ForecastRx has the ability to forecast future demand for kits and advise you on how much of each component to purchase in order to fulfill the demand for both kits and individual product sales.
What are Kits:
Kits, also known as BoMs (Bill of Materials), are components purchased individually from your suppliers that are then assembled by you before they become saleable. For example, if you order individual t-shirts from your supplier, but sell them as 3 packs, you would enter this item in ForecastRx as a kit. This also applies to sets sold with multiple types of items, such as a pair of pants and a t-shirt as a set.
How to set up kits in ForecastRx:
If you are a QuickBooks integration user, you do not need to set up kits in ForecastRx, they will be synced automatically from your BOMs. If your kits do not look correct in ForecastRx, please double-check them in QuickBooks and contact ForecastRx Support if you're still experiencing a data discrepancy.
If you are an Amazon integration user, please follow the steps outlined here to set up kits.
Purchasing recommendations for kit SKUs:
Kit SKUs will still display under the Purchasing > Custom tab, even though they are not typically items you order from a supplier, you will still receive purchasing recommendations for them to know how many need to be assembled for sale and in case you are able to purchase the finished kit from a supplier. All data (sales, inventory, projected sales, out-of-stock date, and monthly demand) in the Item Card of a kit SKU will pertain to the kit only; component sales and inventory are not included here. This information is useful for tracking inventory levels and sales of the final product and is influential in deciding the number of units to assemble for the sale of the kit to satisfy upcoming demand.
If you are viewing the Item card for the kit item, the Kit Demand section will display what SKUs make up that kit, their individual inventories, and how many units are needed from each component to assemble the kit, for reference.
Daily Sales Rate Recommendation for Kit SKUs: The daily sales rate recommendation will reflect the purchase quantity of the kit SKU, the same as the Forecast Recommended Quantity. The daily sales rate will reflect the sales velocity of the kit SKU, and inventory data will be based on the final product inventory as well.
Purchasing recommendations for component SKUs:
Component SKUs will be displayed under the Purchasing > Custom tab and Purchasing > My Suggested POs. The recommendations column will display two recommendations. Total Component Data will show the number of units to order of this SKU based on it and its connected kit's sales history, inventory, and forecasted demand. The recommended quantity will be the recommended inventory to purchase in order to stock both the connected kits and the components (if sold individually). The second recommendation is Individual SKU Data, which will show a reorder recommendation based on the specific SKU's sales history and inventory. This would reflect the inventory needed to stock the particular SKU if it is also a saleable product and not only used in assemblies.
When viewing the Item Card of a component SKU, the data presented will display both the component and the kit's sales and inventory combined when Total Component Data: ON is toggled on. ForecastRx will calculate the total quantity of materials used in kits of the specified component, along with standalone component sales and inventory, to provide an accurate purchase order recommendation.
When you toggle to Total Component Data: OFF, the information displayed in the Item Card will be for the inventory and sales information of the SKU only. If the SKU is not for sale individually, no sales data will populate here. Inventory for the component will reflect the non-assembled inventory only so you will know how many units are available for individual sale or to build into kits.
All kits the component item is associated with are listed under the Kit Demand tab. Here, direct demand and inventory will show the forecasted demand and current inventory of the kit listed. Demand Inventory is the difference between Direct Demand and Inventory; if this number is positive, the kit is understocked by that amount of units, and if it is negative, then the kit is well stocked. Units per assembly will list the amount of this component used in each kit.
This is useful when bundling products in your facilities so you know what units to allocate to which kit. For example, if the Demand Inventory of a kit shows 10 and the Units Per Assembly is 2, that would mean you would need to allocate 20 units of the component to that kit to not run out of stock.
Daily Sales Rate Recommendation for Component SKUs: The daily sales rate recommendation will reflect the purchase quantity of the component SKU both individually, and combined with sales from the kits, the same as the Forecast Recommended Quantity. The daily sales rate will reflect the sales velocity of the component SKU only and the inventory of the component SKU only when viewing the Individual SKU data. The daily sales rate will reflect the sales velocity of the component SKU plus the kit sales and the inventory of the component and its quantity currently allocated to kits when viewing the Total Component Data.
Toggle between Total Component Data: ON or OFF in the Daily Sales Rate Calculations panel, similarly to the Item Card.
Item History for Component SKUs:
Navigate to Manage Company> Items and click on the pie chart icon under the History column to open the Item History window. Here you will see sales (in units) per month of the specified SKU, going back 4 years.
For a component SKU, the Direct Sales tab will include the sales history of the component item only. If a component item is not a saleable product, this tab will be blank.
The Kit Sales tab will display all sales of the component, in units, from the kits they are assigned to. This history represents the number of component parts that were needed in the sale of kit items. For example, if a kit is comprised of 2 units of the component SKU, for each sale of the kit, 2 units of the component will be recorded in the Kit Sales history.
The Total Sales tab will display the combined unit sales from the Direct Sales and Kit Sales tabs. This will provide a clear picture of the total inventory sold of the component SKU and is necessary to track to accurately forecast future demand. The data in the Total Sales tab is the inventory data shown in the Item Card Forecast Graph and Forecast Data.
Item History for kit SKUs:
Same as above, you will find kit SKU sales history in Manage Company > Items, under the History column. Direct Sales will display unit sales of the kit SKU only, Kit Sales will be blank, and Total Sales will show the direct sales of the kit once again. The sales history of the kit will also be shown in the Item Card, along with forecasted sales of the kit. The kit sales history is not necessary for restocking purposes but as a means to track data and forecast demand for the kit.
RestockAMZ kit recommendations:
RestockAMZ will provide restock recommendations based on an individual product's sales history and inventory levels only. Products are fully assembled before being sent to FBA, therefore it is only necessary to use the individual item's sales and Amazon inventory to forecast the restock recommendations.
If you have additional questions, contact our support team at ForecastRx Support.
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