Channel inventory

Channel inventory is currently not fully operational, as it is not considered for reservations or order routing.

Channel inventory allows reserving stock for specific sales channels or other purposes. Depending on the individual use case, different rules and time periods for stock assignment can be defined per channel. Reservations for specific channels are always performed on the facility level.

The below steps must be followed when introducing channel inventory:

1. Create availability channels

2. Create allocation groups

3. Create allocations for channels

See the Developer Docs for more information on managing channel inventory via channel availability REST API.

Availability channels

More information about the channel inventory API can be found in the REST API documentation: Channels.

Availability channels represent sales channels or other topics for which inventory should be grouped. The following values can be defined per channel:

• name: Each channel has a unique name for easy identification.

• strategy: Depending on the priority of the (sales) channel, different methods can be defined for stock reduction. In Backoffice, this is referred to as allocation type:

  • RESTRICT: Only stock explicitly allocated to this channel is available for sale via the channel. As soon as the allocated stock is used up, no stock is available anymore.

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

  • IRON_RESERVE: If an order is accepted via this channel, stock not assigned to any other channel is used. Only after all other stock is used is the stock explicitly allocated to the channel taken.

When a channel is deleted, the allocated stock is added back to the general availability.

Allocation groups

More information about the allocation group API can be found in the REST API documentation: Channel-Groups.

Each allocation must belong to a group. Groups are used to organize allocations in facilities for a specific article and channel. They are also used to display related allocations grouped in Backoffice. When a group is deleted, the allocated stock is added back to general availability.

The following values can be defined per allocation group:

• active: Can be true or false, depending on whether the allocated stock should be included in the current stock availability and routing. If active is set to false, the allocated stock is added back to the general availability.

• activePeriod: The allocated stock can be considered for a timespan defined at the group level. Channel allocations are considered only for stock availability and routing if the current time falls within the specified time period. If the activePeriod is not defined, allocations are considered as soon as they are created.

• tenantArticleIds: A group organizes allocations for an article identified by its tenantArticleId. We recommend to define only one article per group.

Allocations for channels

More information about the channel allocation API can be found in the REST API documentation: Channel-Allocations.

The core functionality of channels is realized through availabilityAllocation entities. These entities link channels to specific products (identified by tenantArticleIds) and assign a predetermined quantity of stock to each channel. When deleting an allocation, the allocated stock is added back to the general availability.

The following values can be defined per allocation:

• initialStockQuantity: Defines the quantity of items to be initially allocated to the channel within the facility.

• facilityRef: Each allocation can allocate stocks from only one facility to a channel.

Availability calculation

The channel availability can be retrieved via the stock summaries REST API and stock distribution REST API.

Active allocations reduce the available amount of the specified article(s) for all other channels by the specified amount. Initially, other availabilities are reduced by the defined initialStockQuantity. If orders are received via a channel, the quantity of allocated stock is reduced depending on the channel strategy:

• RESTRICT: Available on Stock equals the stock initially allocated to the channel minus all stock that has already been sold through this channel since the allocation became active.

• REGULAR: Available on Stock is all stock that is generally available, plus stock that has been initially allocated to the channel, minus all stock that has already been sold through this channel since the allocation became active.

• IRON_RESERVE: Available on Stock is all stock that is generally available, plus stock that has been allocated to the channel. Stock that has already been sold through this channel is deducted only if no other stock for that product is generally available.