Deactivating attributes

[LeeAmon]

Is there a way for me to say that an attribute for a product is temporarily inactive.

Here is an example. I sell a lot of body care products with different fragrances, there is a Body creme, that has seven different natural fragrances. Frequently, for some inexplicable reason, I will have a run on one fragrance. I'll be able to get more from the supplier, but it could take a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, I am constantly having to call or email customers saying "I am sorry, we are out of Ginger Grapefruit, can we substitute Lemon Eucolyptus?" - this is particularly frustrating when the customer has placed a large order and one product is keeping me from filling it.

One solution that I am thinking of is to make each attribute a product, and then to make my current products categories. Then I can just deactivate the product, and I am set. That will work well for some things (for example, candles), but there are some products that have multiple selections, or where there is no real difference in appearence between one attribute and the other.

Thanks In Advance

Lee

[DesignExtend-MSI]

Why not just use Inventory Manager (http://www.designextend.com/page/miva/PROD/BROK_INVENTORY).


It will let you set inventory on attributes and options. You can then just set the Inventory Level to zero.

[LeeAmon]

I sell a lot of "sets" where the customer can select several options of products that are also sold seperately. Here is an example. I sell a "Body Care Duo" that consists of a body creme and a body polish.

http://www.katescaringgifts.com/pages/product/natural_skin_care/soaks_and_scrubs/cvn_body_duo.html

Now, I don't actually have any "duos" in stock, but I have all the compnents.

But, if I suddenly run out of stock on rose geranium body polish, I want to remove that option from the set as well. Will inventory manager allow me to track components?

Also, does it integrate well with Stone Edge order manager. I am currently averaging 3-5 orders per day. As soon as I hit 10, I plan to purchase and implement Stone Edge.

Thanks

Lee

[DesignExtend-MSI]

I sell a lot of "sets" where the customer can select several options of products that are also sold seperately. Here is an example. I sell a "Body Care Duo" that consists of a body creme and a body polish.

http://www.katescaringgifts.com/pages/product/natural_skin_care/soaks_and_scrubs/cvn_body_duo.html

Now, I don't actually have any "duos" in stock, but I have all the compnents.

But, if I suddenly run out of stock on rose geranium body polish, I want to remove that option from the set as well. Will inventory manager allow me to track components?

Also, does it integrate well with Stone Edge order manager. I am currently averaging 3-5 orders per day. As soon as I hit 10, I plan to purchase and implement Stone Edge.

Thanks

Lee

Yes, it will let you track components and yes, it WILL work with Order Manager. You can build subSkus in Order Manager and it will update the inventory in real time even (so if you get a phone order).

[LeeAmon]

Pamela, thanks for the help.

I see the path that I need to take. I am a little concerned about implementing it right away because most of my site is static html. (yes, I know, I know - Vic has convinced me to switch it over to Miva generated, and I have started doing so. - Shout out to Vic, he has been a big help in the whole process) I have my first Miva Generated category and product pages working.

http://www.katescaringgifts.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=KCG&Category_Code=ROCK_HILL


New products that I bring on line will go straight into Miva generated pages, and I am going to start bringing over existing pages. I expect that I will have the whole site converted in 6-9 months.

If everything goes according to plan (and I know it never does) that will coincide nicely with the timing for implementing Stone Edge and an inventory system.

In the meantime, it would be really nice if there was a way to temporarily deactivate an attribute. If there isn't, I can just continue to kludge until I am ready to implement the real solution, but if there is, it would be very cool.

Thanks,

Lee

[DesignExtend-MSI]

Pamela, thanks for the help.

I see the path that I need to take. I am a little concerned about implementing it right away because most of my site is static html. (yes, I know, I know - Vic has convinced me to switch it over to Miva generated, and I have started doing so. - Shout out to Vic, he has been a big help in the whole process) I have my first Miva Generated category and product pages working.

http://www.katescaringgifts.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=KCG&Category_Code=ROCK_HILL


New products that I bring on line will go straight into Miva generated pages, and I am going to start bringing over existing pages. I expect that I will have the whole site converted in 6-9 months.

If everything goes according to plan (and I know it never does) that will coincide nicely with the timing for implementing Stone Edge and an inventory system.

In the meantime, it would be really nice if there was a way to temporarily deactivate an attribute. If there isn't, I can just continue to kludge until I am ready to implement the real solution, but if there is, it would be very cool.

Thanks,

Lee

Well, deactivating it the HTML pages would need to be done manually per attribute. However, you still need the attributes in the store itself. If you run Inventory on them, at least you'll get the functionality--if someone tries to add the attribute (even from a static page) they'll get an alert that it's out of stock.