Product aliases in Extensiv Integration Manager

Product aliases in Extensiv Integration Manager

What is a product alias (aka. identifier)?

Product aliases are unique values that identify product variants. (e.g. SKU, Listing SKU, UPC, MPN, ASIN, Internal Product ID, etc.) A single product variant may have many product aliases/identifiers. 

Why & When are product aliases used?

Sales channels and fulfillment systems often have restrictions on which values are used to identify a product, it is common for those values to not match between systems.

When Extensiv Integration Manager downloads an order from a sales channel and passes the order to the fulfillment system, if the product codes on the order do not match, the fulfillment system cannot identify which products should be included in the order and will reject the order.

Many fulfillment (WMS) systems support product aliases and solve this problem without needing Integration Manager. However, systems that do NOT support product aliases will need Integration Manager to translate the sales channel product code to the product code used by the fulfillment system. To do this, Integration Manager will need to know which sales channel code matches to which fulfillment system product identifier (ie. SKU or Barcode).

To tell Integration Manager to push a specific alias code to the WMS when sending orders, in the Integration Manager cart settings page, change the Translate Item Code value to one of the available alias types you have already loaded. You can set this differently for each cart connection as needed. Choose WMS Mast SKU for Integration Manager make a best effort to automatically translate the SKU for you.

To tell Integration Manager to push a specific alias code to the Cart when syncing inventory, in the Integration Manager cart settings page, change the Push Inventory Using Alias value to one of the available alias types you have already loaded. You can set this differently for each cart connection as needed. Any products from the WMS that do not match a valid product code in the cart will be skipped during inventory sync.

How are product aliases added to Integration Manager?

Automatic Alias Loading

For fulfillment systems that Integration Manager supports Inventory Sync Pickup for, Integration Manager will automatically download the main product identifier from the WMS and display it in Integration Manager. For fulfillment systems that Integration Manager supports Product Alias Pickup for, Integration Manager will also automatically load all product aliases attached to the main product identifier and display them in Integration Manager as well.

Example: This product has a SKU number (which is the main identifier) and a UPC (which is treated as an alias to the SKU). Both values identify the same product.


Manual Alias Loading

The following process can be completed manually in the Integration Manager interface if your OMS or WMS does not support aliases automatically. If you have a large list you need loaded into Integration Manager, create a CSV file in this STANDARD FORMAT, then open a support ticket and upload your CSV file. There is a fee for uploading manual files. You can also load them yourself one by one as shown below

Using Amazon as an example to load your Amazon Seller SKU as an alias into Integration Manager.

To add the Seller SKU as an alias in Integration Manager:

  1. In Integration Manager go to (Merchant tab → Products and Locations → Product Alias) 

  2. Search for and select the fulfillment product identifier that matches the Amazon Seller SKU. 

  3. Click "Add Alias Code"

  4. Add the Alias Name (MUST be consistent across multiple products) and the Alias Value (MUST be unique across all products)

  5. Click Save
  6. In your Amazon cart settings in Integration Manager (Carts tab > Amazon > Edit Setup) make sure the "Translate Item Code" field is set to "Master SKU" This means that when Integration Manager loads the Seller SKU from Amazon, it will translate it to the Master SKU (from the fulfillment system) before passing the order to the fulfillment system.

  7. Also in your Amazon cart settings in Integration Manager, make sure the "Push Inventory Using Alias" field is set to the alias you created from the sales channel (e.g. Amazon). This means that when the fulfillment system provides inventory levels using the Master SKU, Integration Manager will translate to the Amazon Seller SKU when pushing those inventory levels to Amazon. 

    2. WARNING:  When using "Push Inventory Using Alias" any products without the listed alias code will not have inventory synced, so make sure that all of your products have the desired alias configured, even if that alias is the same as the warehouse Master SKU.


Product Alias Rules/Restrictions

Integration Manager expects that each alias code uniquely identifies a single master product. If you have multiple unique products with the same alias Integration Manager will be unable to properly translate between them.

If you have a single product with multiple of the same alias types (eg. two UPCs), and you have set up Integration Manager to sync inventory to the cart using that alias, Integration Manager will sync your inventory level for that product multiple times, once for each alias. This allows you to have a single product on the back-end synced with two different products in your shopping cart. Note that Integration Manager will push the full inventory level for both aliases, so there is a possibility for over-selling that product in between inventory syncs.

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