Controlling Inventory
You can limit the number of items available for any SKU and any option in your Membership Toolkit system. Inventory Control is commonly used when you have a set number of items to sell and you don't plan to re-order.
If Inventory Control is in place, once you have sold all of your inventory, users will see that the item is "Sold Out."
Video - Managing Inventory
You can Add Inventory Control to an item in your Catalog at any time.
- Go to Store & Forms / Catalog to see a list of SKUs in your Catalog.
- Select the SKU that will be inventory controlled.
- On the Sales Information tab, change Manage Inventory to "Yes" and Save.
- To set the inventory numbers, go back to the Catalog list and select the blue "adjust inventory" button for the SKU.
If you are starting inventory for the first time, enter the number of items available. (QOH = Quantity On Hand) You will want to make an Absolute Adjustment to reflect the number of items you have to sell.
How the Inventory Works: QOH = Quantity On Hand
Example #1: If you order more of a product, you will need to add inventory.
You have 19 small shirts remaining and you are going to reorder 10 additional small shirts. You will want to make a Relative Adjustment of +10 which will give you a total of 29 small shirts available to sell. Type "10" in for the Adjustment and the system will automatically add that to your inventory.
Example #2: If you sell a product offline, you will need to decrease your available inventory.
You have 29 small shirts remaining and you sell 10 for cash purchases at the school's Kindergarten Registration event. The adjustment will be -10 (negative 10) which will give you a total of 19 shirts available to sell. Type "-10" in as the Relative Adjustment and the system will automatically subtract the items from your inventory.
Adjusting Inventory in Bulk
If you have a large quantity of items to update inventory for, you can do this all at once. This can save a lot of time by making it so you don't have to open each individual SKU.
- Go to Store & Forms / Reports / Inventory Levels.
- Filter the SKUs, then use the "adjust inventory levels" button.
- You can enter a new inventory number or make an adjustment to the current quantity using the (+/-) sign.
Inventory Holds
In rare cases, two Users could be checking out with the same item at the same time. To prevent over-selling items, the system places a temporary "hold" on inventory controlled items. When a User places an item in their cart, it will be "on hold" for them and they will have 15 minutes to complete the checkout process before that item is released back into the available inventory.
Re-Orders
If you plan to continuously re-order an item as it is needed, it is best practice to NOT set inventory controls. Once your inventory goes to "0," orders for that item can no longer be placed and you will lose sales.
Back-Orders
There is not a way to collect sales in a "back-ordered" state. It may be best to include a Special Note in a SKU with information regarding when the item will be delivered.