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Inventory Management in Action

Sergi Ferran Parera
28 January 2025
Inventory Management in Action

Managing inventory can be one of the trickiest parts of running events, whether you’re handling stock across multiple performances or limiting capacity for event-specific items. Moving to alpha testing in February, Ticketsolve’s Inventory Management takes the complexity out of stock control, offering intuitive tools that cater to both global stock tracking and event-specific limits. With features like Event Hub integration, reporting tools, and audit-ready logs, you can ensure every aspect of your inventory is streamlined and accounted for—no matter the challenge.

Let’s dive into two use cases to see how this works in action 👇

The Craft Market: Managing Stock During Busy Events

thecrescent-340

Image: The Crescent

Hosting a weekend-long makers fair is an exciting opportunity to bring the community together and support local artists and businesses. However, managing the café during such a busy event comes with challenges: high footfall, fluctuating demand, and keeping your team on top of stock during a fast-paced schedule. Ticketsolve’s Inventory Management ensures your café operates smoothly, even at peak times.

How Ticketsolve Helps:3-Jan-27-2025-01-34-50-5668-PM

Real-Time Global Stock Tracking:
Whether you’re selling coffee, sandwiches, or pastries, Ticketsolve tracks stock levels automatically as sales occur. With Global Stock, your team can monitor availability across the weekend, ensuring popular items don’t unexpectedly run out.

Seamless Stock Adjustments During Peak Hours:
Deliveries arriving mid-event? Ticketsolve allows managers to manually add new stock quickly and easily. If items are used for staff or off-system sales, those can also be logged to keep records accurate.

Shift-Friendly Collaboration:
With multiple teams covering the weekend, shift managers can seamlessly take over by checking the latest Inventory Logs, which record every stock adjustment, sale, or delivery. This reduces confusion and ensures continuity across the event.

Reports to Handle Increased Demand:

  • Inventory management goes hand-in-hand with Ticketsolve's Product Reports, allowing you to generate up-to-date reports during or after events to see the total sold for each product type
  • Product reporting gives insights into top-selling items, helping you plan inventory for the next makers fair.

Example in Action:
It’s Saturday afternoon at your makers fair, and the café’s signature brownies are flying off the shelves. By 2 PM, stock is running low. The café manager checks the Inventory Log and sees the remaining count. They quickly place an order with a local bakery, and when the delivery arrives, they update the system to reflect the new stock. As the café staff rotate shifts, the new team can check Ticketsolve and immediately see what’s available, ensuring seamless service for the rest of the day.

Key Benefits for Your Team:

  • Better Planning: Use sales data from Saturday to prepare for higher demand on Sunday, ensuring popular items like brownies or coffee are fully stocked.
  • Improved Efficiency: Shift managers always have accurate, up-to-date stock levels, reducing stress during busy periods.
  • Audit-Ready Documentation: Detailed logs help track changes and avoid stock discrepancies, providing transparency for financial and operational reviews.

Pro Tip: Pair Inventory Management with Event Hub to offer pre-ordered café packages or meal deals, reducing queues and optimising stock allocation.

Event Specific Stock: Pre-Theatre Dining Reservations

stalls-dining

Image: Liverpool's Royal Court 

Offering pre-theatre dining is a fantastic way to enhance the patron experience and increase revenue for your venue. However, ensuring that reservations are accurately managed, avoiding overselling, and adapting to last-minute changes can be challenging. Ticketsolve’s Event-Level Stock Management ensures precision and flexibility, making your pre-theatre dining a seamless part of your event operations.

How Ticketsolve Helps:2-Jan-27-2025-01-34-50-5682-PM

Set Precise Stock Limits for Dining Reservations:
With Event-Level Stock, you can assign specific limits to pre-theatre dining slots for each performance. For example, you can cap dining reservations at 30 per event, ensuring you don’t overbook and keeping your team’s workflow manageable.

Real-Time Adjustments for Last-Minute Changes:
If cancellations occur or additional capacity becomes available, managers can quickly adjust stock levels. These changes are reflected immediately in the system, so your team and customers are always on the same page.

Streamlined Cross-Team Collaboration:

  • Sales teams can promote dining packages through Event Hub, integrating add-ons directly into the ticket purchase process.
  • Front-of-house teams can access accurate stock information, ensuring smooth service on the night.
  • Reporting tools give management teams visibility into trends, helping optimise future offers.

Reports to Maximise Efficiency

  • Use Product Reports to monitor reservations for each show and identify unused capacity.
  • Post-event reports provide insights into peak demand periods and customer preferences, helping you refine your dining options for future performances.

Example in Action:
Your theatre has set a limit of 30 pre-theatre dining slots for an evening performance of a popular musical. By mid-afternoon, all 30 slots are booked. However, a last-minute cancellation frees up 3 slots. Using Ticketsolve, the box office team quickly updates the dining stock, and Event Hub automatically makes those slots available for last-minute purchases. This ensures you maximise revenue while maintaining accurate availability.

As the evening progresses, the front-of-house team checks the Inventory Log to see exactly how many guests to prepare for, ensuring a smooth dining experience. At the end of the night, the manager reviews the Product Sales Summary report to evaluate any unclaimed slots and make adjustments for the following week.

Key Benefits for Your Team:

  • Precision Booking: Never oversell dining slots, reducing operational stress and enhancing customer satisfaction.
  • Team Alignment: Clear, real-time data ensures all teams—from sales to front-of-house—are aligned and prepared.
  • Strategic Insights: Use reporting tools to identify trends and adjust dining capacity based on demand, ensuring you’re always meeting customer needs.

Pro Tip: Use Product Prompts to encourage customers to pre-book dining packages as add-ons during ticket purchases, reducing walk-in uncertainty and boosting early revenue.

Ticketsolve’s Inventory Management is the ultimate tool for streamlining operations, enhancing collaboration, and making informed decisions. Whether you’re planning your next event or reviewing audit logs after a busy season, you’ll have the insights and flexibility you need to stay ahead. Soon to move to alpha testing, this feature is already demonstrating its potential to revolutionize inventory management for our customers.

Ready to simplify inventory management and take your events to the next level?

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