How to Switch Slotting Types in ShipHero

NOTE: Assistance is required to enable this feature on the backend of your account. Please follow the outline below to prepare for and successfully transition from Static Slotting to Dynamic Slotting.

ShipHero has been working hard to get every account to Dynamic Slotting. Dynamic Slotting allows product locations within a warehouse to change, allowing for future picking flows and accommodating high inventory turnover. Dynamic Slotting must be enabled for many great features ShipHero offers, such as Wholesale, Putaway, and Lots and Expirations.

Preparing for the Switch from Static to Dynamic Slotting

A few things can be done to prepare for the switch to Dynamic Slotting.

1. Engage the Customer Success Manager (CSM) assigned to your account. If you do not have a CSM, please contact ShipHero Support. We will provide more information on what to expect and prepare for during the transition.
2. Coordinate a time with your contact to complete the transition in your warehouse. This should be when the warehouse is not actively shipping, and all totes are cleared. This should be a Google Meet or Zoom meeting.
3. Determine if location types will be needed—pallet, floor, bin, etc. For more about location types, please visit this article.
4. Determine if the naming scheme will change and prepare a Location CSV to be uploaded. Please visit our help article on Optimizing your Warehouse Layout for best practices.
5. Download any inventory logs that you need. When your account is transitioned you will not have access to past inventory changes.

Switching From Static to Dynamic Slotting

Note for 3PLs: You will need to complete the transition process for each of your clients individually.

Step 1: Download your Product CSV Files

Before getting started you will need to download product information from two sources and save them for your records. Please export downloads for each warehouse separately.

After you have these downloads follow the steps below to complete the transition from Static to Dynamic Slotting.

1. Download products from the Inventory Bulk Edit page for each warehouse separately. This will be your source of truth for all products existing in your account and used to clear out data in steps 2 and 3.
2. Download products from the Inventory Products page. This list of products will be used when you need to re-upload inventory and assign locations to your product in step 7.
   • Follow the instructions below to properly filter the data for your export.
     1. Update the filters to Active Products: "All" and Kit "Hide Kit Products".
     2. Then use the Export All Rows button to export a CSV of the data.

Step 2: Disable ShipHero as the inventory manager for your stores.

Your store platforms will still continue to manage your inventory as orders flow through their system. This prevents ShipHero from zeroing out your store platforms as you complete the transition. Follow the steps below.

1. Open the My Account Stores page and click the Settings button for your store.
2. Uncheck "Have ShipHero Manage My (Store) Inventory."
3. Click Save on the bottom of the page.

Step 3: Zero out the On-Hand quantities for your inventory in ShipHero.

For this step use the product downloads from the Inventory Bulk Edit page. Reminder, if multiple warehouses exist on the account, download your products for each warehouse and then complete the step below for each one separately.

1. Go to the Inventory Inventory Upload page, select the Upload CSV button and download the Inventory Upload template.
2. Copy the information from the SKU column in the Bulk Edit CSV and paste it into the SKU column of the Inventory Upload template.
3. On the Inventory Upload CSV, enter replace as the Action value, and change the Quantity value to 0 for all SKUs. The Reason column can be left blank; however, we recommend entering "Switch to DS" for your records.
   

4. Upload the Inventory Upload CSV for each warehouse as needed. A confirmation will appear that it was successful. Need more information? Visit our article, How to Use the Inventory Upload.

Step 4: Remove Location Data from your Products in ShipHero.

For static slotting accounts, locations were known as Bin and OS Bin (overstock Bin). To ensure the data is as clean as possible as you transition to dynamic slotting, this information needs to be cleared from your products.

Use the download from the Inventory Bulk Edit page. We recommend making a copy of the CSV for this step to preserve the information from your original download.

1. Using a copy of the bulk edit CSV, remove all columns besides the SKU, On Hand, Bin, and Overstock Bin columns.
2. Clear out/delete all the data in the Bin and Overstock Bin columns (keep the column headers intact). Save the CSV as a different name, so the original bulk edit CSV is not changed.
   
3. Upload the CSV in the Bulk Edit page. Need more info? Visit our article All About Using the Bulk Edit CSV Upload.

Step 5: Double-check all changes are saved from steps 2 and 3.

Before the team will be able to successfully enable the Dynamic Slotting setting in the backend of your account, all changes must be completed and fully processed in the system. Please verify all the changes from your uploads are complete before moving to the next step.

Keep in mind that the more data that needs to be updated, the longer the system will take to process. For example, an upload with 500 line items will process faster than an upload with 5,000 line items.

Double Check all inventory is zeroed out:

1. Open the Inventory Products page.
2. Adjust the Active Products filter to "All."
3. Then filter for In Stock "Yes." If any products are still showing in the list the system could still be working through your inventory upload. Hit enter and the number of products on the list should go down.
4. If after some time the number does not change or products get "stuck" you may need to manually process the inventory. To do this:
   1. Open the Product details page
   2. Hit the Process Inventory button in the Action section on the left hand side.
   3. Repeat as needed for any other "stuck" products.

Double check the Location data is cleared out from all products

1. Open the Inventory Products page.
2. Adjust the Active Products filter to "All."
3. Sort the Bin and Overstock Bin columns to ensure that no values exist in ShipHero.
4. If any values still exist on your products you can retry the upload or manually edit it for each product.

Step 6: Request the Dynamic Slotting setting for your account to be enabled by ShipHero Support.

Contact the person scheduled to assist with your transition and let them know you are ready. They will flip the switch and let you know once it is complete.

Step 7: Create New Locations in ShipHero.

Before you can assign locations and re-upload inventory to your products, you need to create the locations for each of your warehouses in ShipHero.

Note for 3PLs: Only upload your locations for each warehouse once. You will not complete this step for each client.

1. Go to the My Account CSV Management page and select locations from the dropdown. Then download the Locations Template.
2. Then upload your locations to the specified warehouse.

Need more information? Visit our article, Creating and Managing Locations with Dynamic Slotting. 

Step 8: Assign inventory to locations.

Once locations are created, assign product inventory to your warehouse locations using the inventory upload template for dynamic slotting accounts.

1. Go to the Inventory Inventory Upload page, select the Upload CSV button, and download the NEW Inventory Upload CSV.
2. Use the information in the download from the Inventory Products page in step 1.
   • Copy the list of SKUs and paste it into the Sku column.
   • Copy the On Hand information from the download and paste it into the quantity column.
   • Enter "replace" in the action column for all SKUs.
   • Enter the locations where each SKU will be located in the location column. If you have multiple locations a single SKU will "live in" you will need a separate line in the upload, example shown below.
   • Enter the reason for change in the Reason column.
     
3. Save your file and upload it on the Inventory Inventory Upload page.

Need more info? Visit our article All About Using the Bulk Edit CSV Upload.

Step 9: Re-Enable ShipHero to Manage Store Inventory (if applicable)

After the uploads are complete for each warehouse, then you can turn the "Have ShipHero Manage My Store Inventory" back on for all the stores you disabled the setting for in step 2.

As noted before, your stores will still be managing your inventory throughout the transition, and if you used the same on-hand numbers there should not be many changes to push back to your platforms. If you see a significant amount of discrepancies, please don't hesitate to reach out to our support team for further assistance.