Overview
When an item doesn't have enough sales information to generate a quality forecast, it can be useful to copy the sales information from one item over to another. Examples of when to use this feature include:
When a product has an updated style or slightly changes sizes, it may be helpful to combine sales so that the new product has the sales history needed to create a forecast. Optionally, combining stock will let you factor in what's left of the old stock with the new stock.
If you are introducing a brand new item in your store with no sales history, you may want to combine sales with a similar item to generate a forecast.
The "Seasonal" forecast method uses the same time period in prior years as a baseline for forecasting. If there is no time period to reference, a flat average of existing periods is calculated. Combining sales in this case is useful to come up with an accurate seasonal model.
Note: Merging variants duplicates the sales history and current stock of one variant against the second variant; both variants still exist and no data is lost.
Combining sales and stock
There are two ways to combine sales (and optionally stock) information in Inventory Planner.
Note: When an old variant is removed and replaced with a new variant using the same SKU or Barcode, Inventory Planner combines the sales and stock automatically so settings such as lead time, days of stock, vendor, and replenishable status carry over to the new variant.
Method 1: Catalog
Go to Catalog > Forecast settings.
Find the new variant, then click the "+" icon beside it to search for the old (source) variant.
Tip: If you don't see the "+" icon, click the gear icon on the left to add the "Combine Actions" column.
You should also add the"Combine percent", "Combine merge stock", and "Stop combine after" columns to be able to fully customize the merge.
The "Combine name", "Combine image" and "Combine source" columns will display more information on the source variant.
Once you've found the source variant, check the box beside it to select it.
The variant will be linked, and you can configure:
the percentage of sales to apply to the new item
the date to stop combining the sales data, from which to count the just new item's sales
You'll also see an option to "merge stock". This checkbox should only be ticked if you want the current stock of the old (merged) variant added to the new (target) variant for the purposes of forecasting. Historic stock, including historic stockout data, is not merged. Only the current stock will be considered.
Note that checking the box will not change the quantity on your connected platform.
Once you're happy with your configuration, save changes.
Method 2: Replenishment
In the Replenishment screen, find your new variant in either the Variants or Bundles view, then click on Details (the "i" icon).
In the modal window, click the tab for Forecast settings and scroll down to "Combine sales/stock". Click the "+ Add Variant" button to search for the old variant.
Once you've found it, select it in the list and click "Apply":
As above, the variant will be linked, and you can configure:
the percentage of sales to apply to the new item (in this example, 75%)
the date to stop combining the sales data, from which to count the just new item's sales
You'll also see an option to "merge stock". This checkbox should only be ticked if you want the current stock of the old (merged) variant added to the new (target) variant for the purposes of forecasting. Historic stock, including historic stockout data, is not merged. Only the current stock will be considered.
Once you're happy with your configuration, save changes.
Inventory Planner will recompute the forecast and prompt you to refresh the screen. On refreshing, the merged sales will appear in the same screen.
Note: Merging sales and stock does not have any impact on the old (merged) variant. If an item is being discontinued (a new variant is replacing an old one), then you should set the old variant to be non-replenishable.
Combining sales and stock using a CSV file
You can import merged variants using a CSV file.
Go to Replenishment, click "Import" at the bottom of the screen, then click "Combine sales/stock". Note that you will need to import a CSV for each platform (e.g. one import for Amazon, and one import for Shopify).
The import file will need two columns with column headers:
the new (target) SKU
the old (merged) SKU from your connected platform
As an alternative to your platform's SKU, you can use the product title, barcode, or ASIN.
You can also download a template containing the required and optional column headers.
Once you are happy with your file, upload it, then click "Map columns".
You can then use the dropdown options for each field to make sure each column is mapped to the appropriate field in Inventory Planner.
Once the required columns are mapped, click Import.
You will then see the results of your import, including information that successfully imported and an error log. If there are any errors, you can click "Download error-marked file" to see issues that need to be corrected.
Removing combined sales and stock
To remove combined sales and stock, go to Catalog > Forecast settings and use the "has combined variant" filter to bring up variants with combined sales and stock.
Find the variant whose combined sales and stock you wish to remove, and click the Details icon. Then go into the "Forecast settings" tab and scroll to the "Combined stock and sales" section.
There you will find all linked SKUs. Click the trash can icon next to the SKUs you want to unlink.
