System design interview question
Design a Distributed Real-Time Inventory Management and Stock Synchronization System like Shopify's Inventory Platform at Scale
Design a distributed inventory management system that synchronizes stock levels across multiple warehouses, sales channels (web, mobile, retail), and third-party marketplaces in real-time. The system must handle 500M SKUs, 100K inventory updates per second across 50+ regional warehouses, support sub-second visibility for order placement, prevent overselling across channels, and maintain eventual consistency while handling network partitions gracefully. Key constraints include: multi-region deployment with latency under 200ms for inventory queries, support for bulk stock transfers between warehouses, atomic deductions during checkout, and audit trails for all stock movements. The system must also handle high-concurrency scenarios (Black Friday: 1M concurrent checkout requests) without race conditions or inventory loss.
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