Channel inventory

Introduction

Channel inventory is not currently considered in order reservations and routing.

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

Channel allocations assign stock for products to specific channels. Channels can only be created via the fulfillmenttools REST API.

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

For more details, refer to Products – Channel Inventory.

Channel allocation creation

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

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

3. Select the sales channel and the product to allocate to the channel.

4. Optionally, define a validity period if the stock should only be reserved for the channel for a specific time span.

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

6. Define the quantity of items 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 a validity period is not defined, the channel allocation becomes instantly active.

Channel allocation management

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

If an allocation is deleted or deactivated, the allocated stock is added back to the general availability. It cannot be guaranteed that the stock will still be available if the allocation is reactivated later.

Allocation types

Depending on the priority of the distribution path, different strategies for stock reduction can be defined for each channel. Allocation types can only be edited via the REST API. The following types are 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 anymore for this channel.

• REGULAR: If an order is accepted via this channel, the allocated stock is used up first. Afterward, stock that 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 first. The stock explicitly reserved for the channel is taken only after all other stock is used.

Changing the allocation type of a channel affects the stock reduction behavior for all existing allocations belonging to that channel.

FAQs

What is a channel?

Availability channels in fulfillmenttools are designed to represent sales channels or other groupings for inventory. More detailed information is available in the API documentation for managing availability channels.

What is a channel allocation?

Channel allocations link channels to specific products and assign a predetermined quantity of stock to that channel. More detailed information is available in the API documentation for managing allocations for channels.

What are allocation types?

Allocation types define the different strategies for stock reduction that can be applied to each channel, depending on the priority of its distribution path. For more details, see the Allocation types section on this page.