Kitting Main Menu
The next figure shows the kitting main menu. From this screen you can add, edit, or delete a kit from your product database.
A "kit" is composed of individual products that are grouped together and sold as a single item. Every kit begins with a master product, which is the container for the kit. A kit also has member products. The member products are attached to the master product and grouped into "components".
Member products in a kit can be required or optional. This is controlled by the component that the products are attached to. Components can be configured with different settings that change how (and if) member products are displayed.
Some kits may only have required products, like wrapped gift sets you can find in stores. The bundled package is sold at a set price. Some kits may have optional components, like a computer that can be upgraded with additional hardware. The price may vary, depending on options selected by the customer.
Every kit has a base price and weight. The base price and weight is derived from the price and weight of the master product. Member products in the kit can make the price and weight go up or down with modifiers. The result is a product that may have a range of price and weight depending on which member products are included in the kit purchase. When editing a kit the ranges of price and weight are displayed, enabling merchants to hit target ranges.
Inventory for a kit is handled somewhat differently than a regular product. Each master product has a quantity in inventory. However, the quantity of a kit is also determined by the available quantity of the member products. If you have required member products (in a hidden component) that are out of stock, customers will not be able to purchase the kit. If you have optional items that are out of stock, customers will not be able to purchase the kit with these optional items selected.
Member products can also be sold outside of the kit, if you choose. Or you can mark the product as inactive and only sell it as part of the kit. You can also track inventory for the member product. Aside from all these functions, you have complete control over how the member products are displayed.
Kitting offers an advantage over cross-selling. Related items can be upsold from the same product screen as the master product. Customers will be able to add all related products to their basket at the same time, without the need to view each individual product screen.
Overall, kitting is a very powerful tool. Products can be combined in an unlimited number of configerations. Merchants have more control over inventory and display of kit products. Customers can buy what they need all in one place. Kitting offers convenience that can help increase sales.
The next figure shows the kitting main menu. From this screen you can add, edit, or delete a kit from your product database.
To add a kit, click the Add button from the main menu. You will see a screen similar to the one shown below.
This screen gives you a choice for your master product. The master product is the product that will be reviewed by your customers and will represent the contents of the kit. You must choose whether that will be a product you already have in inventory or if you wish to create a new product to use for the kit.
To create a new master product, click the radio button next to "Create a New Product" and click next. This will take you to the screen shown below.
Enter the information for the master product. The title and descriptions will be displayed to the customer, so make sure they give information relating to the kit.
The price and weight should be set to the base price and weight of the kit. If the kit will include optional components, give the price and weight of the standard or default configuration. Optional components will make changes to the price and weight based on these values.
If you have inventory tracking enabled, you may also wish to enable inventory for the master product. Simply click the "Product" button next to inventory mode. Then you may set inventory levels as with any other product.
Remember that you can always edit the master product later if you need to change something. Once you have the product data filled out to your satisfaction, click the Finish button. Your master product is now created and you will be taken directly to the edit kit screen.
To select an existing master product, click the radio button next to "Select an Existing Product" and click next. You will be taken to a screen similar to the one shown in figure below:
From this screen, you can search for the product you wish to make into a kit. Simply enter the criteria and click the Search button. Results will be displayed on the lower half of the screen. Once you find the appropriate product, click the radio button next to the product name and click Finish. This will take you to the edit kit screen.
From the kitting menu, select the kit you wish to edit and click the edit button. (On newer browsers, you may simply double click on the kit name to edit.) The kit editing screen will open as shown below.
Note that the name of the product is linked. Clicking it will take you to the product editing screen for the master product. (You can also edit the product through the standard inventory screens.)
Below the line identifying the master product, the base values, ranges, and defaults for price and weight are listed. The base values identify the price and weight of the kit including all required products and excluding all optional products. The ranges give the minimum and maximum values based on the modifiers of optional products. The default values represent the price and weight of the product in the standard configuration, including all required products as well as optional products that are marked as default.
Next on the screen, the components and member products are listed. Each component is listed seperately with its respective member products below. For a new kit, there will be no components listed. Before attaching any products to the kit, you must add a component to attach them to.
To add a new component, click the Add button at the top of the Kit Components section of the Edit Kit screen. To edit an existing component, click the edit icon to the right of the component name. Either of these actions will take you to a screen similar to that shown below.
This screen allows you to configure your kit component. A kit "component" represents a group of products that are part of a kit. Kits can have required and/or optional components. Required components will automatically include all attached products as part of the kit at purchase. Optional components can allow the customer choices to indicate the desired configuration of a kit component.
The Component name is how the group of products is represented to the customer. Choose a name that describes what is being selected (e.g. Accessories, Processor, Monitor). This name will be shown next to the available member products on the product screen for the kit.
The display style affects how the available member products are shown. It also affects the number of member products that can be selected. The available display styles are listed in the table below:
The Rows (or Columns) setting can be used to modify how the products are displayed. For Select Box components, this value represents rows. For Check Box and Radio components, this value represents columns.
The Title Cell Format can be used to modify display of the component name on the product screen. This field should contain HTML formatting for a table cell (i.e "bgcolor=#efefef align=right")
The Header Option is only valid for Select Box and Radio components. It is used to display a dummy value that represents a non-selection. For example, if the component is "Monitor", you might have a header option that states "no monitor". The customer can select the option to indicate that a monitor is not desired.
Note that the use of a header option changes the number of products that can be chosen. Select Box and Radio components with a Header Option can have 0 or 1 member products chosen. When the Header Option is chosen, no product is selected from the component.
The Default Choices section allows you to indicate what member products should be selected by default. When creating a new component, there will be no products available to select from this list. After products are attached, you can use the list to indicate the defaults. Those defaults are then included in the price of default configuration shown on the kit editing screen. It also causes the options to be selected when a customer initially views the kit product screen.
Once you have filled out the component screen, click Finish to return to the Kit Editing screen.
From the kit editing screen, decide which Component you wish to attach the product to. Click the Attach Product link at the bottom of the Component listing. This will take you to a screen similar to the one shown below.
From this screen you have two choices. You can either search for an existing product or create a new product to attach to your kit.
To search, simply specify the search criteria and click the search button. Results will be displayed in the lower half of the screen. Once you find the appropriate product, select the radio button next to the product name and click next to edit the member product configuration.
To create a new product, click the radio button next to "Create New Product" and click next. You will be able to add a product just as you would in the regular inventory management screens. Once you are satisfied with the settings for the new product, click finish to edit the member product configuration.
You must configure a member product when it it added. You can also alter the configuration at any time by clicking the edit icon next to the member product on the kit editing page. You will see the configuration screen as shown below.
The configuration screen lists the name of the member product you are configuring. You can adjust the quantity, price and weight modifier, and display of the option on the product page.
Kit Quantity refers to how many of the item are included with the kit. A kit can contain any number of a single item. The number here reflects how many items will be invoiced and deducted from inventory when the kit is purchased.
The Price and Weight Modifiers are values that will be included with the price and weight of the kit when the member product is included. By default, they are set to the price and weight given when the member product last edited.
You can set the modifiers to be positive or negative. Positive values will add to the price and weight, while negative values will decrease them. Note that these values are absolute. They are not multiplied by the Kit Quantity, so you must enter the appropriate modifier for the entire quantity included with this member product.
Option Format affects how this member product will appear on the product page. While the Display Style of the Component (see above) affects how the options will be arranged, the Option Format determines how each individual member product is listed.
You can enter any combination of text and numbers for the Option Format. You can also use special variables that are computed dynamically. The available variables are listed below.
To give an example of Option Format strings, we will use a sample member product that includes a quantity of 2 Widgets, where the price and weight modifier are both set to 1. Various Option Formats and their output are listed below:
Once you are finished editing the member product, click Finish to return to the Edit Kit screen. If you have included price and weight modifiers with your member product, you should see new values reflected in the price and range values in the top section of the screen.
Sorting becomes available once you have more than one component or more than one product attached to a single component. When this occurs, you may want to arrange how the components or member products are ordered on the product screen. You do this through the sort interface.
To acces the sort interface for Components, click the Sort button (directly above the component listings). For products within a component, click the "Sort Products" link that appears below the connected product list. Either of these actions will take you to a sort interface that appears below.
Use the up and down arrows to move the selected item up or down in the list. Once you have the list arranged to your satisfaction, click Finish to return to the Edit Kit screen.
To delete a member product from a kit, click the Delete icon to the right of the Member Product listing. You will open a confirmation screen, where you must confirm the deletion of the member product.
Note that deleting a member product will only remove it from the Component. It will not delete the product from inventory, nor will it remove the product from any other kits. To delete the actual product, you must access it from the standard inventory screens.
To delete a Component from a kit, click the delete icon to the right of the component name. You will open a confirmation screen, where you must confirm the deletion of the component.
Note that deleting a component will remove it from the kit and delete the associations to any member products it contains. It will not delete the products from inventory. To delete the actual products, you must access it from the standard inventory screens.
To delete a kit, click the Delete button at the bottom of the Edit Kit screen. You will be taken to a confirmation screen, where you must confirm the action.
Note that deleting a kit will remove all components and delete only the associations between the master product and any member products. It will not delete the master product or member products from inventory. To delete the actual products, you must access it from the standard inventory screens.
