Managing Product Units of Measure
Units of measure are defined quantity configurations by which a product can be purchased, sold, or packaged. Examples include a single item (each), a two-pack, a dozen, or a case of 24.
Units of measure let you:
- Purchase products in wholesale quantities.
- Sell product bundles or cases.
- Pack shipments quickly using standard packaging configurations.
Managing Units of Measure on a Single Product
Create and update units of measure directly on the product page. Follow these steps:
- From the left sidebar, go to Catalog › Products, and open the product.
- Click the Units of Measure tab.
- Click the pencil icon to edit.
- To add a unit of measure, click the plus (+) icon.
- Enter the quantity, e.g 12.
- Enter a two-character abbreviation, e.g. DZ.
- Enter the description, e.g. Dozen.
- (Optional) Set unit of measure defaults.
- Click Save to apply your changes.
- (Optional) Assign product identifiers to units of measure
You can edit existing units of measure the same way. To delete a unit of measure, click the bin icon, and Save.
All products include a built-in unit of measure for the single item (each). This unit of measure cannot be modified or removed.
Setting Unit of Measure Defaults
When adding line items to orders or purchase orders, you can choose any unit of measure set up on the product, but the default unit of measure is populated automatically. You can set distinct defaults for different contexts:
- Purchasing - The unit of measure used on purchase orders.
- Sales - The unit of measure used on orders.
- Shipping - The unit of measure used when packaging the product in shipment boxes.
If no other unit of measure is specified, transactions will default to each.
The Purchasing default is used to suggest the quantity to purchase in Inventory Forecasting.
The Sales default determines the unit of measure used for manually entered line items. Imported channel orders use the unit of measure of the listing mapping.
The Shipping default is used to:
- Automatically apply the quantity per box in order shipments, transfer shipments, and routing requests.
- Bulk-ship multi-quantity orders in separate boxes.
- Ensure accurate shipping cost calculations when comparing carriers during rate shopping.
Managing Units of Measure in Bulk
Use a CSV file to manage units of measure for multiple products at once. Follow these steps:
- From the left sidebar, go to Catalog › Products.
- At the top of the page, click Import › Import Units of Measure.
- Follow the general file uploads guidelines.
- Structure your file depending on whether you want to create, update or delete units of measure.
Creating New Units of Measure
To create new units of measure, include the following columns in your CSV file:
- Item Number - The product item number.
- Quantity - The number of units in the measure.
- Abbreviation - A two-character abbreviation.
- Description - A descriptive name.
To add multiple units of measure for the same product, create a separate row for each one. The sample file below creates two units of measure for item number SKU-12345, and one unit of measure for item number SKU-67890.
| Item Number | Quantity | Abbreviation | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| SKU-12345 | 12 | DZ | Dozen |
| SKU-12345 | 24 | CS | Case |
| SKU-67890 | 2 | PK | Pack |
While uploading the file, ensure the option Keep as Is remains checked.
Updating Existing Units of Measure
Include the following columns to identify the unit of measure being updated:
- Item Number
- Quantity
- Abbreviation
Then include any of the following columns to update:
- Description - Update the unit of measure description.
- Defaults - Update the unit of measure defaults.
- Shipping Details - Update the shipping details for a unit of measure. Include the field-set of (Length, Width, Height), (Pounds, Ounces), or Package Type.
The sample file below updates the unit of measure description to 2-Pack:
| Item Number | Quantity | Abbreviation | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| SKU-12345 | 2 | PK | 2-Pack |
The sample file below updates the unit of measure defaults to CS for both Sales and Shipping:
| Item Number | Quantity | Abbreviation | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| SKU-12345 | 24 | CS | Sales | Shipping |
The sample file below updates the shipping details for the CS measure:
| Item Number | Quantity | Abbreviation | Length | Width | Height | Pounds | Ounces |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SKU-12345 | 24 | CS | 20 | 16 | 12 | 17 | 0 |
While uploading the file, ensure the option Keep as Is remains checked.
Deleting Units of Measure
To remove units of measure from a product, upload a CSV file containing only the units of measure you do want to keep, and select the option to delete units of measure not included in the file.
The sample file below will delete the measures DZ and PK, and leave only the CS measure:
| Item Number | Quantity | Abbreviation | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| SKU-12345 | 24 | CS | Case |
To delete all units of measure for a product, upload a file containing only the each measure. This will remove all user-defined units of measure.
The sample file below will delete all units of measure from SKU-12345:
| Item Number | Quantity | Abbreviation | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| SKU-12345 | 1 | EA | Each |
Deleting units of measure may result in permanent data loss. This action cannot be undone. It is strongly recommended that you export your units of measure first to create a backup before proceeding with deletions.
Exporting Units of Measure
To export product units of measure, follow these steps:
- From the left sidebar, go to Catalog › Products.
- Filter or select the products you want to export.
- In the upper-right corner, click Export › Export Units of Measure.
The export file includes all product units of measure and their shipping details.