Magento 2 Manage Stock

A well-established inventory management is a crucial constituent of any online store functionality. We are going to consider general Magento 2 stock settings and additional extensions with the use of which you can boost your management abilities.
In Magento 2 you can manage your stock using two approaches: you can control all the products via the default inventory settings or using each product individual settings.

Default Inventory Settings In Magento 2

• Log in to the Admin Panel and navigate to Stores>Configuration>Catalog>Inventory:

• Extend the Stock Options drop-down menu:

Basic settings of the menu:
Set Items' Status to be In Stock When Order is Cancelled: set the option to ‘Yes’ if you want the items from cancelled orders to be placed in stock again;
Decrease Stock When Order is Placed: choose the ‘Yes’ option if you need to enable the functionality;
Display Out of Stock Products: set ‘Yes’ option if you want to display out of stock products;
Only X left Threshold: put in the number of items to be displayed on a product page by default regardless the real number left in stock;
Display Products Availability in Stock on Storefront: if you need to display an actual number of products left in stock, enable the option.

• Switch to the Product Stock Options menu:

Basic settings of the menu:
Manage Stock: the function is enabled by default. However, if you sell virtual products, which can’t get out of stock, you can switch it off here;
Backorders: you can allow customers order products that are out of stock at the moment. Just choose ‘Allow Qty Below 0 and Notify Customer’ in the section. If you agree to deliver products as soon as they are in stock, choose the ‘Allow Qty Below 0’ option.
Maximum Qty Allowed in Shopping Cart: choose the number of products allowed for a single cart;
Out-of-Stock Threshold: put in the number of items to be displayed on a product page by default regardless the real number left in stock;
Minimum Qty Allowed in Shopping Cart: define the minimum number of products to make a purchase;
Notify for Quantity Below: define the number of products left in stock to be timely notified of the deficit;
Enable Qty Increments: add the number of just filled up products;
Automatically Return Credit Memo Item to Stock: enable the option if you need it to automatically account the items added to cart, returned and cancelled items.

Default Inventory Settings for a Particular Product

• Go to Products>Catalog, choose a product for the configuration, then select Advanced Inventory:

Make all the changes you need here. Have in mind that in case you enable the ‘Allow Multiple Boxes for Shipping’ option, different parts of the same products can be delivered separately.
Besides, if you need to change the quantity of a product quickly, you can make it in Product Details:

Don’t forget to save all the changes and clear cache after the settings are completed. 

Advanced Inventory Settings In Magento 2

If you need to expand default Magento 2 stock management functionality, you can implement 2 ready-to-use solutions:

Custom Stock Status

To create custom stock statuses for all product types use the Custom Stock Status extension:

• create a limitless number of product stock statuses;
• apply time variables like tomorrow, day-after-tomorrow, yesterday to display a back-in-stock date for a product;
• assign relevant stock statuses to products automatically or manually;
• display quantity-based statuses for various product groups;
• edit custom stock statuses for multiple products at a time; 
• show product stock statuses on the shopping cart page to convince customers to complete the purchase:

Multi Warehouse Inventory

With the use of the Multi Warehouse Inventory extension, you will easily manage your inventory. The solution is of a high use for merchants who run online stores with multiple warehouses:

• assign different warehouses to various store views and customer groups;
• use the advanced Stock grid to manage your store inventory or make it right on a product page in the backend;
• use Manage Warehouses grid to conduct the inventory;
• avail of three different store levels: stock available for sale, shipping and warehouses;
• apply smart algorithms for warehouses selection;
• define shipping costs based on warehouse locations;
• hide out of stock items automatically;
• export stock data manually or automatically: