Creating and Managing Products

All transactions are centered around products. Before we delve into a discussion of products, let us review the different catalogs and the different product types.

Products, Listings & External Catalogs: Understanding Catalog Types

• Products act as the central master catalog, which is used across the board. Products are purchased, sold, and maintain inventory and cost. The product also serves as the primary repository for all information pertaining to your items.
• Listings are catalogs of your products with the store. For each store you partner with, you have a separate set of listings. Listings are used to communicate with the store in sending inventory and in processing orders. Listings and products are connected through listing mapping. Each store listing is mapped to a Goflow product.
• Vendor Products are catalogs of products that are offered for purchase by your vendors. Each vendor may have their own list of products, which includes details on inventory levels and cost.
• 3PL Products are catalogs of products that you stock at a third-party logistics warehouse. You may have a separate list of products for each 3PL warehouse.
• Accounting Products are catalogs of products imported from your accounting system.

This article primarily focuses around the first type of catalog: Products.

Product Types: Standard, Kit, Group, and Multipack

The product catalog includes three different product types:

• Standard products are regular single products.
• Kits are bundle products that are physically packed together.
• Groups are bundle products not packed together.

When creating new products, it is important to review and understand the purpose and behavior of each product type. Once a product is created, its type cannot be changed.

Understanding the Standard Product

Standard products are regular products that are never broken into smaller units. They are traded as a single, indivisible unit. A standard products meets the following criteria:

• The product is always traded as a single unit.
• The product is never packed in more than one box.

For instance, a watch is a prime example of a standard product. It is bought and sold as a unit, and it ships in a single box. Less obvious is a pair of shoes. Despite having physically separate halves, it is always treated as a whole and packed in a single box.

On the other hand, if a product is sometimes traded separately, it is not a standard product. Let's take the example of a flashlight with batteries. While they are often sold together, they can also be sold separately or purchased separately, making it a bundle rather than a standard product. The flashlight and batteries would be a kit or group product.

Another example is a set of oversized party speakers. Although the pair is always traded together, each speaker is packed in its individual box. Party speakers would not be standard, but a group product.

Understanding the Kit Product

Kit products are bundles of two or more standard products that are packaged together and traded as a single unit. In a kit, the components are physically packed together. The individual children cannot be sold separately without first breaking their physical bond.

Some examples of kits:

• Flashlight with batteries where the batteries were already placed inside the flashlight.
• A set of two shampoo bottles wrapped and sold as a 2-pack.

Kit products have their own inventory, separate from their individual children. Once the kit is assembled, its inventory is tracked independently from the standard products it contains. For example, if batteries are inserted into a flashlight to create a kit, those batteries can no longer be sold separately, and the flashlight cannot be sold without the batteries. The inventory of the kit is a combination of the inventories of its individual parts.

Only kits are supported for FBA, inbound and outbound. The kit is the only bundle product for which you can make FBA inbound shipments, and create outbound fulfillment orders (MCF). When you fulfill an order from your own warehouse, you get the opportuntity of adding batteries to the box, alongside with the flashlight, at the time of order fulfillment. With a 3PL warehouse, however, the single product, flashlight-with-batteries-included must be prepacked together with its own barcode label.

Understanding the Group Product

Group products are composed of two or more physically separate products that are bundled together for sale. Despite being listed and sold as a bundle, the individual children within the group are kept physically separate, and still available for sale as separate standard products.

Some examples of groups:

• Phone with Recharger: You may sell the phone with recharger together as a set. However, you can also maintain separate stock for phones and separate for rechargers. Customers may purchase either the phone or the recharger alone, or they may buy a set of both products together as a package.
• Party Speakers Set: Although the pair is always traded together, effectively, each has its own stock. Each is packed in its own box, and is shipped separately.

Group products share inventory with their children. Since the individual components in a group are not physically bound together, the group does not have its own separate inventory. Instead, the inventory of the group parent is directly linked to the inventory of its children. When one child of the group is sold, the quantity of the group parent is adjusted accordingly. For example, if you sell one recharger separately, there will be one less unit of the phone-with-recharger-included available in stock.

Multipacks are bundles of two or more of the same product. In a multipack, the units are only sold together but are kept physically separate. While you can manage these by creating group products, multipacks are best managed by creating units of measure on the standard product.

Creating New Products

Item numbers cannot be changed. It is important to carefully consider the naming conventions for your products before creating them, as you will not have the option to update the item number once saved.

Valid characters for Item Number are letters (A-Z), numbers (0-9), and the symbols _:!&"'/\#%|)(+-*=,.

Creating New Standard Products

To create a new standard product, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Catalog › Products.
2. In the upper right-hand corner, click on New Product.
3. Select Create Standard Product from the options provided.
4. On the SKU card, enter the Item Number you want to give for the product.
5. Complete as many of the product fields you wish to fill at this time.
6. Finally, Save to create the new product.

Creating New Kits Products

Before you can create a kit product, the children products must already exist in the catalog.

To create a new kit product, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Catalog › Products.
2. In the upper right-hand corner, click on New Product.
3. Select Create Kit from the options provided.
4. On the SKU card, enter the Item Number you want to give for the kit parent.
5. On the Kit Children card, select the products that will be included as children of this kit.
6. Complete as many of the product fields you wish to fill at this time.
7. Finally, Save to create the new kit.

The children of a kit can be either standard products or other kit products.

Creating New Group Products

Before you can create a group product, the children products must already exist in the catalog.

To create a new group product, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Catalog › Products.
2. In the upper right-hand corner, click on New Product.
3. Select Create Group from the options provided.
4. On the SKU card, enter the Item Number you want to give for the group parent.
5. On the Group Children card, select the products that will be included as children of this group.
6. Complete as many of the product fields you wish to fill at this time.
7. Finally, Save to create the new group.

The children of a group can be either standard products or kit products.

Cloning Products

Easily create new products based on existing ones with minimal adjustments. This comes in handy for creating multiple variations of a single base product. The cloned product is prepopulated all product fields from the original, except those that must be unique, such as the item number, product identifiers, and product images. Before saving, enter a unique item number for the new product.

To clone a product, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Catalog › Products, and open an existing product.
2. In the upper right corner, click the three-dot menu and select Clone Product.
3. Update the product fields where the clone differs from the original.
4. Enter an item number and Save the new product.

Group and kit products can be cloned, with the children products in the clone mirroring those in the original. This is useful for creating identical bundles of both Kit and Group products. While cloning, simply toggle the Product Type between Group or Kit.

Editing Kit and Group Children

You may modify the composition of kit and group products. This includes adding or removing children from the kit or group, as well as adjusting the quantity of children within the kit or group.

Changes made to the composition of a group product does not impact previous orders. The composition of the group at the time of the order will be maintained, even if you later make changes to the group product.

A kit with a history of disassemblies, cannot have its composition modified. When a kit is disassembled, the cost of the parent kit is distributed among its children. If you later modify the original cost of the parent kit, all of the children must be present to inherit the updated cost. As a result, updating a kit with a disassembly history is not supported.

To update the children of a kit or group product, follow these steps:

1. Go to Catalog › Products.
2. Use the filters and the search box to find the product.
3. Click into the product.
4. On the Group or Kit Children card, click on the pencil on the upper right corner.
5. You may add children, remove children, or change the quantity of the children in the kit or group.
6. Finally, click Save to complete the update.

Exporting Kit and Group Composition

You can export a CSV file containing all kit and group products, along with their respective children and quantities. This export allows you to review the compositions, make necessary updates, and upload changes in bulk.

To export kit and group children, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Catalog › Products.
2. In the upper right-hand corner, click on Export › Export Product Children.
3. Download a CSV, and save to your drive.

Editing Product Fields

To update product fields, follow these steps:

1. Go to Catalog › Products.
2. Use the filters and the search box to find the product.
3. Click into the product.
4. Click on the pencil on the upper right corner of the section you wish to update.
5. Make your updates, and click Save.

Deactivating and Reactivating Products

To remove a product from your catalog, you can deactivate it by setting its status to inactive. If you wish to offer the product again, you can make it active once more. Products cannot be deleted; however, deactivating them makes them inaccessible for use in any transactions. When a product is deactivated, its listings are unmapped, and Goflow ceases to send inventory to stores.

By default, the products page is filtered to show only active products. To see your inactive products, remove the Active filter.

To update product status, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Catalog › Products, and select the desired product.
2. Click on the pencil on the upper right corner under Status.
3. Change the status, and click Save.

Use the Import Products upload to update product status in bulk.

Making Products Eligible for Deactivation

Products that have ongoing activity cannot be deactivated. To deactivate a product, it must meet the following criteria:

• The product must have zero inventory on hand.
• The product should not be on any open transaction.
• The product must not be a child of an active kit or group product.

To proceed with deactivating the product, follow these steps:

• Remove the product's inventory by entering an adjustment.
• Ensure that all open transactions involving this product are closed. See a list of open transactions by going to the Inventory card within the product and clicking on Reserved inventory.
• Export Product Children, and identify which group or kit products have the product you wish to deactivate as their child. You'll have to first deactivate the parent before you can deactivate the children.

Restricting Product Transactions

To prevent a product from being purchased, mark it as not-purchasable. This keeps the product active, but blocked from being added to purchase orders. Similarly, to prevent a product from being sold, mark it as not-sellable. The product remains active but cannot be placed on orders, and its mapped listings send zero inventory to the stores.

Follow these steps to restrict product transactions:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Catalog › Products, and select the desired product.
2. On the Transactions card, click the pencil to edit.
3. Uncheck Sellable or Purchasable.

Use the Import Products upload to restrict product transactions in bulk.

Managing Products in Bulk

Use the powerful and versatile Import Products upload to efficiently create and update a large number of products in bulk. With this upload, you can easily create new standard products, kits, and groups, as well as update the composition of kits and groups, and update all product standard and custom fields.

To access Import Products, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Catalog › Products.
2. In the upper right-hand corner, click on Import › Import Products.
3. In the Import Products Wizard, select the desired action:
   • Choose to Create New Products and select whether to create standard, kit, or group products.
   • Choose to Update Existing Products and select whether to update product fields, or kit-group children.

Creating New Standard Products

To create new standard products, follow these steps:

1. Select Create New Products from the Import Products wizard, and choose Create Standard Products.
2. Download a customized CSV template and upload the CSV file containing your product information.

The only required header is Item Number. All other product field headers are optional. You can include them during product creation or update them later.

Once created, the item number cannot be changed. Make sure that the item numbers are correct and that you want to use these numbers for standard products.

Creating New Kit or Group Products

To create new kit or group products, follow these steps:

1. Select Create New Products from the Import Products wizard, and choose Create Kit or Create Groups.
2. Download a sample CSV template, and upload the CSV file containing your product information.

The children standard products must be created first, and only then the kit or group parents can be created.

While creating new kits or groups, you cannot set any product fields. After successfully creating the products, do another upload to update product fields.

The template contains three required headers:

• Item Number: The item number for the new kit or group product.
• Child Item Number: The item number of an existing product, to be a child of this kit or group.
• Child Quantity: The quantity of the child product per kit or group.

Enter a new line for each unique child product. The table below is an example of creating a kit with one child, and another kit with two children:

Item Number	Child Item Number	Child Quantity
KitParent1	Child1	2
KitParent2	Child1	1
KitParent2	Child2	1

Editing Kit and Group Children

To edit the child composition of kit or group products, select Update Existing Products from the Import Products wizard, and choose Update Kit & Group Children.

The template is the same as for creating new kits or groups.

Updating Product Fields

To update product fields for all product types, follow these steps:

1. Select Update Existing Products from the Import Products wizard, and choose Create Kit or Update Product Fields.
2. Click on the Columns tab to get a brief overview of each product field. Review detailed information on product fields.
3. Download a customized sample CSV template, and upload the CSV file containing your product information.

Downloading a Customized CSV Template

There are many available headers to update product fields. Updating all product fields simultaneously might not be practical. To address this, the wizard allows you do download a customized template containing only the headers that are relevant to your specific needs.

To download a customized template, follow these steps:

1. Click on the plus sign to expand the Choose Columns menu.
2. Check the headers that you want to include in the template download.
3. Alternatively, click on Select All for each Section to check all headers in that section.
4. Scroll down to the bottom, and click on Download a CSV Template with the selected columns.

Understanding Valid Column Headers

The file upload process operates independently from the customized download template. Headers can be included in the upload file even if they were not checked to be downloaded in the template. Similarly, headers present in the download template can be omitted in the upload file.

Any valid header in the upload file will update the corresponding product field, regardless of its presence in the customized download template. Conversely, any invalid header in the upload file will be ignored during the update process. When creating your own upload file without downloading a template, ensure that all headers are spelled correctly; otherwise, they will be ignored. Headers are case-insensitive, so capitalization style does not affect their validity.

Understanding Valid Column Values

The data type of a product field determines which values are considered valid for that field. Product fields fall into three main data types:

• Text Fields, including fields like Description and Brand, accept any value. When a value is entered, it will overwrite the current value that is set for that field. If a text field is left empty, the field will be cleared out, removing the existing value.
• Number Fields, such as Price and Pounds, only accept numerical values as valid inputs. If a number field is left empty, the wizard will return an error. You cannot clear a number value, but you can set it to 0 if needed.
• Option Fields, like Status and Fulfillment Method, only accept one of the valid options listed in the Columns tab. If an option field is left empty, the wizard will return an error. You cannot clear an option field. When creating new products, if an option field header is not included in the file, the wizard will automatically select the default option.

Updating Product Custom Fields

Use the Import Products upload to update custom field values in bulk.

Before you can update product custom field values, you must first create the custom fields.

First, download a customized CSV template that includes the custom fields to update. To do so, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Catalog › Products.
2. In the upper right-hand corner, click on Import › Import Products.
3. On the wizard, select Update Existing Products, and then Update Product Fields.
4. Click on the plus sign to expand the Choose Columns menu.
5. Scroll down to the Custom Fields section, and Check the custom fields headers to update.
6. Finally, click on Download a CSV Template.

Fill in the values in the download template, and then save and upload.

Export Products

To export products, use product custom exports.