I would be interested to hear how other productcart users deal with Bin Locations.  We have yet to launch our store but I was looking at the best way to handle this.  I have yet to upgrade to v3.1 but I understand it has a new picklist feature.  Can anyone advise whether this new feature uses a bin location field for picking products prior to shipment or indeed whether the picklists can show a custom field which can be set up to store the bin location of a product.

Any help from how existing users deal with this would be appreciated.  My store will potentially have thousands of products so I wanted to get it right from the start.

Many Thanks

Matt

Thanks Linda,

I am not so sure Custom Field are the ultimate answer to this one.  A Bin location would need to be a searchable custom field (as opposed to a customer input field) and as far as I can tell these do not show up on a packing list or invoice in Productcart.  Also, custom fields show up in the store front and advanced search box which the customer doesnt really need to see.

I am keen to know what fields the new pick list in v3.1 brings to this.  Can anyone tell me because I have yet to update from 3.051.  Does the new picklist feature work on SKU and product description only ?

Thanks

Matt

Hi everyone: the reason why adding a custom search field for us is a much, much bigger project than for a store owner is that when we add any product-specific settings we have to worry about...

• scalability. For example, custom search fields are currently limited in number, as you noted above: the feature should be fully rewritten to deliver full scalability
• all import features
• all export features
• all product types and whether there are any issues with using the feature with all of them (standard, apparel, BTO, gift certificates, downloadable products, etc.)

For example, we would have to worry about things like: does it make sense to set the custom search field at the "Apparel sub-product" level (e.g. XXL could be in a different shelf in the warehouse compared to XXS, to pick up on the "Bin Location" mentioned above). But maybe you don't even use the Apparel Add-on and therefore this is not an issue at all for your specific store.

The point is that we typically have to look at a variety of issues that may not be relevant to your specific store. We are obligated to take into consideration as many scenarios as possible. You are not, obviously. You can focus on what's relevant to your implementation of ProductCart.

That's why if a store needs a couple of additional custom search fields, adding them to the "products" table in the database and adjusting the code a bit in the storefront and Control Panel to use them is a much easier project than it would for us to rewrite the feature (as mentioned above) and take into account all other aspects of the application that interact with it (e.g. Import Wizards, the new XML API, etc.).

At this time we are not planning a rewrite of this feature in the short term, so I would recommend using a developer to add the needed search fields to your installation of ProductCart.

This is probably not what you wished to hear, but we always believe in being clear and up-front with our customers.

Thanks for your feebcak on customer fields.

However, going back to my original question on this thread if anyone can tell me how they deal with physical production location in the absence of a dedicated bin location field I would love to hear.

Most product user stores are selling physical products and many have 100's, sometimes 1000's of products.  I am asuming that productcart users were printing off a packing list (maybe now a picking list in v3.1) and going off to their stores areas (whether it be a wardrobe, a garage, or a full scale warehouse) to find the products to ship for that order.  I am just looking for some feedback as to the processes these store owners have in place to find their inventory.

Are you using the product SKU to organise your inventory in your stores rather than a separate bin location reference ?  Are you cross referring the SKU to an offline bin location list ?  Are you adding the Bin location to the product description so that it prints on the packing list (or new Pick List in V.3.1) ?

These are a few ideas I can think of but would love to hear how others handle a scenario where the number of products they are selling are at such a level that the organisation of their locations is paramount in running an efficient store.

Thanks

Matt

Thanks avalight,

You have explained my problem much more clearly than I did.  In the absence of a dedicated BIN field I dont see any other way but to use the SKU to organise my stores but agree that a well managed stores will constantly be changing as new products are introduced or products are discontinued.

Perhaps the answer is to split the SKU into two parts; the first contains the constant product identifier and the second part contains the variable BIN location.

eg maybe one of my products will have a SKU : 123 (B-4)  where 123 is the part number and its stores location is B-4.  The only problem with this is that customers might get confused when reordering items, thinking that the part might be different to their previous order if it has a different SKU, when all we've done is moved it around in our stores.  Perhaps tagging the BIN reference on the end of the short decription would be better because I presume this will print out on the new Pick Lists in v3.1.

mmmmm  I'll have to think further.

Matt

Sorry everyone,

I am resurrecting my old post from last september.   This one has still got me thinking.  After other projects had taken me away from Productcart for a while I am now back on the case of organising an efficient pick and ship online store.

You may want to read through the post to catch up with my dilemma.  If a store has got any more than a handful of products then I figure the physical stores need some sort of logical order.  How do other users (especially those with 100's or thousands of products) handle a Productcart order for pick and ship in the absence of a Bin Location field ?

Please give me some inspiration

I was reading through the forum looking for something else when I came across this post.

Having spent 7 years working for a mail order company back in the early nineties I recognise the importance of bin locations on picking slips

It should be fairly simple to add a bin field to the database and then modify the asp pages that produce the picking list to include it.

I added a couple of extra fields for a client and created them a simple secure inline editor so they could add the fields to the products without having to use the control panel to edit each one. It was a bit fiddly but not a major job.

Nigel