ChannelEngine: stock allocation

About this article

This article describes ChannelEngine's stock allocations feature, how to enable it, and how to configure it.

Table of contents

Introduction

Limitations

How it works

Prerequisites

Setup

• Edit and delete

FAQs

Introduction

The stock allocation feature allows you to assign stock, either as a specific quantity or as a percentage, to a marketplace. This provides better control over the inventory allocated to each marketplace, and helps reduce the risk of overselling.

Limitations

• Stock allocation is applicable only when the merchant handles their own fulfillment. It is not compatible with marketplace fulfillment services.
• Stock allocation works separately from the multiple stock locations feature. It is not possible to make use of the two features simultaneously.
• Stock allocation is not compatible with marketplaces that support multiple sales channels within the same connection. E.g.: Decathlon, Zalando.
• Stock allocations cannot be created for the same product more than once. However, it is possible to create multiple stock allocation records for the same marketplace – as long as they have a different product selection.

How it works

If you set up a stock allocation rule for a specific marketplace, you allocate a portion of your inventory as either a percentage or a fixed quantity to that marketplace. Note that assigning 40% of your stock to one marketplace does not imply the remaining 60% is automatically allocated to other marketplaces. Instead, the entire 100% of your stock is still available for distribution to other marketplaces.

If you create multiple allocation rules, you can distribute your inventory across several marketplaces based on the specified percentages or quantities. E.g.: you can allocate 30% of your stock to bol and 20% to Amazon. For other marketplaces, the entire 100% of your stock is made available.

Prerequisites

To activate the stock allocation feature on ChannelEngine, contact your customer success manager or a member of the Support team. They will ensure that the Use stock allocation setting is enabled and the Override stock allocation setting is disabled.

Setup

To create a stock allocation rule on ChannelEngine:

1. From the left-hand side menu, go to Products, Stock allocation.
2. Click Add to create a stock allocation rule.
3. Enter a suitable name for the stock allocation.
4. Select the target marketplace from the dropdown. E.g.: Amazon UK.
5. In the Allocated stock field, enter the stock quantity or percentage you want allocated to the selected marketplace. If you use a percentage, enable the Reserved stock is percentage toggle.
6. By default, the stock allocation applies to all products sold on the selected marketplace. You can narrow down the product selection using filters. E.g.: to select products with a stock greater than 20, apply the filter 'if [Stock] [Greater than] 20'.
7. Click Save to apply the stock allocation rule.

Edit and delete

To view the list of stock allocation rules in your tenant, go to Products, Stock allocation.

To edit an existing stock allocation rule, click the pencil button next to it on the Stock allocations page.

To delete a stock allocation rule, click the trash can button next to it.

FAQs

Can I define start and end dates for a stock allocation rule?

No, it is not possible to define start or end dates for a stock allocation rule. The rule remains active until you remove it.