales daily. * **Surplus**: \<40% on its own. Surplus above 50% means capital is tied up in slow-movers; consider clearance pricing. Healthy shape varies by category: fast-fashion churn-heavy stores naturally have higher OOS shares; subscription consumables aim for very tight Healthy bands. **Why is my Surplus share so high?** Three usual causes: 1. **Over-ordered launch.** A new collection ordered conservatively per SKU but with too many SKUs in the range. The Surplus band fills with slow-movers. 2. **End-of-season carry-over.** Last season's stock not yet cleared. Push into clearance pricing. 3. **Forecasting model too generous.** PO sizing assumed velocity that didn't materialise. Tighten next round. **My Critical band is growing every week. What's happening?** Reorder cycle is slower than depletion cycle. Either: 1. **Lead times shifted longer**: supplier delays, customs, etc. 2. **Velocity increased**: marketing wave drove demand higher than the PO assumed. 3. **PO sizing too small**: structural under-order across the board. Action: tighten the cycle, accept higher safety stock, or move to multi-warehouse for redundancy. **Can I customise the bands?** Yes, in *Nerve Centre → Inventory → Bands*. The defaults (0 / 5 / 20 / 100) work for most apparel/lifestyle brands. Categories with very different unit-economics need different thresholds: * **Furniture / large items**: 0 / 1 / 3 / 10. Single units have meaningful operational implications. * **Fast-moving consumables**: 0 / 50 / 200 / 1000. Velocity is per-day, not per-month. * **B2B with bulk POs**: 0 / 100 / 500 / 5000. **Why does the Healthy band shrink on Mondays?** Weekend sell-through. Online sales over Sat-Sun deplete the Healthy band into Low/Critical without intra-period reorder. By Monday morning, the Healthy share is at its weekly minimum. The Tue-Wed reorder cycle restores. Acceptable cyclicality. **How does this card handle multi-location?** Aggregates `Available` across all *active* fulfillment locations into one number per variant. A variant with 0 in London and 50 in Manchester is "Healthy" on this card. Per-location distribution is on the roadmap; for now use Shopify Admin → *Inventory at this location*. **My subscription store, do recurring billings affect the bands?** Yes. Each subscription billing draws from inventory the same as one-off orders. Subscription-heavy brands often see more predictable band shapes (steady drains) compared to one-off-purchase stores (spikier patterns). **Action playbook based on band shape:** 1. **OOS + Critical >10%**: emergency reorder review; consider expedited shipping on top-velocity at-risk SKUs. 2. **Critical band rising week-over-week**: lead-time shifted longer or velocity increased; widen the Healthy floor in your PO model. 3. **Surplus >40% and growing**: clearance event needed; capital is sitting idle. 4. **Healthy band \<50%**: structural under-stocking; widen safety stock company-wide. 5. **OOS band drops to zero**: surprising; either you have very high stock levels (capital tied up) or your indexer is missing records. Sanity check. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Inventory Distribution* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Shopify and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. [Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.