Congrats! You created a viral wave on social media and now a product is sold out! What happens to it on your Storefront?
Key Principles:
Maximize Discoverability: We aim to keep products visible as long as there's at least one purchasable option available. Even if your exact product (ex. color and size) is sold out, your buyers may still choose from different available options.
Set-and-Forget Product Picking: You can pick products on your Storefront and LoudCrowd manages how they display to your buyers based on product availability -- you don't have to go back and update yourself.
Align With Brand's Inventory Management: Some brands are able to restock quickly, and some allow buyers to get restock notifications or submit pre-orders. Some brands, once a product is gone, it's gone forever. For these reasons, LoudCrowd lets each brand choose whether or not out of stock items should remain listed on your Storefronts in order to help you focus your buyers' attention on the items they can actually purchase.
Out-of-Stock Products
This section specifically describes behavior that applies ONLY where the brand has chosen to hide products that are out of stock from your Storefront.
1. When a specific SKU (ex. color and size) is out of stock, but other options are available
The main product listing remains visible on the storefront. If a product has multiple options (e.g., Small, Medium, Large t-shirts), and one option (e.g., "Small") goes out of stock, the t-shirt product itself will still be displayed.
This behavior applies as long as at least one SKU (variant) of that product is still in stock and available for purchase.
If you selected a specific color, size, this information will still be displayed with the product on your Storefront .
2. When all options of a product are out of stock
The product will be hidden from your buyer's view of your storefront. This prevents customers from landing on product pages where nothing can be purchased, improving the shopping experience.
Restocking: If any options of the product are restocked, the product will automatically become visible again on the storefront.
You will still be able to see this product in your collections and posts! You'll see a "Out of Stock - Hidden until it's available again" overlay. You can wait for the product to restock and it will automatically display to buyers again. Or you can choose to remove the product from your Storefront.
Inactive Products
This section specifically describes behavior that applies to ALL Storefronts, regardless of how a brand has chosen to handle out of stock products.
A brand can remove a product from the website entirely so it is no longer available to purchase. This is referred to as an "Inactive" product. Here are the most common cases where products are marked Inactive:
A product is out of inventory and discontinued.
Seasonal items that are not sold during the off-season.
New product is hidden until launch.
1. When a specific product option is inactive (but others are available)
If a product has multiple options (e.g., Red, Green, Pink t-shirt), and one option (e.g., "Green") is marked inactive, the product remains visible on your Storefront.
The specific inactive option that you selected will still show on your Storefront, but it typically will not be displayed to buyers on the brand's product page.
This behavior applies as long as at least one SKU of that product is still available for purchase.
2. When the entire product is inactive
If all options of a product (e.g., all colors of the t-shirt) are inactive, the product will be hidden from your buyer's view of your storefront. This prevents customers from landing on product pages where nothing can be purchased, improving the shopping experience.
Summary Table
Product Status | Storefront Visibility to Buyer | What You Can Add to Your Storefront |
Active, All options in stock | Visible | All options |
Active, Some options out-of-stock, some in stock | Visible
| All options |
Active, All options out-of-stock | Hidden until at least one option is restocked | No options |
Inactive, All options inactive | Hidden | No options |
Some options inactive | Visible | Active options only |