Channel Inventory

Channel inventory is currently not fully operational as it is not considered in reservations and routing.

Introduction

Channel inventory allows reserving inventory for specific sales channels or other purposes. The channel inventory view gives an overview of all configured allocations and allows users to assign products and stock to channels.

For more technical details please refer to Inventory Management - Channel Inventory.

This view can be enabled in the remote configuration via API.

Description

Channel allocations assign stock for products to specific channels. Follow the below steps if you want to assign stock to channels. As of now, channels can only be created via API. For more information please refer to Channel Inventory - Availability Channel .

Create channel allocations

1. Go to the "Channel Inventory" tab in the Inventory Management view.

2. Click on the "+" icon on the right to create a new channel allocation.

3. Select the (sales) channel and the product that you want to allocate to the channel.

4. Define a validity period if the stocks should only be reserved for the channel for a specific time span. This is optional.

5. Choose the facilities in which you want to reserve stock for the channel.

6. Define the quantity of items that you want to reserve in the respective facilities. Only as much stock can be assigned to a channel as is currently available.

7. Save the new channel allocation. If you have not defined a validity period, the channel allocations becomes instantly active.

Edit channel allocations

After an allocation has been created, it can be managed via the overview in the "Channel Inventory" tab. By clicking on the three-dot menu, users can (de-)activate, edit, and delete channel allocations.

If an allocation is deleted or deactivated, the allocated stocks are added back to the general availability. It cannot be guaranteed that the stock will still be available when re-activating the allocation.

Allocation types

Depending on the priority of the distribution path, different strategies for stock reduction can be defined for each channel. As of now, allocation types can only be edited via API. For more information please refer to Channel Inventory - Availability Channel . The following types are currently available:

• RESTRICT (Only stock that has been explicitly allocated to this channel is available for sales via this channel. As soon as the allocated stock is used up, no stock is available any more for this channel).

• REGULAR (If an order is accepted via this channel, the allocated stock is first used up. Afterwards, stock that is has not been allocated to any channel is used.)

• IRON_RESERVE (If an order is accepted via this channel, stock that is not assigned to any channel is used. Only after all other stock is used, the stock explicitly reserved for the channel is taken.)

Pay attention when changing the allocation type of a channel as this affects the stock reduction behaviour for all existing allocations belonging to the channel.

FAQs

What is a channel?

Availability channels in our platform are designed to represent sales channels or other topics inventory should be grouped by. Go here for more detailed information.

What is a channel allocation?

Channel allocations link channels to specific products and assign a predetermined quantity of stock to a channel. Go here for more detailed information.

What are allocation types?

Depending on the priority of the distribution path, different strategies for stock reduction can be defined for each channel. These are mapped by the allocation types. Go here for more detailed information.