Packs and stock management

[inspectaclueso]

Hi people,

I have a general question re: product packs.

Some of our products are sold as kits/packs. Our inventory system shows 0 quantity in stock for each kit however we make the kits/packs up using the individual items if the customer orders them.

For example a cordless drill kit might look like this:

Kit part number - KIT01 (Qty in stock 0)

Pack consists of...

1 x Cordless drill - DRILL01 (Qty in stock 25)

2x Batteries - BATT01 (Qty in stock 25)

1 x Charger - CHARGER01 (Qty in stock 25)

I have created packs made up of the individual items that are in stock but Prestashop is still showing 0 quantity for the pack. Is there a setting I can enable so Prestashop will look at the quantity of the individual items to determine if a kit/pack can be ordered?

I intend to use a stock quantity auto FTP update module so the kit quantity will always say 0 however the actual stock quantity of the individual items will be in stock.

Thanks in advance.

[30knees]

I was looking for something similar, see https://forum.thirtybees.com/topic/806/using-packs-and-combinations-a-possibility-or-is-there-another-solution

I don't think it's possible. :(

[Traumflug]

Sounds like a pretty worthy enhancement, doesn't it? I think many shops use such "packs on the fly".

[rubben1985]

We would, for example heheh

[Traumflug]

Then let's track this: https://github.com/thirtybees/thirtybees/issues/495

[datakick]

This is indeed nice feature, but I'm afraid the implementation won't be trivial. First of all, quantity on hand for packs can't be just some virtual number calculated in php. There are numerous places in core (and in hundreds of modules) that expects quantity information to be stored in stock_available database table. It's not possible to fix them all.

So, to implement this, we would need some synchronization mechanism that would keep data in stock_available table in sync - whenever quantity of child item is modified, we'd need to update pack quantity as well. I'm afraid it will be very hard to keep these in sync, even if we used database triggers.

[inspectaclueso]

Thanks for the replies. I have to admit I'm not a programmer so I don't understand the complexities of adding such a feature however while having it calculate an actual pack quantity based on the number of units available of individual products would be ideal, would it be any less complex if it were to merely signal available or unavailable? For example, if all the individual items are in stock then the add to cart button is displayed, if all the individual items are not in stock then you are unable to add the kit to your cart.

Thanks

[Briljander]

I have used other ERP systems where you have to mount the product before it can be sold. Would this be a possible solution?

[hfxracing]

I see what your trying to get the shipping cart to do but I recommend a inventory tracking solution and not use your shopping cart. I use quick books to see my inventory levels & I can make packs/bundles in there it will let me know when there is not enough of any one thing. if you set a min reorder point it will alert you so should never run out on your store. However you will have to update the inventory on your shopping cart to reflect that. Maybe add this to the advanced inventory feature in the store.

[rubben1985]

Could be this a solution? https://addons.prestashop.com/es/ventas-cruzadas-packs-productos/1015-advanced-pack-5.html

[wakabayashi]

I would like to see an improvement in handling packs and stock. I have implemented something like that in our store. We often sell bundles, but since packs doesn't allow combinations, we save them as normal products.

We calculate/sync the stock of all products with a cronjob. This is triggered every minute. If there are new entries in the DB it will calculate the stock. When a product is ordered, the module checks, if this product is a bundle or if this is an item of a bundle. If yes, the product will be added to the cron DB. Then the module just calculates the stock of the single items and afterwards refreshes the stock of the influenced bundles.

Unfortunately the module was really developped for our needs and can't be published easily. But all in all it works great for us. So I guess, it's possible to do it in core as well.

[moy2010]

@datakick said in Packs and stock management:

This is indeed nice feature, but I'm afraid the implementation won't be trivial. First of all, quantity on hand for packs can't be just some virtual number calculated in php. There are numerous places in core (and in hundreds of modules) that expects quantity information to be stored in stock_available database table. It's not possible to fix them all.

So, to implement this, we would need some synchronization mechanism that would keep data in stock_available table in sync - whenever quantity of child item is modified, we'd need to update pack quantity as well. I'm afraid it will be very hard to keep these in sync, even if we used database triggers.

Not only to track stock, but price of children. Such feature has been wished for ages, right from the beginning of Thirtybees. And we might see it implemented in a future release of Thirtybees if all the appropriate changes are made.

[inspectaclueso]

@rubben1985 Thanks for the suggestion. I've tested the module and while it is expensive IMO, it will do what I require.