Vendor Products

Vendor products are products available for purchase from your vendors. For each vendor, you may have a list of products they offer for sale, along with the vendor's quoted price, stock, and the vendor item number. Vendor products are mapped to your own products, enabling Goflow to keep track which products are available to purchase from which vendor and other details concerning that vendor product.

The use of vendor products carry the following benefits:

• Inventory Allocation - Use vendor inventory as a source in sending inventory to channels.
• Inventory Forecasting - Use vendor stock, price, and vendor-specific lead-time to make informed decisions about the quantities to purchase in Inventory Forecasting.
• PTO and Dropship Fulfillment - Use vendor stock and price in determining the best vendor to use for dropship order fulfillment.
• Create Purchase Orders - Print the vendor's unique item number on purchase orders created for each vendor.
• Default Vendor - Set a preferred vendor for each product.

Understanding Vendor Product Fields

Vendor products can be managed individually, in bulk through file upload, or through the Goflow API. For all methods, you will use the following fields:

• Vendor - Each vendor product belongs to a specific vendor. To manage vendors, go to Directory › Vendors.
• Mapped Product - Each vendor product is mapped to a corresponding Goflow product.
• Vendor Item Number - This is the SKU used by the vendor, and printed on purchase orders made to this vendor. The vendor item number can be different from the item number of the mapped Goflow product.
• Default Vendor - This vendor is the default for this product, and should automatically be selected when creating PTO and Dropship purchase orders, and in creating purchase orders through Inventory Forecasting.
• Quantity - The vendor's current stock levels, per the last update.
• Expiration Date - The cutoff date for considering the last update current. Past this date, the vendor quantity is considered as 0.
• Last Updated - The date when vendor stock was last updated.
• Cost - The vendor's price. When creating a purchase order, the vendor cost will automatically populate.
• Currency - The currency of the vendor cost. Each vendor has one trading currency. To manage vendor currency, click on the vendor name to open the vendor, and scroll down to currency.
• Lead Time - The number of days it generally takes between placing a purchase order with your vendor and receiving the product in your warehouse. Lead time is used in Inventory Forecasting. If the the lead time is not set on the vendor product, the vendor's default lead time is used.

Managing a Single Vendor Product

You can create, update, map, and delete vendor products on the vendor product page. After any of these actions, Goflow will update inventory to all channels for all listings mapped to the Goflow product.

Creating a New Vendor Product

To create a new vendor product, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Catalog › Vendor Products.
2. In the upper right-hand corner, click on New Vendor Product.
3. Fill out the vendor product information.
4. Select a Goflow product as the Mapped Product.
5. Finally, click Save.

You can also create a new vendor product from inside the Goflow product page. Scroll down to the Vendor Products card, and click on Add Vendor Product.

Updating an Existing Vendor Product

To update a single vendor product, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Catalog › Vendor Products.
2. Click on a vendor product to open it.
3. On the Inventory Card, click on the pencil icon to edit.
4. Update the quantity and expiration date, and Save.
5. On the top card, click on the pencil icon to edit.
6. Update the vendor item number and cost, and Save.

Mapping a Vendor Product

You do not have to map all vendor products. Feel free to map only those you intend to sell and for which you have a corresponding Goflow product. The vendor product and Goflow product are not required to have matching item numbers. You can map a vendor product to any standard or kit product in Goflow.

To map a vendor product, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Catalog › Vendor Products.
2. Find the vendor product, and click on the red broken link icon.
3. Select the Goflow product in the Select Product field, and click Map to Product.

To unmap a vendor product, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Catalog › Vendor Products.
2. Find the vendor product, and click on the green link icon.
3. in the Select Product field, click on X, and confirm Unmap From Product

Multiple products of the same vendor can be mapped to a single Goflow product. However, a single vendor product cannot be mapped to multiple Goflow products simultaneously. When you remap a vendor product, it automatically becomes unmapped for the previous Goflow product.

To remap a vendor product, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Catalog › Vendor Products.
2. Find the vendor product, and click on the green link icon.
3. Select the Goflow product in the Select Product field, and click Map to Product.

Deleting a Vendor Product

When you no longer want a vendor product, you can delete it. To delete a vendor product, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Catalog › Vendor Products.
2. Click on a vendor product to open it.
3. In the upper right-hand corner, click on the vertical ellipses.
4. Select Delete Product, and confirm that you want to delete the product.

Marking a Vendor as Default

Multiple vendor products can mapped to the same Goflow product. You may mark one vendor product as the default. To mark a vendor product as the default, do so in one of three ways:

• While mapping a vendor product on the vendor product page, check the box Is Default Vendor.
• On the Goflow product page, scroll down to the Vendor Products card, and mark one vendor product as Default.
• When managing vendor products in bulk through an import file, enter Yes in the Is Default Vendor column.

Each product can have only one vendor product set as its default.

Export Vendor Products

You may export vendor products, and use either the default export, or create your own custom export.

Managing Vendor Products in Bulk

Vendor products can be created, updated, mapped, and deleted in bulk through a file import. To import vendor products, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Catalog › Vendor Products.
2. In the upper right-hand corner, click on Import, and select Import Vendor Products.
3. Review the Columns tab for an explanation of each field in the upload.
4. In the Upload tab, select a Vendor from the dropdown list.
5. Optionally Enter an Inventory Expiration Date.
6. Click on Choose CSV template Columns, and check the fields you would like to use with your upload.
7. Click to Download a CSV Template that includes the headers you selected.
8. Finally, click on Choose File to import the file with your vendor products.

You can customize the upload file to include only the headers you wish to update. For example, if you want to update the quantity only, but leave the cost unchanged, leave the cost header out from your upload file. Conversely, if you want to update the cost only, do not include the quantity field. The only required header is Vendor Item Number. All other headers can be left out if you do not wish to update them.

The headers are optional in the sense that you can leave them out entirely. However, when a header is present, all rows must be filled for that header. You cannot update, on the same file, for one product the cost only, while for another product update the quantity only.

When uploading the file, you will be prompted to specify how to manage existing vendor products not present in the upload file. There are three options:

• Keep Inventory - Select this default option when you want to update only specific products from the vendor. Any existing vendor products not listed in the file stays untouched.
• Reset Inventory - Select this option when the file contains all products currently in stock with your vendor. Any product currently out of stock will be reset to 0, but the vendor product will remain mapped for when it becomes available again.
• Delete Product - Select this option when the file contains all products carried by your vendor, including out of stock products. Any product not present in the file indicates that the vendor discontinued the product. Any product not in the file will be permanently deleted.

After uploading the file, an error log is returned listing all products that encountered processing errors.

Reset and Delete only execute if the file is error free.

Resetting and deleting actions only take place if the upload proceeds without errors. This precautionary measure aims to prevent inadvertent changes that could affect available inventory sent to the channels. It ensures that missing products are truly missing and not just a result of a mal-formatted file.

If error correction is impossible because of inherent issues in the way the vendor generates the file, select Delete even if the file contains errors. This option overrides the precaution and resets or deletes even when errors are present.