Product Types
By enabling product types (Settings > Products), you gain the choice between three different product types when creating a product. These product types are:
• Basic product • Composite product • Derived product
Each of these products has its specific characteristics and can have or not have its own stock, ultimately offering the following combinations:
- Basic product with stock
- Basis products without their own inventory are products that should not be fulfilled, such as e-books or products with a different fulfillment method
- Composite products with their own inventory must be produced in advance, such as a bundle with its own packaging and/or addition
- Composite products without their own inventory are assembled at the time of picking
- Derived products with their own inventory are broken down in advance and have their own location in the warehouse
- Derived products without their own inventory are simply picked from the location of the base product
Basic Product
A basic product is a product as known in our application, without using product types. A basic product without its own stock is also referred to as a virtual product because it is not physically present in the warehouse. This can be an e-book, service or subscription, or a product that is fulfilled by another warehouse.
Basic products are also, as the name suggests, the basis for the other two product types.
Composite Product
A composite product consists of two or more basic products. Composite products with their own inventory must be produced in advance. When the inventory of such a product becomes too low, it will appear in the "Inventory below minimum" report, and new stock will need to be added.
Composite products without their own inventory do not require special treatment or follow-up and are assembled at the time of picking. You then get a potential stock visible based on the inventory levels of the linked basic products.
Derived Product
A derived product always has a base product as its source, for example, a full roll with 25 meters of string. In this case, a derived product is interesting when both full rolls and running meters of the same product are sold. The running meters then form a derivative of the full roll, where we define that the SKU of the running meter consists of 1/25 of the full roll. We always define derivatives according to the counter 1 to... (for example, 1 in 25 above).
Derived products can have or not have their own inventory just like composite products.
Over time, "leftovers" may occur with derived products. These are remnants that physically remain due to processed orders containing derivative products. These leftovers are gradually used up as new orders are picked.
We advise you to define only one derivative per base product to prevent a wild growth of leftovers with different names.
?> Tip Want to change a basic product into another product type? You can do so, provided there is no stock linked and/or no existing reservations on this product.