ShipHero automates the management of Kits by calculating their availability based on the stock levels of their individual Components. This ensures you do not oversell bundles when individual items are sold separately or as part of other sets.
How Kit Availability is Calculated
The total number of Kits available for sale is limited by the total number of complete kits that can be picked/packed. ShipHero looks at the available quantity of all the component SKUs, then calculates the amount of kits that can be created based on the Kit Quantity of each component.
Example 1: Chocolate Gift Basket
In the example below the total amount of Chocolate Gift Baskets that can be made is 200.
| Component SKU | Kit Quantity | Available Units |
|---|---|---|
| Belgian chocolate bar | 1 | 200 |
| German chocolate bar | 1 | 500 |
| Swedish chocolate bar | 1 | 4,000 |
Example 2: Deluxe Chocolate Gift Basket
In this example, a total of 50 Deluxe Chocolate Gift Baskets can be made because the kit quantiy of the components is 4.
| Component SKU | Kit Quantity | Available Units |
|---|---|---|
| Belgian chocolate bar | 4 | 200 |
| German chocolate bar | 4 | 500 |
| Swedish chocolate bar | 4 | 4,000 |
Backorder Logic
- Backorder Status: When a kit is on a pending order and there is not enough inventory of a component the parent kit SKU may appear as backordered on the orders page, even if other components have available inventory.
To ensure accurate kit availability, always verify that your component inventory levels are synced correctly across all connected warehouses.
Automated Inventory Synchronization
To maintain high performance at scale, ShipHero uses two distinct methods to update your sales channels. The method used depends on the Sales Velocity and current inventory levels of the SKU.
| Update Method | Trigger Condition | System Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Real-time | Low inventory counts or high risk of overselling. | Immediate sync to all connected stores. |
| Scheduled | High inventory counts with low risk of depletion. | Periodic background updates to optimize performance. |
Technical Logic: Balancing Speed and Scale
Recalculating Kit availability for every minor inventory change can create significant System Load, especially if a single Component is tied to several different Kits.
- High Stock Items: If a component has thousands of units (e.g., 4,000 Swedish chocolate bars), the risk of overselling is negligible. ShipHero uses Scheduled Updates for these items.
- Low Stock Items: As soon as a component reaches a Low-Stock Threshold, ShipHero switches to Real-time Updates. This ensures that the moment the lowest inventory item hits zero, all associated Kits are removed from the storefront immediately.