OPS · Pro PLAYBOOK
THE CENTRAL IRONY OF LIVE COMMERCE: your best possible session is also your worst operational risk. A stream that over-performs its stock sells orders you cannot ship — and overselling in live commerce is not a spreadsheet embarrassment, it is refunds, negative reviews, platform penalties, and payment-processor attention arriving in one wave. This SOP designs the inventory and fulfillment system around spike reality: demand that arrives in 90-minute bursts, concentrates on one SKU, and punishes the unprepared disproportionately. The goal is not perfect forecasting; it is graceful failure modes.
STOCK PLANNING FOR THE SPIKE: plan stock per session in three tiers. Tier 1 — the hero SKU's sellable quantity, calculated from your realistic order ceiling (your benchmark funnel applied to expected viewers), never from hope; when Tier 1 approaches 20% remaining mid-session, the host switches to honest framing ('selling faster than expected — what's left is what's left') and the operator verifies the number. Tier 2 — safety stock held back from the live offer for post-session replay sales (see the high-ticket band in the AOV benchmarks: a meaningful share of orders arrive days later). Tier 3 — the oversell buffer: 3PL or supplier backorder terms documented before the session, with a maximum oversell percentage you will never exceed, written down and respected, because 'we'll figure it out' at 400 unexpected orders is how accounts die.
This is a Pro playbook
67% of this playbook is locked. Unlock it — and the rest of the ops library — with a membership.
Sign in to unlock →Run the numbers: Free profit calculator·Free script generator