Is it a Kit or is it a Bundle?


Sometimes these words are used interchangeably. Here is how we distinguish between Kits and Bundles.


Kit: A kit is used in GroovePacker when the customer purchases a single SKU and a number of part SKUS must be scanned and shipped. A key point is that only the Kit SKU appears as a line item in the order. When a kit is setup in GroovePacker the part SKUS are associated with the Kit SKU so that GroovePacker can guide the packer as they scan each of the Kit parts.


Bundle: The term bundle can either refer to this same Kit setup or it can refer to Bundles as they are setup in Magento. In Magento, when a bundle is ordered the bundle SKU is added as a line item in the order as well as each of the SKUs that are part of the bundle. Since all of the SKUs are included as line items in the order a kit does not need to be setup. One setup step is required though. The bundle SKU, which will not actually be scanned, should be set to "intangible" by selecting the bundle SKU in the products list and enabling the intangible switch on the scanning options tab.



Now that you know how Magento bundles are set up, let's look the steps for setting up Kits in GroovePacker. 




Preface


The video above shows you how kits are created and used. Below is a summary of the video.
When items are imported, they're regular items. From there you can click on an item's name to display it's detail page and you can change the regular item to a kit by clicking the 'change this product to a kit' link near the top of the page. 



There are now several options presented. You can add items to the kit and change how the  kit should be scanned. We'll review adding items to the kit first, then provide an overview of 'how the kit should be scanned.'

 If you are returning to a previously created kit you first need to find the kit in the kits list found by going to Products > Kits. Once there you can search by name or sku and then open a kit by clicking it's Name in the list. After opening the kit click on the Inventory/Kit Options tab to edit the kit items.


Adding Items to a Kit


  1. Click the 'add items to kit' button, and it will present a list of possible items. 
  2. From there, you can scan a product barcode, type the sku, partial sku, product name or partial product name, and it narrows the available items according to what you've searched. 
  3. You can now click to highlight an item, which will add it to the selection, and continue searching and clicking additional kit part items (for multiple items) as required.
  4. When all of your items are selected, hit 'save and close.'
  5.  They're all added to the kit at once, and your inventory levels are shown. 
  6. If there are multiple instances of any of the items in the kit, you can specify the quantity with the quantity field.


Removing Kit Items


  1. Select one or more of the kit items by clicking their row in the kit item list. They will highlight green.
  2. Click the Remove Selected button below the kit item list to remove the selected items.

Options for Scanning

1. Always be scanned as a single sku - use this when your kits are pre-packed and have their own barcode assigned. In this option the kit barcode will be scanned to verify the kit rather than scanning the items within the kit. This is used when you want to deduct inventory for the part items but scan and verify the kit as a single item.
2. Always scan the kit as individual part SKUs- which is when you want users to be prompted to scan each of the items within the kit.
3. Automatically switch as needed when part SKUs are scanned - This is useful if you sometimes pre-pack the kit, but not always.


Deducting inventory for cases



If you are selling a case of items under it's own case SKU you can assign the case it's own barcode and use the option to 'always scan as a single sku.' Change the case SKU to a kit and add the SKU for the individual item as the part item in this kit. Set the QTY to the case QTY. Use the "Always be scanned as a single SKU" option. When the item appears in an order the user will only need to scan the case barcode and the inventory count for the part SKUs will be tracked.

Important Notes


For a kit to be active, it must have a name, sku and barcode, and it must have at least one active product. 

In order to maintain inventory accuracy kits should be created before orders containing the kit are imported. If this is not possible the order can be removed and re-imported after the kit setup is complete.


It's helpful to create aliases before creating the kit. 



Video Transcription


Let's take a look at how kits are created and used in Groove Packer. When items are imported into Groove Packer, they all start out as regular items. From there, you can tell Groove Packer that an item is a kit by using the change this product to a kit link. When you do that, you'll see several options appear at the bottom of the kit page. You have buttons for adding items to the kit and a few options for how the kit should be scanned. So let's add some items to this kit. When you click the button, you'll get a screen with a list of all the possible items that can be added. Just start typing the SKU product name and you'll get a list of results. Click to highlight and then continue searching for the other items in the kit if there's multiple items. When you've selected all the items in the kit, just hit Save and Close. They'll all be added in one go. The inventory levels for each of the items in the kit will be shown here and if you have more than one of each item in the kit, you can specify that with the quantity in kit. In the backing order, it determines how the items will be prompted if each one is being scanned individually. Speaking of scanning, there's three options here. The determine how the kit will be scanned. The first is to always be scanned as a single SKU. This works great if your kits are pre-packed, but you still want to deduct the items individually from inventory. The second option is to always scan the kit as individual part items. After this kit appears in an order, it'll prompt to scan each individual item. The third option will start out by prompting the kit as a single item. Then if you scan any of the items that are in that kit and those items don't exist in the order, it'll automatically split apart the kit and begin suggesting the different items in the kit. This works out great if you sometimes pre-pack your kits, but you don't always. Kits have some additional requirements in order for them to be active and groove-packer. In addition to having to have a name, a SKU, and a barcode for a kit product to be active, you also have to have at least one active product in that kit. Let's take a quick look at scanning this kit in an order. This order happens to have this kit that we just created. We'll control or command-click it to open it in Scan and Pack. This kit is set up to dynamically split if we scan one of the items in the kit. So we'll start out by scanning the comb. When we do, groove-packer realizes that there are no other comes in that order and that there is one in that kit. So it automatically splits the kit and shows that we've scanned one comb. It then displays the other items that will need to be packed in the kit and it begins prompting them. One quick tip for creating kits, if you have alias products in groove-packer, it's helpful to create alias before you create the kits. It's also possible to have a kit that just has multiple instances of the same item. For example, we can take this comb item and duplicate it and create a 10 pack of comes. We'll go to our copied comb here. We'll edit its name. We'll also need to make sure that we give it a skew and barcode, which can definitely be the same if we want. Notice that when we change the product to a kit, it'll automatically go to a new product because it's a kit that doesn't have any items. We'll click here to add products to kit and we'll find our original comb. Now what we need to do is change this to a 10 to a groove-packer note if there's 10 of those items. And that's it. You're ready to go. One of your 10 pack is always going to be pre-packed and it has its own barcode. You can select to always be scanned as a single skew. If you're not sure because you don't always pre-pack them, you can leave it as switch as needed. And there you go. Your 10 pack of comes is ready to go. It'll show up in the kits list with your other kits. And that's how you create and use kits in groove-packer. Thanks for watching. Bye.