Item thresholds

You can define inventory threshold at both item and system levels. The threshold simplifies the identification of inventory level at a store or warehouse without the need to understand the correlation between the quantity and item characteristic. You can observe the inventory threshold level in availability request and published events.

The inventory that is available in a store or warehouse location can vary in quantity based on many factors such as the inventory value, dimension, velocity, and merchandize type. For example, the quantity level for T-shirts and desktop computers is maintained based on the difference in cost per unit and inventory velocity.

To determine whether the inventory count for an item quantity is low, medium, or high, a fulfillment manager must classify inventory based on how the item is measured. In the example, the inventory for T-shirts might be considered as low if the item quantity is 50. For desktop computers the inventory might be considered as low if the item quantity is 1.

The Item inventory threshold feature allows inventory-level classification for an item such that for each item the fulfillment manager can classify low, medium, or high threshold levels. Therefore, when availability is inquired the corresponding threshold is returned. The threshold information can be used as an alert or notification mechanism to prompt for restock or overstock actions.

You can define inventory threshold at the following levels:
When you set threshold at the item level, the corresponding value is used for availability calculation. From the availability response you can observe the following key parameters:
  1. Threshold Level - Determines the threshold levels.
    • NONE
    • BELOW_LOW
    • BELOW_MEDIUM
    • BELOW_HIGH
    • ABOVE_LOW
    • ABOVE_MEDIUM
    • ABOVE_HIGH
    • ALL
  2. Threshold Type - Onhand and future threshold types.

The threshold levels help the fulfillment manager to eliminate any time-consuming process by reviewing the inventory threshold level rather than the individual quantity, which requires to understand the item context. For example, identify inventory with threshold level as "low" for restock actions.

The following table describes item threshold values:
Threshold value Description
High Defines the inventory limit, which when exceeded marks the inventory item as having a high quantity availability. That is, if the inventory quantity of an item is over the high quantity boundary, it is considered to be In Stock.
Medium Defines the inventory limit, which when exceeded marks the inventory item as having a medium level availability. That is, if the inventory quantity of an item is over the medium quantity boundary, the available inventory level might indicate that an item is Available in Limited Quantity until the level rises to High or drops to Low.
Low Defines the inventory limit, which when exceeded marks the inventory item as having a low quantity availability. That is, if the inventory quantity of an item is at the low quantity boundary level, a website might indicate Low Stock.

Consider the following example:

Tenant inventory levels are set as low=10, med=50, and high=100. Similarly, the Computer inventory levels are set as low=2, med=5, and high=20. The corresponding inventory threshold that is reported considers the availability level.
  • TSHIRT01 = 60 quantity (Level = 1, Below High)
  • Computer = 1 quantity (Level = 3, Below Low)
  • TSHIRT02 = 200 quantity (Level = 0, Above High)

As a result, the tenant inventory level is used for both TSHIRT01 and TSHIRT02 as specific item-level settings are not defined. The fulfillment manager can identify items with low inventory by inspecting the inventory Level 3.