Assigning product packaging relationships is how you divide a larger amount from your supplier into the smaller quantities you will sell in your store. For example, if your supplier sells iced tea in a case of 24 bottles, you can use packaging relationships to divide the large case into packs of 6 or singles. This allows you to track the amounts you sell and manage your inventory and ordering more effectively.

Setting up quantities as independent SKUs

Before you assign product relationships, you need to set up each pack amount as an independent SKU. We recommend doing this by setting up a product with variants if you sell more than one quantity of a product. This way all the quantities you sell can be accessed in one place and makes breaking down quantities more efficient.

You may also choose to assign product relationships using two standard products if you receive a large quantity from a supplier and only sell one smaller quantity in store. For example, you receive a case of 24 but only sell singles.

Product relationships can only be set up using variant or standard products. Composite products cannot be used for product relationships.

Creating variants for packaging relationships

1. Navigate to Catalog > Products.
2. Click Add product.
3. Fill out the general product information as required.
4. In the Inventory section, select Variant product.

   

5. Enter information for suppliers, tax, and price as required.
6. In the Variants section, choose an attribute or add a custom attribute to suit your needs. For example "Pack amount".
7. Optionally, click and drag variant names in the Value section to automatically change their order of appearance in the list of variants as well as in your Stock control, Products page, and Promotions page. Note that rearranging variants in this way does not sync across eCom.

   

   

   When rearranging variants in this way, the original variant you created first is still the parent variant. Deleting the parent variant may have unintended consequences.

8. In the Value field, add all the quantities you sell. Then add the package quantity from your supplier. For example, if you receive a case of 24 bottles of iced tea from your supplier, and you sell packs of six and singles, you will need values for 6 pack, single, then 24 case.

   

9. If you don’t sell the large quantity you receive from your supplier, click the check beside Enabled to disable that variant. In this example, the 24 case is not sold in stores so it is disabled and won’t be accessible from the sell screen.

   

   If the variant you need to disable is the first on the list of values, deactivating it will set the whole product as inactive on the Product page. If you are setting up product relationships and don’t want to sell the full package quantity, add it as the last value. Then, you can make it inactive while keeping the other options active.

10. Click Save.

Assigning packaging relationships

Once all the quantities you receive and sell are set up as variants with independent SKUs, you can assign product relationships. When assigning product relationships, each variant or standard product can only be divided once. For example, a case of 24 bottles can only be divided into packs of six OR single bottles, not both.

There are two packaging relationships that can be assigned to the product:

• The products that [product] comes from: If the product is available in a larger packaging size, add the product it comes from here. For example, a 6 pack of iced tea comes from the 24 case.
• The product that [product] breaks into: If the product breaks into a smaller packaging size, add the product it breaks into here. For example, a 6 pack of iced tea (which comes from the 24 case) and is also broken down into singles.

1. Navigate to Catalog > Products.
2. Click on the product to edit it.
3. In the Variants section, ensure the case amount and all the quantities you sell are separate variants in the product.
4. Click on the first variant to expand it and select Packaging. In this example, the first variant is the pack of 6 you break down from the 24 case.

   

5. In the Product comes from section, click Add a product relationship.

   

6. In the Search or scan to add a product box, type the variant quantity the pack of six comes from. For example "6 pack" comes from the larger 24 case.

   

7. Enter how many smaller amounts come from the larger case. In this example, four packs of six come from the 24 case.
8. In the Product breaks into section, click Add a product relationship.

   

9. In the Search or scan to add a product box, type the variant quantity the case breaks into, for example "single" comes from a pack of six.

   

10. Enter how many smaller amounts come from the larger case. In this example, six single bottles come from a pack of six.
11. Continue adding relationships for subsequent variants until you have added all the relationships required. Once you add a relationship to a variant, it will be autofilled in all relevant sections.
    • For example, because the “single” variant was assigned a relationship in the breaks into section of the “6 pack” variant, that relationship will automatically show in the comes from section of the “single”.

      

12. Click Save.

Dividing product quantities

Once all your product relationships are set for a product, you can divide your inventory into smaller quantities to be sold and tracked. This allows you to determine how many larger packs to keep for sale and how many to break into smaller quantities and can be adjusted to suit your needs as required. You can divide products individually or in bulk.

Dividing product quantities individually

1. Navigate to Catalog > Products and locate the product you wish to divide.
2. Click on the arrow to expand the product details.
3. Click Break down.

   

4. Choose the outlet you're breaking down inventory for from the drop-down and click Next.

   

5. Enter the quantity you wish to break down in the fields. In this example, the 24 case is not sold in stores so all 10 of the 24 cases will break down into six packs. There are now 40 packs of six available to sell in store.

   

6. Further break down packs to suit your needs. In this example, singles are more popular than six packs so of the 40 available, 30 will break down into singles. There are now 10 packs of six and 180 individual bottles available for sale.

   

7. Click Update inventory.
8. Repeat the steps for additional outlets.

Your inventory will update according to how you divide your products. Once you have divided a larger amount into a smaller amount, it cannot be undone. For example, you can't adjust your inventory to make a pack of six using six singles.

Dividing product quantities in bulk

If you have multiple products you wish to divide, you can do this through bulk actions on the product page.

1. Navigate to Catalog > Products.
2. Click the checkboxes beside all the products you wish to break down. In this example, both Iced tea and Iced coffee need to be divided.

   

3. Click Choose an action > Break down products.

   

4. Choose the outlet you're breaking down inventory for from the drop-down and click Next.
5. Enter the quantity you wish to break down in the fields. The inventory calculations will update as you break down larger quantities. When you are finished with the first product, click Next.
6. Continue breaking down products as needed. When you have finished the last product, click Update inventory.

   

Your inventory will update according to how you divide your products. Once you have divided a larger amount into a smaller amount, it cannot be undone. For example, you can't adjust your inventory to make a pack of six using six singles.

Counting divided products

Products with packaging relationships do not change the way you conduct a full or partial inventory count, as each quantity of the product still holds independent inventory levels. If you have deactivated the large quantity variant because you don’t sell it in store, click the Include inactive products checkbox before starting an inventory count. This will ensure any inventory you have stored but not broken down yet is included in your count.

If a discrepancy is recorded in an inventory count for a product that has packaging relationships assigned, Retail POS will flag this under the Unmatched tab when reviewing the count. An exclamation mark notification will advise that the discrepancy may be the result of a packaged product being broken down but not recorded in Retail POS.

In this example, the discrepancies show counted inventory for Iced tea 6 pack is two units less than the expected inventory. The counted inventory for the Iced tea single was 12 more than expected inventory.

This would suggest that two packs of six have been broken down to sell as singles but not recorded in Retail POS. In this example, the products have been counted as correct and no changes are needed to complete the inventory count. The inventory will update accordingly after the count is completed. 

There may be scenarios where counted inventory doesn't directly match the packaging relationship as the above does. In these cases, we recommend recounting the affected items as required before completing the inventory count.

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