This article reviews the different tools available in Zentail to help accomplish the following:
Simplify your catalog when selling both FBA and non-FBA (FBM) versions of the same product
Manage inventory for multiple listings from a single SKU in Zentail
Automatic inventory management for kits or bundles
Simplify inconsistent SKU values across different sales channels
Merge SKUs
Merge SKUs
Merged SKUs makes managing your catalog more efficient while also complying with Amazon’s requirement that FBA and merchant fulfilled products have different SKU values.
When should you merge SKUs?
It makes sense to merge SKUs if any of the following applies to you:
You have an FBA and a Merchant Fulfilled (MF) version of the same product. Specifically, when they are listed to the same ASIN on Amazon.
You’re interested in taking advantage of FBA Multichannel Fulfillment
You would like to leverage the “Prefer FBA” feature on Zentail (only make your MF inventory available if you are out of stock at FBA for that product).
On Zentail, and in every other channel, you’ll see the one SKU (we’ll call this the “surviving” SKU) that you want to use, but in Amazon, Zentail will automatically map your single product to these two different SKUs!
Notes and considerations
Surviving SKU - When merging, you will need to decide which SKU you want to use as the “Primary” or “Surviving” SKU. This is the SKU that you’ll see in your Zentail catalog and, if no other overrides are used, what you’ll use on all other channels. Most sellers use their “FBA” SKU as the surviving SKU value.
isFBA - SKUs that are merged will be tagged as ‘isFBA’ = ‘true’. This allows Zentail to track the inventory you have at your FBA warehouse for that SKU. In the future, if you tag a single SKU ‘isFBA’ = ‘true’, Zentail will automatically create a merchant fulfilled version of the SKU on Amazon. This is known as a ‘+MF+’ SKU.
+MF+ SKUs - These are merchant-fulfilled versions of your SKUs created only on Amazon. You’ll see these SKUs in Seller Central with “+MF+” added at the end of the SKU value. Zentail will create these SKUs only if you have inventory at Zentail in an MF (non-FBA) warehouse. This way you don’t have to manually merge your SKUs in the future!
Alias / Kits - If you have multiple FBA versions of the same product, or multiple MF versions of the same product, you may want to consider using the alias or kits feature as well.
Relevant Resources
Alias SKUs
Alias SKUs
Alias SKUs in Zentail are SKUs that inherit their inventory from a pre-existing "reference" SKU in Zentail. Alias SKUs allow you to keep accurate inventory for items that have multiple SKU values
When should you Alias SKUs?
It makes sense to Alias SKUs if any of the following applies to you:
You have two or more SKU values for the same item
You have an extra FBM SKU that you need to keep accurate inventory for
If you are trying to list the same product to multiple ASINs on Amazon.If you want to market a product differently on the same or separate channels.
If your Zentail catalog was built using Amazon-assigned SKU values, or any SKU values (i.e. they are numeric with a leading "0") that you do not want to use moving forward.
In Zentail, Your inventory for an alias SKU will be determined by the SKU to which it is aliased.
Notes and considerations
FBA SKU - An FBA SKU cannot be an Alias SKU, because its inventory is managed by Amazon. If you want to achieve a similar result in Zentail, you can Kit Alias SKUs 1 to 1.
UI - Changes to your SKUs inventory will not be able to be made if the SKU is aliased to another SKU. To make adjustments, you will need to do so on the main SKU.
Alias / Kits - If you have multiple FBM versions of the same product, or multiple MF versions of the same product, you may want to consider using the alias feature.
Relevant Resources
Kit SKUs
A Kit SKU in Zentail is a SKU that either has multiple units of an underlying SKU (also called a Pack or Multi-Pack) or multiple underlying SKUs (also called a Bundle).
When should you Kit SKUs?
It makes sense to Kit SKUs if any of the following applies to you:
You sell a bundle or multipack
You need to tie multiple FBA SKUs together
You use a different unique identifier for your inventory reports
In Zentail, your inventory for a Kit SKU will be determined by the quantity of its component units, as well as your assembled quantity.
Component vs Assembled Quantity
"Assembled Quantity" refers to the number of packages that already exist and are pre-packaged rather than the quantity Zentail is grouping together when you create a Kit.
“Component Quantity” refers to the amount of units available to build your kits.
Notes and considerations
Inventory changes - The quantity of your kit SKUs are primarily determined by the component units available. You can also use Assembled units to represent pre-kitted items.
Relevant Resources
Kit SKUs
Kit SKUs
A Kit SKU in Zentail is a SKU that either has multiple units of an underlying SKU (also called a Pack or Multi-Pack) or multiple underlying SKUs (also called a Bundle).
When should you Kit SKUs?
It makes sense to Kit SKUs if any of the following applies to you:
You sell a bundle or multipack
You need to tie multiple FBA SKUs together
You use a different unique identifier for your inventory reports
In Zentail, your inventory for a Kit SKU will be determined by the quantity of its component units, as well as your assembled quantity.
Component vs Assembled Quantity
"Assembled Quantity" refers to the number of packages that already exist and are pre-packaged rather than the quantity Zentail is grouping together when you create a Kit.
“Component Quantity” refers to the amount of units available to build your kits.
Notes and considerations
Inventory changes - The quantity of your kit SKUs are primarily determined by the component units available. You can also use Assembled units to represent pre-kitted items.
Relevant Resources
SKU Overrides
SKU Overrides
SKU Overrides allow you to sync products on Zentail with a corresponding product on a selling channel whose SKU values does not match.
When should you use SKU overrides?
It makes sense to use SKU overrides if any of the following applies to you:
You use different SKU values for the same item on different channels
You want to use the same Zentail listing to modify a new or edited SKU on your channels
In Zentail, Inventory updates and product data changes will apply to the overridden SKU.
Feeds and examples
Below, you'll see an example of a SKU that exists on Zentail as Zentail_SKU but the same product already exists on Amazon as SKU_Override_Example.
Notice that through the feeds, Zentail is simply tying to that existing Amazon SKU without having to edit SKU values on either platform.
Notes and considerations
Editing - eBay, Shopify, Magento, and BigCommerce allow the editing of SKU values, therefore editing the SKU values on these channels to match Zentail is generally preferred rather than applying SKU overrides.
Walmart - Zentail also gives you the option to Send SKU Update, which simply updates the SKU value on the channel to match what's on Zentail. This can be enabled under the Walmart Advanced Options view when editing a SKU.