Low-stock warnings trigger at configured thresholds

With no low-stock signal, shoppers who would convert under urgency keep browsing and abandon, while a hardcoded threshold of 1 fires too late to move units before the SKU goes dark. The inverse failure — fabricated urgency with no real threshold — draws FTC scrutiny under scarcity-claim rules. Either way, a missing or non-configurable threshold hands revenue back to competitors and blocks the merchandising team from tuning behavior per category.

Read the threshold from an environment variable so ops can tune it per deployment, then gate the warning on positive stock to avoid rendering 'Only 0 left' messages. Put the logic in src/lib/inventory.ts and consume it from every product card:

const LOW_STOCK_THRESHOLD = parseInt(process.env.LOW_STOCK_THRESHOLD ?? '5', 10)

if (product.stock > 0 && product.stock <= LOW_STOCK_THRESHOLD) {
  return { ...product, lowStockWarning: `Only ${product.stock} left in stock` }
}

• ID: ecommerce-catalog.inventory.low-stock-warning

• Severity: low

• What to look for: Count all references to low-stock thresholds in the codebase: search for "low stock", "LOW_STOCK", "lowStock", "only.*left", "few remaining" in src/, app/, and config files. Enumerate any threshold values found (hardcoded numbers, environment variables, or config settings). Check whether the threshold is configurable (environment variable or admin setting) or hardcoded.

• Pass criteria: A low-stock warning threshold is defined (at least 1 threshold value found) and implemented in at least 1 product display component. When stock <= threshold, a warning is displayed. Count all threshold references and report: "X low-stock threshold references found, threshold value: Y, configurable: [yes/no]."

• Fail criteria: No low-stock warning logic exists anywhere in the codebase (0 threshold references found), or the threshold is hardcoded to 1 with no way to configure.

• Skip (N/A) when: The project explicitly chooses not to display low-stock warnings — confirmed by a code comment or documentation stating this is an intentional design decision.

• Cross-reference: For urgency messaging compliance, the FTC Consumer Protection audit covers scarcity claims and truthful advertising.

• Cross-reference: For environment variable configuration patterns, the Environment Security audit covers config management best practices.

• Cross-reference: For real-time stock display performance, the Performance Core audit covers data freshness and caching strategies.

• Detail on fail: "No low-stock warning found in the codebase — 0 references to stock thresholds" or "Low-stock threshold is hardcoded to 1 in src/components/product/ProductCard.tsx with no way to configure"

• Remediation: Add a low-stock warning with a configurable threshold in src/lib/inventory.ts:

  const LOW_STOCK_THRESHOLD = parseInt(process.env.LOW_STOCK_THRESHOLD ?? '5', 10)
  
  if (product.stock > 0 && product.stock <= LOW_STOCK_THRESHOLD) {
    return {
      ...product,
      lowStockWarning: `Only ${product.stock} left in stock`,
    }
  }