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Inventory Email Notifications

The Inventory Email Notifications add-on automatically sends email alerts to your store admin when a product sells out or when its stock drops to a critical level. Instead of discovering inventory problems after orders have already been placed, you get notified in real time so you can restock quickly.

Two separate email types are supported: an out-of-stock alert (sent when quantity reaches zero) and a low-stock alert (sent when quantity drops to or below a per-product notification threshold you configure).

Prerequisites​

  • J2Commerce installed and active on your Joomla 6 site
  • An admin email address configured in J2Commerce (J2Commerce -> Configuration -> Store Profile)
  • Inventory tracking enabled on your products (the Track Inventory option must be on)
  • Joomla's mail settings configured and working (System -> Global Configuration -> Server tab -> Mail Settings)

What's New in J2Commerce 6​

This version of the plugin is a complete rewrite for the Joomla 6 native extension framework. Key improvements include:

  • Built on the Joomla 6 event subscriber system for reliable event delivery
  • Optional debug logging writes to a dedicated log file (app_stocknotification.php) in your Joomla logs directory — no more guessing why emails aren't arriving
  • Multiple admin recipients are supported — separate addresses with commas in the Admin Email field
  • Unprocessed template tags are automatically removed from emails so recipients never see raw [PRODUCT_NAME] text if data is missing

Purchase and Download​

The Stock Notification app is a separate add-on available from the J2Commerce Extensions Store. It is not included with the core J2Commerce 6 component.

Step 1: Go to the J2Commerce website -> Apps.

Step 2: Locate the Stock Notification app -> click View Details -> Add to cart -> Checkout.

Step 3: Go to My Downloads under your profile menu at the top right corner and search for the app. Click Available Versions -> View Files -> Download.

Install the App​

You can install this Stock Notification App using the Joomla installer. The following steps help you with a successful installation.

In the Joomla admin, go to System -> Install -> Extensions

Upload the app_stocknotification.zip file or use the Install from URL option.

Install extensions

Enable the App​

After installation, verify the plugin is enabled:

  1. Go to System -> Manage -> Extensions.
  2. Search for Inventory Email Notifications.
  3. If the status icon is grey (disabled), click it to enable the plugin.

Configure the Admin Email Address​

The plugin reads your admin email address from the J2Commerce store configuration. If you have not set this yet:

  1. Go to J2Commerce -> Setup -> Configuration.
  2. Find the Admin Email field in the Store Profile section.
  3. Enter the email address where stock alerts should be sent.
  4. To notify multiple people, enter addresses separated by commas — for example: owner@example.com, warehouse@example.com.
  5. Click Save.

Configure Per-Product Notification Quantities​

The low-stock alert fires when a variant's quantity drops to or below its Notification Quantity threshold. You set this threshold at the product level:

  1. Go to J2Commerce -> Catalog -> Products.
  2. Open a product you want to monitor.
  3. Click the Inventory tab on the product edit screen.
  4. Locate the Notification Quantity field on the variant row.
  5. Enter the quantity level at which you want to receive a warning — for example, 5 means an alert fires when stock reaches 5 units or fewer.
  6. To use a store-wide default instead, tick the Use Store Configuration checkbox next to the field.
  7. Click Save.

To set a store-wide default notification threshold, go to J2Commerce -> Configuration -> Inventory and enter a value in Store Notification Quantity.

Configure the Email Templates​

Open the plugin settings to customise the emails that get sent:

  1. Go to J2Commerce -> Apps.
  2. Find Inventory Email Notifications and click its name to open settings.

Configuration Fields​

No Stock Email Subject: Subject line for the out-of-stock email. Supports template tags.

No Stock Email Body: Body content for the out-of-stock email. Supports template tags and HTML.

tip

Tip: Customise the subjects and bodies to match your store's language and tone.

Low Stock Email Subject: Subject line for the low-stock email. Supports template tags.

Low Stock Email Body: Body content for the low-stock email. Supports template tags and HTML.

Debug Mode: When enabled, writes detailed activity logs to logs/app_stocknotification.php in your Joomla logs directory. Disable this in production.

Template Tags​

Both the subject and body fields support the following tags. These are replaced with real values when each email is sent.

[PRODUCT_NAME]: Product name

[PRODUCT_SKU]: Product SKU

[PRODUCT_QUANTITY]: Current stock quantity at the time of the alert

[NOTIFY_QUANTITY]: The notification threshold configured for this product

[STORE_NAME]: Your store name from J2Commerce Configuration

info

Note: The [PRODUCT_QUANTITY] tag shows the quantity remaining after the triggering order was placed. In a no-stock email, this value is typically zero.

How the Alerts Work​

Out-of-Stock Alert​

An out-of-stock email is sent when a product variant's quantity reaches zero or below after an order is completed. This fires regardless of any notification threshold — it triggers automatically when stock is exhausted.

Low-Stock Alert​

A low-stock email is sent when a variant's quantity drops to or below its Notification Quantity value. For example, if the threshold is set to 5 and a customer purchases 3 units leaving 4 in stock, the alert fires immediately after that order.

Both alerts are sent to the email address configured in J2Commerce -> Configuration -> Admin Email. If that field is empty, no emails are sent.

Tips​

  • Keep Debug Mode off in production — it adds log entries for every notification trigger and can create large log files on busy stores.
  • If a product has multiple variants (sizes, colours, etc.), each variant triggers its own notifications independently. You will receive separate emails for each variant that goes out of stock.
  • Use [STORE_NAME] in the subject line to make it easy to identify which store sent the alert when managing multiple J2Commerce installations.
  • The low-stock alert fires once per qualifying inventory drop. If a customer buys 10 units and stock falls from 15 to 5 in a single order, only one low-stock email is sent for that event.

Troubleshooting​

No emails are being received​

Cause: The admin email field is empty, or Joomla's mail system is not configured.

Solution:

  1. Go to J2Commerce -> Configuration and confirm the Admin Email field contains a valid address.
  2. Go to System -> Global Configuration -> Server -> Mail Settings and click Send Test Mail to verify Joomla can send email.
  3. Enable Debug Mode in the plugin settings, trigger a stock change, then check logs/app_stocknotification.php in your Joomla logs directory for error messages.
  4. Check your spam folder — stock notification emails may be filtered by your mail provider.

Low-stock emails are not firing even though stock is low​

Cause: The Notification Quantity field on the product variant is empty or set to zero, or inventory tracking is not enabled for that product.

Solution:

  1. Open the product in J2Commerce -> Catalog -> Products and switch to the Inventory tab.
  2. Confirm the Track Inventory option is enabled for the variant.
  3. Confirm the Notification Quantity field has a value greater than zero, or tick Use Store Configuration and confirm the store-level threshold is set in J2Commerce -> Configuration -> Inventory.

Emails arrive but contain raw tag text like [PRODUCT_NAME]​

Cause: This should not happen with the current version — unprocessed tags are automatically removed. If you are seeing raw tags, your site may be running an older version of the plugin.

Solution: Update to the latest version from the J2Commerce Extensions Store. After updating, go to J2Commerce -> Apps -> Inventory Email Notifications and save the configuration to reinitialise the plugin.

Debug log file is growing very large​

Cause: Debug Mode is enabled on a store with frequent orders.

Solution: Go to J2Commerce -> Apps -> Inventory Email Notifications and set Debug Mode to No. Delete or archive the existing log file at logs/app_stocknotification.php in your Joomla logs directory.