Parent & Variant

A parent is a grouping of related variants. Parents are identified by unique SKUs.

A variant (commonly referred to as a child-product) is a sell-able item that can be ordered and is also identified by the source with a unique SKU. A variant shares the common attributes of a parent with its "sibling" variants, but also has its own properties (such as pricing, quantity, and other identification data).

Product Stages

Inventory refers to the products that imported from a source. In most cases, this is raw supplier data. 

Products are created from building and merging related inventory from sources. Unlike inventory, products can be modified directly in Flxpoint. 

Listings are channel-specific versions of products. Listings may be the same as your products, but can be further customized for a specific channel.

Left To Right Flow Vocab

• (Source) Inventory

  • Source Inventory is the stage that is the first step in the Left to Right Data flow process.
  • All SKUs in Source Inventory are not able to be edited beyond the initial Get Inventory Mapping Template and Post Mapping Template Workflow.

• Product (Catalog)

  • The Product Catalog is the first stage after building your Source Inventory.
  • Once products are built they are able to be edited and have Global Pricing Rules applied to them. Products can be edited Manually, through Bulk Customization > Global Pricing Rules, and then through adjustments in the Building Template.
  • Product Catalog will also be affected by any Mapping Template or Post Mapping Template Workflow rules set on the Source Inventory stage.

• (Channel) Listings

  • The Channel Listings stage is the final step before the information is sent from Flxpoint to the Sales Channel or Marketplace.
  • SKUs built to the Channel can be edited with Channel Specific Rules and adjustments. All changes made in the Source Inventory & Product Catalog will reflect in the Channel Listings stage as the data flows from Left to Right.

Tags

• Tags within Flxpoint are a way to filter and sort your SKUs. You can place tags unique under whatever parameters you want.
• These tags are not reflective of a “Shopify Tag,” and these tags are not sent to your sales channel.

Creating Products

• • Creating Products will take a SKU from the Source Inventory (Left) stage and create the SKU in the Product Catalog (Center).
  • You have the ability to adjust data based on rules, or by setting source priority to choose how your data aggregates.

Creating Listings

• • Creating Listings will take a SKU from the Products Catalog (Center) stage, and place it into the Channel Listings (Right) stage.
  • This will be the last step required before being able to Sync and Publish SKUs to your Sales Channel or Marketplace

Link/Publish

• • Link/Publish is the final stage in the Left to Right equation.
  • Once these functions are complete, the product data will be flowing from the Source (Left) Inventory all the way to the Channel (Right) Listings, and then update to the Channel or Marketplace itself.
  • A Publish or Overwrite function will be a full breadth of data on a new or existing SKU.
  • A Link or Re-link Listing function can identify existing products on the Flxpoint Users Sales Channel, and match them with Channel Listings inside of Flxpoint by checking against existing Identifiers(UPC,SKU, MPN, etc).

Publish/Overwrite

• • Publish/Overwrite are the functions utilized by the, “Publish Listings,” Setup under your Channel Integrations.
  • A Publish or Overwrite function will be a full breadth of data on a new or existing SKU.
    • A Publish is sending a New SKU and an Overwrite is updating an Existing SKU.

Statuses

• Statuses are available depending on the stage you are at within Flxpoint, Source Inventory, Product Catalog, and Channel Listings.

• They consist of Not Linked, Building, Builder Issue, Linked, Linked to Some Channels, Linked to All Channels, Not Listed, Listed, Hidden, Delisted, Broken Link, and Deleting.

  • Not Linked

    • Depending on the stage you are in within Flxpoint, a Not Linked SKU refers to a product not built or linked to the next stage in the Left to Right Equation.
    • For instance, a SKU Not Linked in the Source Inventory means that that SKU does not exist in the Product Catalog.

  • Building

    • A SKU in the Building Status means it is in the process of moving from the Source Inventory Stage to the Product Catalog Stage.

  • Builder Issue

    • A SKU with a Builder Issue Status refers to a product that failed to move from the Source Inventory to the Product Catalog stage.
    • You can click on that individual product to learn more about the error that occurred and resolve the issue.

  • Linked

    • Depending on the stage you are in within Flxpoint, a Linked SKU refers to a product built or linked to the next stage in the Left to Right Equation.
    • For instance, an SKU Linked in the Source Inventory means that that SKU does exist in the Product Catalog.

  • Linked to Some Channels

    • Depending on the number of Sales Channels you have in your Flxpoint account, a product that is, “Linked to Some Channels,” refers to any product that has a Channel Listing created for at least one but not all Sales Channels.

  • Linked to All Channels

    • Linked to All Channels refers to any product that has a Channel Listing created for All Sales Channels. This includes if you have one Sales Channel and the product is built to that sales channel.

  • Not Listed

    • Not Listed refers to any Channel Listing that has been created but has yet to be Synced or Published with the Sales channel it is built to.

  • Listed

    • Listed refers to a Channel Listing that has been properly Synced or Published to the Sales Channel it is built to.
    • A SKU in this status would be available to have Quantity/Status updates as well as Orders Managed for that SKU.

  • Hidden

    • A Hidden status refers to a Channel Listing that is Listed to the Sales Channel—it is built to the channel, but is unavailable for the End Customer to see. Each sales channel is different in how it handles Hidden Products.
    • Make sure you are aware of what Hidden means for your specific sales channel.

  • Delisted

    • Delisted refers to a Channel Listing that was previously Listed on the Sales Channel it was built to; however, it has since been queued to Delist and has been Delisted.
    • A SKU that has been delisted generally will have been deleted from the Sales Channel it was listed on. If you do not mean to delete the SKU completely, make sure you utilize the Hidden status instead.

  • Broken Link

    • A Broken Link refers to a Channel Listing that had previously been synced or published to the Sales Channel, but has since not been available in recent syncs.
    • This can happen a number of ways—the most common culprit of a broken link would be if you Delete a SKU on your Sales Channel, or change the SKU on your Sales Channel without updating the info within Flxpoint.
    • To resolve this you can either Publish the SKU again if it was deleted, or use Re-Link Listings to attempt to Re-Link the SKU.

  • Deleting

    • A Channel Listing with the “Deleting” Status refers to a SKU that has been queued to be Deleted within Flxpoint. The SKU should only be visible for a short period of time in this status.
    • It is important to remember that Deleting within Flxpoint will not Delist a SKU from your Sales Channel.
    • If your intention is to completely remove a SKU from your system you will want to first Delist the SKU then Delete the SKU.