SKU Masking

SKU Masking is a concept used for specific inventory tracking; it is method of configuring products and product options such that one product can be displayed to customers, but the inventory figures are calculated for other products. As a specific example, this functionality allows one tee-shirt product to be displayed in the store, but when a customer orders the various sizes of it (small, medium, large), the back-end of NeuCart will change the inventory of a different product ("small shirt", "medium shirt", "large shirt").

This article discusses one or more best practices for configuration of a NeuCart store. This article discusses a topic related to managing inventory.

Scenario

To restate the above information, SKU Masking is used in a situation like this:

1. An item exists in your inventory, for example a shirt, in multiple sizes.
2. You need to track individual sales of the small, medium, and large items.
3. You want only one shirt to be displayed to customers, with an option to determine the size at the time of checkout.

Configuration

Using the example above, and assuming the sizes small, medium, and large, the following configuration steps are necessary:

1. Create four separate items:
   • Shirt. This item is "active" and will display on the screen for customers to order.
   • Small shirt. This item is inactive.
   • Medium shirt. This item is inactive.
   • Large shirt. This item is inactive.
2. Create a Product Options List, named "Sizes for shirt item". Configure these options for it:
   • Small. The "alt product" for this option is the "small shirt" from above.
   • Medium. The "alt product" for this option is the "medium shirt" from above.
   • Large. The "alt product" for this option is the "large shirt" from above.
3. The item "shirt" that appears on screens must be configured with the Product Options List that allows for the small/medium/large option setting.

Summary

With this configuration, a customer will choose one of the size options, and when the items is processed in the system, it will be recorded as the small/medium/large item.

Pricing considerations

Your configuration may require that the masked-SKU items are also priced differently. In this case, you must set the displayable item to the lowest possible price, and add prices to the options in the Product Options List so that the sum is the total final price. For example, if the prices are...

• Small $6.00
• Medium $7.00
• Large $8.00

... then the configuration should be for the "Shirt" item to be $6, the "medium" option to be $1, and the "large" option to be $2.00.

See also

• Inventory Category
• Product Options List

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