Cloud-Based Consignment Inventory Management
A real-time consignment platform replacing paper-based stock management.
The Challenge
Tatty's is a consignment-based boutique that helps customers buy and sell pre-loved designer clothing across three Auckland stores. With close to 100,000 stock units on hand, they were managing everything on paper — handwritten consignment forms, manual inventory counts, and spreadsheets for payouts.
The pandemic made things worse. With stores unable to trade during lockdowns, their online presence had limited stock available, and the paper-based systems couldn't support remote operations.
Our Approach
Early on we recognised that the full scope couldn't be captured upfront. We broke the project into phases, each with defined user stories and acceptance criteria, and reviewed requirements at the start of every sprint.
This iterative approach kept us flexible. As new requirements surfaced — which they did, frequently — we could accommodate changes without over-engineering the solution or derailing the timeline.
With 100,000 stock units to migrate, we ran numerous test migrations to map inventory against Tatty's internal sales categories and consignment structures before committing to the live cutover. We soft-launched in a single store to iron out issues before transitioning all locations.
The Solution
Customers visiting Tatty's now register and complete consignment drop-off forms on iPads at the counter, eliminating paper forms and reducing data entry errors.
Inventory is processed at the warehouse against each consignment and automatically synchronised with Shopify and Shopify POS. As items sell, consignor account balances update in real time.
Consignors can log into their portal to view consignments and stock, check their balance, and request payouts. Payout requests are batched and processed by the Tatty's finance team — a process that previously took days now happens in minutes.
Impact
The platform replaced an entirely manual operation with a real-time, integrated system spanning consignment intake, inventory management, point-of-sale, e-commerce, and consignor self-service. Tatty's can now operate efficiently across all three stores and online, with full visibility of stock and consignor balances at any moment.