Our inventory file is designed to be updated regularly, reducing the need to update the product file as often, and therefore reducing the eCat update time.

To increase the flexibility of our Inventory to accommodate multiple distribution centers, different inventory status types, etc, we have Inventory Custom Fields.

Please note that this function is currently beta-level.

For our production-level inventory file specs, please see Inventory File | Knowledge Base | SuperCat Solutions.

Overview #

To use inventory custom fields, use the following steps:

• Define the inventory custom fields, including field type.
• Provide the custom fields as part of your inventory file.
• Use the inventory custom fields in product custom "standard" fields, iPad reports, etc.
  

Defining inventory custom fields #

• In the Admin Console, navigate to Products -> Inventory Custom Fields. Here we will display all currently defined fields.
• Create a new field by clicking "New Inventory Custom Field"
• Fill out the available fields as appropriate and save.
• Note that the "Field name" will be used in the "Populating the data" section below.

Populating the data #

After you've defined your inventory custom field, populate your inventory.csv file with the new column. Specifically, name the column with the same value you entered into "Field name" above. Then fill the rows below with appropriate data:

• "Number" fields can be either whole numbers (1, 2, 3..) or decimal numbers (1.0, etc)

"String" fields can contain text

• "Date" fields must be formatted like our other date fields: one of MM/DD/YYYY, YYYY/MM/DD, MM-DD-YYYY, or YYYY-MM-DD.

Using for filtering and sorting #

You can use inventory custom fields to filter products in eCat and eCat Online, and to sort products in eCat. To do so, you will use our product custom fields.

For filtering, see our documentation on Custom Product Fields and Filters. You will select the inventory custom field from the list of standard fields.

For sorting, see our documentation on Sorting Products with Custom Fields.

Displaying the value in eCat and eCat Online #

To display the value in eCat or eCat Online's product detail view, you will use our product custom fields. When defining the field make sure the "Send to iPad" value is checked. For more information, see our documentation on Custom Product Fields and Filters.