Track inventory between different catergories.

[Floursmith]

Hi folks, we're a new patisserie/coffee van with a off site production kitchen, setting up Square POS to use at markets/events and also sell from an online site to pick up from our kitchen door . 

 We are trying to figure out how to enter online stock inventory that will sync with van inventory so we don't over sell any online sales while van selling stock. We have 2 categories setup as Van and Online with items linked to both, we'll use the relevant category setup on POS to take payment. The only way i can find is to "buy" another location and name that Van and it would sync, but too expensive.

 Hope it makes sense and.......Help! I'm going cross-eyed trying to figure it out.

[Laurie_ · Accepted solution]

Hello, @Floursmith! Thanks for reaching out, and welcome to Square! 

I totally understand how managing inventory across your van and online store can get a bit tricky.

At the moment, Square’s inventory system tracks stock at the location level, not by category. That means if you're selling from two “channels” (your coffee van and your online store) but only using one physical location in your Square account, inventory won’t automatically separate or sync between those two channels.

There are a few options you could consider:

Option 1: Use a Single Location with Shared Inventory

If you're okay with both your van and online store pulling from the same inventory pool, then you can keep everything under one location (e.g. your kitchen). Use categories as a way to organise your item type, rather than location (pastries, drinks). So long as you enable stock tracking for your items, stock sold online will reduce what's available at the van, and vice versa.

It's worthwhile noting that even if you're using one location, you can still view reports for online and in-person sales separately. Square provides breakdowns by sales channel (Square Online vs. Point of Sale), device or team member, category, and more.

Option 2: Add a Second Location (more control, but added cost)

You mentioned, and you're right — creating a second location would give you separate stock tracking for each, but it may come with an additional monthly cost depending on what plan you're using. This is really suited to businesses that operate independently at multiple sites.

I hope that helps to clarify things for you, but please don't hesitate to reach back out with any further questions!