Products in Supply Lens
Lesson 4 of 24 5 min read
Why it is worth maintaining Products in Supply Lens even when your ERP already has an item master, and how to find your way around the Products screen.
Your ERP or inventory system already holds a list of everything you sell, often called the item master. So why keep Products in Supply Lens as well? This lesson answers that, and shows you where to find and search your Products.
What a Supply Lens Product adds
Your item master knows your products in your terms: your SKUs, your units, your prices. Supply Lens sits between several systems and partners, each with its own terms. A Product in Supply Lens is where you record how all of those terms line up. You can:
- Set defaults for a Product's unit of measure, tax code and fulfilment Location, used when an incoming order doesn't say.
- Record partner-specific identifiers, so the different codes wholesalers use all resolve to the same Product.
- Record partner-specific unit of measure conversions, so quantities aren't lost in translation between bags, cases and pallets.
- Record partner-specific prices, so each wholesaler is charged the right amount.
Brands that sell to wholesalers usually benefit most, because that is where codes, units and prices start to differ between partners. There is no limit to how many Products you can add.
Why Hilltop needs Products
While Hilltop only sold on Shopify, Shopify and Unleashed used the same SKUs, so orders matched with no help. Greenleaf Wholesale changes that: it orders by GTIN-14 in cases, uses its own product codes and pays a wholesale price. None of that exists in Shopify, and Priya doesn't want to clutter Unleashed with it. The Supply Lens Product is where it belongs.
Finding the Products screen
Open Settings → Reference data → Products. The Reference data section of the Settings menu holds Products alongside the other lookup tables, such as countries, currencies and tax codes. It opens automatically while you are on one of its pages.
From the Products list you can:
- Search by name and go straight to a Product's details.
- Filter by identifier, such as SKU or barcode, when you know a code but not the name.
- Use each row's view button to open a Product, and the row's menu for other actions such as copying its ID, viewing its logs or deleting it.
You can also search from anywhere: press / or select the search button in the top bar, and type at least three characters of a name or code. Results are grouped by type (Products, Parties, Locations) and Products show their SKU.
What is on a Product page
A Product page groups its details into sections. You will work through each in this module and the next:
| Section | What it holds | Covered in |
|---|---|---|
| Information | Name, description, default unit of measure, tax code, default fulfilment Location | Add a Product |
| Identifiers | SKU, barcodes and partner codes | Product identifiers |
| Prices | Default and customer-specific prices | Prices and fulfilment Locations |
| Conversions | How units relate, with a Visualise diagram | Units of Measure module |
| Default Units of Measure | A default unit for each Integration | Units of Measure module |
Products can also hold a bill of materials, a list of component Products, which you can create and edit from the Product page.
Recap
- Your item master holds your own terms; a Supply Lens Product records how every system's and partner's terms line up.
- Products carry defaults, partner-specific identifiers, conversions and prices.
- Find Products under Settings → Reference data → Products, or search from the top bar with /.
- You can search the list by name or filter it by an identifier such as SKU or barcode.
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