ChannelEngine: channel stock settings

About this article

This article describes how to configure stock settings in the Stock step on channels.

Table of contents

Introduction

Setup

• Fulfillment from one stock location
• Fulfillment from multiple stock locations, managed on ChannelEngine
• Fulfillment from multiple stock locations, managed on the channel

Stock global turnover

Product-level settings

Stock example

Introduction

Stock is a step in the configuration process of each channel on ChannelEngine. It appears after the Pricing step in each channel. 

The following tabs appear in the Stock step:

• Stock setup - set up your channel-level or location-level stock settings.
• Product-level settings - product-level settings allow you to define stock buffers and limits on specific products, leaving the rest of the products to follow the channel-level limitations or location-level limitations that you set.
• Stock allocation (if enabled) - the Stock allocation tab appears if your tenant supports stock allocations. Additionally, you can manage stock allocations via Products, Stock allocations.  For more details on stock allocations, check out ChannelEngine: stock allocations.

Setup

Fulfillment from one stock location

If you fulfill your orders from only one stock location and the stock levels from that warehouse are imported to ChannelEngine, apply stock settings on two levels:

• Channel level - the stock global turnover, stock buffer, and stock limit that apply to all products that you list on the given channel.
• Product level - stock buffers and limits on specific products; if you specify no product-level settings, then your channel-level settings are used.

These settings are optional, and ChannelEngine will continue to manage your stock levels with your connected channels even when no values are entered.

To set up your channel-level stock settings:

1. Go to the Stock setup tab.
2. To add an extra layer of protection from overselling in the channel, toggle the Enable stock global turnover setting on, if desired.
3. In the Set up stock buffer and limit section, click the Channel level selector.
4. Enter one or both of the following settings, if desired:
   • Stock buffer - channel-specific stock buffer. Enter a value greater than 0 (zero) to set a stock buffer. E.g.: if a product’s stock is 50, a value of 2 ensures that only 48 items are available to the marketplace. The stock buffer applies to all products that are in the product selection of the channel plugin unless you set up product-level settings.
   • Stock limit - channel-specific stock limit. Enter a value greater than 0 (zero) to set a stock limit. E.g.: a value of 20 ensures that at most 20 units are available to the marketplace – even if the actual stock is higher than 20. The stock limit applies to all products that are in the product selection of the channel plugin unless you set up product-level settings.

To set up the product-level stock settings, check out the Product-level settings section below.

Fulfillment from multiple stock locations, managed on ChannelEngine

If you fulfill your orders from multiple stock locations, and you set up the stock locations and the corresponding order routing rules on ChannelEngine, then use the Stock step to:

1. Manage order routing rules.
2. Apply stock settings on three levels:
   • Channel level - enable the stock global turnover on the channel.
   • Location level - the stock buffer and stock limit that apply to all products that you list on the given channel, from each stock location.
   • Product level - stock buffers and limits on specific products; if you specify no product-level settings, then your location-level settings are used.

To manage your order routing rules: 

1. Create your initial order routing rules at Orders, Routing, available from the sidebar menu. 
2. In your channel's Stock step, your order routes appear as separate line items, each containing the following fields: 
   • Merchant order route name - the name you gave to the given order route.
   • Merchant stock locations - the names of your own warehouses through which orders are routed in the given order route.
   • To edit the order route, click the pencil icon.

To set up your location-level stock settings:

1. Go to the Stock setup tab.
2. To add an extra layer of protection from overselling in the channel, toggle the Enable stock global turnover setting on, if desired.
3. In the Set up stock buffer and limit section, click the Location level selector.
4. For each of your stock locations, enter values in either or both of the Stock buffer and Stock limit fields, if desired. 

Fulfillment from multiple stock locations, managed on the channel

If your channel allows managing multiple stock locations on its back-end platform, and you have the advanced order management feature turned on in your tenant, then you can send stock levels from each of your stock locations directly to the channel via ChannelEngine.

To send stock levels from multiple stock locations directly to the channel:

1. Toggle on Enable channel stock locations at the top of the Stock setup tab. 
   • Some channels have the multiple stock locations export enabled by default and do not display a toggle setting. 
   • If the Enable channel stock locations toggle is displayed, it is disabled by default, and ChannelEngine sends only one stock level to your channel. You are free to enable sending stock levels to multiple stock locations on the channel at any time.
2. Enable the stock global turnover (available on select channels).
3. Import the stock locations from the channel. 
   1. Click Import stock locations from channel.
   2. ChannelEngine imports the list of the external warehouses that you have set up on the channel’s back-end platform into your channel plugin.
4. Ensure that the channel warehouses are correctly mapped to your stock locations on ChannelEngine. 
   1. Map your stock locations to the channel stock locations. 
   2. Make modifications if any of the mappings are incorrect.
5. When the ChannelEngine stock locations are mapped to the channel warehouses, ChannelEngine exports a stock value per warehouse to the channel.
6. Set up product-level settings (available on select channels).

Stock global turnover

The Stock global turnover setting is visible in the Stock setup tab. Enable the Stock global turnover setting to run ChannelEngine’s stock global turnover calculation on the given channel. The stock global turnover gives you an extra layer of protection from stock-outs, which is especially important on channels that have strict seller KPIs, like Amazon or bol. For more details on the stock global turnover, check out ChannelEngine: stock global turnover.

Product-level settings

Product-level settings allow you to define stock buffers and limits on specific products, leaving the rest of the products to follow the channel-level limitations or location-level limitations that you set.

Set product-level settings in two ways: via CSV upload through the web interface or via the Merchant API.

CSV upload

To upload a CSV file of product-level settings:

1. Go to Stock, Product-level settings.
2. Click Upload CSV.
3. Upload a CSV with product-level stock buffer and/or limit in this format: MerchantProductNo, StockBuffer, StockLimit, StockLocationId. You can provide one, both, or neither of the buffer and limit values. Leave the StockLocationId column empty, unless you have defined location-level limitations.
   1. If you define location-level limitations, enter the stock location ID in the StockLocationId column. Locate the correct ID in Products, Stock locations.
   2. Use separate rows to define different buffer and limit values for the same product across multiple stock locations.
   3. When you specify a product’s stock location ID, the product-level buffers and limits override the location-level limitations on the given products.
4. After upload, you can view a report that indicates the merchant product number, stock location ID, status of the uploaded values, and any messages from ChannelEngine indicating why values may not have been uploaded.

Upload via Merchant API

Use the Merchant API to upload product-level settings.

Three endpoints are available:

• Retrieve product-level stock limitations: GET /v2/offer/{channelId}/product-level-stock-limitations - use this endpoint to retrieve product-level stock settings for a specific channel. The endpoint returns values that are set either through the web interface or the API.
• Define product-level stock limitations: POST /v2/offer/{channelId}/product-level-stock-limitations - use this endpoint to set the product-level stock settings on a specific channel.
• Remove product-level stock limitations: DELETE /v2/offer/{channelId}/product-level-stock-limitations - use this endpoint to remove product-level stock settings on a specific channel.

Items that you add or delete via API override the product-level stock limitation values that you enter via the web interface.

Stock example

To view the stock example, click Stock calculation example. 

In the drawer, the stock example displays: the stock locations, stock quantity, and a calculation of the exportable stock of a given product. In the search bar, enter a merchant product number to retrieve a stock example for the given product.

In the example above, the calculation is performed as follows:

1. Total stock: 2 units are available at the warehouse.
2. Open order quantity: 1 unit is deducted for a pending order.
3. Stock buffer: 1 unit is deducted based on the configured buffer.
4. Exported stock: the final value sent to the marketplace is 0.