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.
Clear Product Picking Experience: Out-of-stock options are clearly indicated to you when you select products for your Storefront.
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. For these reasons, LoudCrowd lets each brand choose whether or not out of stock items should remain listed on your Storefronts.
Out-of-Stock Products
This section describes behavior 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 the storefront. If all variants of a product (e.g., all sizes and colors) are out of stock, the entire product listing will automatically be removed on 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.
Inactive 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.
If a product is set to "Inactive," it will be hidden from the Storefront.
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)
The main product listing remains visible on the Storefront.
If a product has multiple options (e.g., Red, Green, Pink t-shirt), and one option (e.g., "Green") is marked inactive, the t-shirt product itself will still be displayed.
The specific inactive option will typically not be displayed on the 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
The product will be hidden from the storefront.
If all options of a product (e.g., all colors of the t-shirt) are inactive, the entire product listing will automatically be removed from view on your Storefront.
This prevents customers from landing on product pages where nothing can be purchased, or where the product page has been removed from the website.
Summary Table
Product Status | Storefront Visibility | Notes |
Active, All options in stock | Visible | Fully purchasable |
Active, Some options out-of-stock, some in stock | Visible | Out-of-stock variants are indicated/unselectable when adding product to your Storefront. |
Active, All variants out-of-stock | Hidden | Product hidden until at least one variant is restocked. Product cannot be added to your Storefront. |
Inactive, All variants inactive | Hidden | Hidden regardless of stock status. |
Some variants inactive | Visible | Inactive variants are hidden |