Bundles are defined as groups of products containing two or more component SKUs which are purchased together by the customer on a single product display page.
A few examples of bundles are listed below:
Skin Care Set containing a cleanser, toner, and moisturizer
3 Pack of Underwear
King Bed Set containing sheets, comforter, and pillow cases
Although a bundle will appear as a single item to the customer to purchase, there are two ways for the bundle to handled logistically: virtually or physically.
Virtual Bundles (referred to synonymously as Soft Bundles) have components which are not pre-packaged together. Instead, these components can be sold individually. Although the customer is purchasing the bundle directly, this type of bundle has the same logistical impact as if the customer purchased the individual components directly (usually with a discount). For example, when the customer purchases a 3 Pack of T-Shirts, 3 individual T-Shirts are shipped.
Physical Bundles (also called Hard Bundles) have components which are pre-packaged and cannot be separated. This means that the components within the bundle can only be sold as a package. Using the same example of a 3 Pack of T-Shirts, these T-Shirts would have been pre-packaged to only sell as a trio. When the customer makes the purchase, a single 3 Pack of T-Shirts is shipped.
This article details how Toolio handles reporting and planning of Bundles; you can find the following sections broken down below:
Virtual Bundles
Setup & Configuration
To configure your Bundle <> Component relationship in Toolio, which will be used for actualization, please provide a Bundle <> Component mapping in the format outlined in this document.
You can also see an example import here. Please reach out to your customer success team should you have any questions regarding configuration.
Actualization & Reporting
Since the components of virtual bundles can be sold individually, we need to understand demand, inventory, and fulfillment at the component level. As a result, we need to distribute the sales metrics (units, retail, cost, discount, markdowns) at the bundle level down to the components. This will evaluate to understand the true demand of each component, whether it is being sold via a bundle or on its own.
Please see below for a quick breakdown of how the sales metrics are distributed from bundle to component:
Metric | Details |
Sales Units | Sales units are attributed directly based on the Bundle <> Component mapping from the Toolio Bundles table |
Sales Retail | The total retail amount on the bundle sale is prorated based on the Unit Retail values of the components |
Sales Cost | If the sales cost is included in the sales data, the total cost amount on the bundle sale is prorated based on the Unit Cost values of the components
If the sales cost is not included directlly on the sale data, and we instead need to utilize product data to enrich sales, component level Unit Costs are attributed directly from the Toolio Product Master. |
Discount | The total discount amount on the bundle sale is prorated based on the Unit Retail values of the components |
Markdown | The total markdown amount on the bundle sale is prorated based on the Unit Retail values of the components |
Example Walkthrough:
To help make this easier to understand, please see an example walkthrough below:.
For the example bundle configuration, we see that Bundle 1 is defined as 1 unit of SKU-1, 1 unit of SKU-2 and 2 units of SKU-3:
Bundle Name | Bundle External Id | Component Variant Id | Units |
Bundle 1 | BN-1 | SKU-1 | 1 |
Bundle 1 | BN-1 | SKU-2 | 1 |
Bundle 1 | BN-1 | SKU-3 | 2 |
This is supplemented by the following Unit Retail and Unit Cost values defined for the SKUS on the Toolio Product Master:
Variant Id | Unit Retail | Unit Cost |
SKU-1 | $30 | 10 |
SKU-2 | $30 | 10 |
SKU-3 | $20 | 5 |
As a result, if Toolio receives a sale of Bundle 1:
Variant Id | Sales Units | Sales Retail | Sales Cost | Discount | Markdown |
BN - 1 | 1 | 80 | 30 | 20 | 10 |
Toolio would display the following sales distribution at the component level:
Variant Id | Sales Units | Sales Retail | Sales Cost | Discount | Markdown |
SKU-1 | 1 | 24 | 10 | 6 | 3 |
SKU-2 | 1 | 24 | 10 | 6 | 3 |
SKU-3 | 2 | 32 | 10 | 8 | 4 |
Planning
Since we are evaluating all demand down to the component level, you will be planning sales directly at the component level as well. Consequently, we will want to evaluate inventory at the component level, as well as place purchase orders directly to the components themselves.
Physical Bundles
Actualization & Reporting
Physical bundles are treated as individual SKUs in Toolio. Since the components cannot be sold individually, demand and fulfillment of physical bundles are evaluated directly at the bundle level. As a result, any physical bundles should be attributed the same way as a product/variant in your Toolio Product Feed.
Planning
Since Physical bundles are akin to distinct SKUs in Toolio, we will plan them as such. You will plan sales directly to the bundles, evaluate inventory at the bundle level, and place purchase orders for the physical bundles as well.