iVend POS - Reduce Lost Sales with Alternate Items

iVend POS - Reduce Lost Sales with Alternate Items

Introduction
Alternate items or substitute items is another way of avoiding lost sales at the Point of Sale (POS). In the situation where a retailer has thousands of SKU’s available within their store, it is not possible for employees to remember and suggest an alternative item to a customer in the situation of the primary item not being available. With the Alternate Product functionality in iVend retail, a user can define a substitute item for every item created in the system if they so desired. Then, in situation of an item required by the customer not being available, store staff can view the predefined alternate items and suggest one of those to the customer instead.
Follow the steps mentioned below to setup Alternate Products in iVend retail:
1. Log into the iVend Management Console and go to: Operations > Inventory > Alternate product

2. Press [F1 Search] to search for a base product for which one or more alternate products will be setup. Select a product and click [Ok]. This will open the Choose Alternate Product screen with the selected product as the Base product.
3. Click [Add Product] to open the product search screen. Press [F1 Search] to select one or more products. Click [Ok] to add the selected products to the Choose Alternate Product screen.

4. The code and description of the chosen Alternate Product(s) that are now associated with the base item, are displayed on right side of the screen.
5. The user can enter the Match Factor % for how close of a match the alternate product(s) are to the base product.
6. The user can remove the Alternate Products by selecting them and pressing the [Delete Product] button.
7. To save the changes made, click [Ok].

Data Import – Alternate Items

If there are a large number of items that the user wants to define, i.e. multiple alternate items for multiple products in a single process, it can be achieved by using the Data Import functionality available in iVend Retail.
Follow the steps below to perform a data import for Alternate Items:
1. In the Management Console, go to: Administration > Application Setup > Import Data

2. Excel File Path: In this field, click the lookup button, then browse for and select the file to import. The following fields are required in the Excel file to import:
a. ParentProductID
b. ProductID
c. MatchFactor

3. Sheet Name: In the sheet name field name, enter the name of the sheet in the Excel file from which the data is to be imported. By default, the system will enter Sheet1 in this field.
4. Object Type: In the Object Type field, click the lookup button and select ‘AlternateItem’.
5. File has Header: Select the checkbox if the Excel import file has a header row for the column names which will be used in the Data mapping for the import – refer to the sample import in the screen image above for guidance.

Data Mapping Configuration Screen.

6. Click [Ok]. The Data Mapping Configuration screen will open as we see in the above screen image.
7. Confirm the mappings with the Column Names from the Excel import file with the Field Names in the system. 

If the system doesn’t automatically map the Column Names from the Excel import then the user can select the target fields from the drop down lists in the target Field Names list – refer to the above screen image for guidance on the correct mappings.
8. Click [Ok] to import the Alternate Items. The user can press the [Cancel] button if they change their mind and do not wish to proceed with the import. This will exit the screen without completing the import.

Using the Alternate Product Option at the POS

1. Log into the iVend Point of Sale.
2. Scan in or select the base product for which an Alternate product has been defined in the system.
The option to view Alternate Products is only displayed on the Negative Quantity Resolution screen and will only be displayed when the base product has zero quantity available in the store.

3. Click on the [Alternate Product] button on the Negative Quantity Resolution screen to display a list of Alternate products for the base product.

4. From the list of Alternate Products displayed, the user can select one (1) product as the substitute to offer the customer. 
Only one substitute can be selected at a time for the sale.

5. Select the product and click the [Ok] button to add the item to the sale transaction.


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