Channel inventory

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

Introduction

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 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

Please go to the Developer Docs for more information on managing channel inventory via API.

Availability channels

More channel inventory API information can be found here: REST API documentation - Channels.

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

• name: Each channel is characterized by a unique name for easy identification.

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

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

  • REGULAR: If an order is accepted via this channel, the allocated stock is first used up. Afterwards, 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. Only after all other stock is used, the stock explicitly allocated to the channel is taken.

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

Allocation groups

More allocation group API information can be found here: 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 as grouped together in the Backoffice. When deleting a group, the allocated stock is added back to the 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 currently considered in 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 group level. Channel allocations are only considered in stock availability and routing if the current time is within the defined 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. Although not technically forbidden, we recommend to only define only one article per group.

Allocations for channels

More channel allocation API information can be found here: REST API documentation - Channel-Allocations.

The core functionality of channels is realized through availabilityAllocationentities. 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 that should be initially allocated to the respective channel within the facility.

• facilityRef: Each allocation can only allocate stocks from 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 is equal to the stock that has been initially allocated to the channel minus all stock that has already been sold over this channel since the allocation has become 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 over this channel since the allocation has become 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 over this channel is only deducted if no other stock for that product is generally available.