Catalog
- Attribute Template
- Categories
- Digital Downloads
- To Use Digital Downloads
- Install Digital Downloads Module
- Set Up a CDN
- Connect Your Miva Merchant Store to Your CDN
- Global Defaults for Store's Digital Downloads
- See Downloaded Digital Products
- Manually Create a Download URL
- Add Digital Products One at a Time
- Disable Off-Line Payment Methods for Digital Products
- Customer Experience - Buying Digital Products
- Facet Rules
- Inventory
- Inventory Management
- Products
- Delete a Product
- Create a New Product
- Images
- Related Products
- Attributes
- Inventory Kit Builder
- Inventory Variants
- SEO
- Categories
- Price Groups
- Upsold Products
- Inventory
- Gift Certificate Sales
- URIs
- Digital Download Settings
- Digital Downloads
- Custom Fields
- Marketplace - eBay Product Listings
- Marketplace - eBay Listing Settings
- Marketplace - Amazon Product Listings
- Marketplace - Etsy Product Listings
- Marketplace - Etsy Listing Settings
- Edit Product
Inventory Management
In Miva Merchant, inventory management refers to a set of tasks that are completed in different parts of the admin interface. This section gives you a bird's-eye view of these tasks:
- Inventory Tracking
- Basket Inventory
- Inventory Messages
Each of these tasks is optional. You don't have to use the Miva Merchant inventory management features at all. You can use inventory management without the basket inventory feature. You can use the basket inventory without customizing your inventory messages.
Inventory Tracking
Inventory tracking lets Miva Merchant do inventory math for you. After you enable inventory tracking, you set the initial level of your stock. If a customer adds an item to their basket, the inventory count for that item automatically drops by 1. If the customer purchases the item, the inventory count will stay reduced by 1. If the customer removes the item from their basket, or abandons their basket, the inventory count for the item increases by 1. You can enable inventory tracking for products with or without Attributes.
See also 
> Store Settings > Store Details tab > Settings section > Basket Timeout field.
This vase has no attributes. It's not available in any other sizes, colors or anything else. We'll enable inventory tracking on the product, and set the initial inventory to 100. When a customer buys a vase, the inventory count automatically drops to 99. |
Our t-shirt has two attributes: size and color. It's available in small, medium and large sizes, and blue and white colors. We enable inventory tracking on both attributes and then set the initial inventory for each variant (version) of the shirt. If we tell the system we have 100 of each variant, and a customer buys a shirt in small/blue, the inventory count for small/blue drops to 99, and the inventory count for all the other variants stays at 100; the same thing that would happen in a brick and mortar store. |
To Enable Inventory Tracking for Products with Attributes
- Enable inventory tracking at the store level.
- Track Low Stock Level
- Track Out of Stock Level
- Hide Out of Stock Products
- Enable inventory tracking at the attribute level.
2.1. Go to
> Catalog > Products.2.2. Edit a product and select the Attributes tab. If the "I" column for the attribute has a checkmark, inventory tracking is enabled.
- Generate Variants if you haven't already done so.
- Set the inventory level for each variant. A variant (t-shirt in size small and color blue) is a
product, so you have to tell the system how many you have on hand.
4.1. Go to
> Catalog > Products > Edit Product > Inventory Variants tab.4.2. Click on the Edit Inventory button. In the Edit Inventory dialog box, tell the system what inventory you have for each variant.
Enabling inventory tracking at the store level does two things. First, it enables the feature in your store, and second, it adds a new tab called "Inventory" that you'll see when you edit a product.
1.1. Go to > Catalog > Inventory tab.
1.2. Check the Track Inventory checkbox. You may also want to enable these other checkboxes:
If the attribute was added as an Attribute Template, you have to edit the attribute template and check the Inventory checkbox.
To Enable Inventory Tracking for Products with No Attributes
- Enable inventory tracking at the store level.
- Enable inventory tracking at the product level and set the inventory level.
- Check the Track Product checkbox
- Enter the initial inventory you have in the "Increase Stock By" field. For example, if you currently have 100 vases on-hand, set this field to 100.
2.1. Go to > Catalog > Products.
2.2. Edit a product and select the Inventory tab.
Basket Inventory
Basket Inventory keeps track of how many products your customers currently have in baskets. Before you can use Basket Inventory, you must be tracking inventory at the store level and at the product level.
See:
- Enable inventory tracking at the store level
- To Enable Inventory Tracking for Products with Attributes
- To Enable Inventory Tracking for Products with No Attributes
To Install the Basket Inventory Module
- Go to > Utilities > Add/Remove Modules tab > Available Modules section.
- In the Basket Inventory box, click Install.
To Use Basket Inventory
- After you enable inventory tracking at the store level, you'll see a new tab called "Inventory" when
you edit a product.
Go to > Catalog > Products tab > edit product > Inventory tab.
- The Basket Inventory module adds a small box on the right side of the Inventory tab. It shows you the Current Stock, Stock in Baskets, and Total Overall Stock.
Inventory Messages
Inventory messages appear next to products on different pages in your store and give customers information about product availability. For example, you can have the text "In Stock" or "Out of Stock" appear next to a product.
- For every inventory message you can have a short and long version of the message.
- You can create default inventory messages at the store level or product specific inventory messages at the product level.
The general process of using inventory messages is:
- Enable inventory tracking at both the store and product level, or the store and attribute level for products with attributes. See above. You must use inventory tracking to use inventory messages.
- Set inventory levels on your products (tell the software how many you have of each product on hand). See above.
- Create default inventory messages (Optional). These are store-wide default inventory messages that will apply to all of your products. You can create store-wide default inventory messages. See Catalog > Edit Product > Inventory Tab > Inventory Settings section.
- Create product specific inventory messages (Optional). If you create inventory messages for a
specific product, they will take precedence over the default inventory messages. To create product
specific inventory messages, see > Catalog > Products > Edit Product > Inventory tab.
- Set the inventory message to be Long or Short on various store pages. Each of the tabs below has a drop-down list control that allows you to choose a long or short inventory message for that page.
- Category pages: CTGY > Category Product List Layout > Inventory Level Message field. Customers see this page in your store when they click on a Category.
- Product List: PLST > Product List Layout Tab > Inventory Level Message field. This is the page that is displayed in your store when customers click on the All Products button.
- Product pages, product has attributes: PROD > Attribute Machine > Inventory Message field. This page is displayed in your store when customers click on a product.
- Product pages, product does not have attributes: PROD > Product Display Layout > Inventory Level Message field. This page is displayed in your store when customers click on a product.
- Product pages, related product list: PROD > Related Product List Layout Tab > Inventory Level Message field. This page is displayed in your store when customers click on a product and you have added related products in the Edit Product > Related Products Tab.
- Search: Search Results Layout Tab > Inventory Level Message field. This is the page that is displayed when customers enter text in the search text box and click the Search button.
| Message | What the Message Means | Page in Your Store Where Customers Can See this Message |
| In Stock | Stock on hand - quantity in baskets > Low Stock Level. The low stock level can be set for your store (Inventory link in leftnav) or for individual products (Edit Product > Inventory tab). |
CTGY (Category Display) PLST (Product List) PROD (Product Display) SRCH (Search) |
| Low Stock | Stock on hand - quantity in baskets < Low Stock Level. | PROD (Product Display) CTGY (Category Display) SRCH (Search) PLST (Product List) |
| Out of Stock | Stock on hand - quantity in customer baskets = 0 | PROD (Product Display) CTGY (Category Display) SRCH (Search) PLST (Product List) |
| Limited Stock | The customer has tried to purchase a quantity greater than your current inventory. For example, you have 5 vases of a certain type and the customer tries to purchase quantity 6 of that vase. | BASK (Basket Contents) |