Q: What is Planyard?
A: Planyard is a robust tool designed to streamline and optimize your inventory management and forecasting. It provides multi-channel purchase forecasting, profit analytics, FBM order processing, and supports multiple warehouses.
Q: What can Planyard do for my inventory & forecasting?
A: Planyard helps you manage your inventory by syncing it across multiple marketplaces. It also allows for multi-channel purchase forecasting, helping you avoid overstocking or understocking scenarios.
Q: How does Planyard support my forecasting needs?
A: Planyard can detect seasonal trends and exclude out-of-stock days to provide accurate forecasting. It also supports kits and bundles while forecasting the main item. These features help to ensure that you have the right stock available when it's needed.
Q: How does Planyard manage Purchase Orders (POs)?
A: Planyard can generate POs as a part of its basic Inventory Management system. This helps businesses streamline their purchasing process and keep better track of their orders.
Q: Can Planyard handle different kinds of products?
A: Yes, Planyard is designed to handle a variety of product types. It supports Kits & Bundles, forecasting by the main item, which makes it highly adaptable to your business needs.
Q: How does Planyard help with Profit Analytics?
A: Planyard provides profit analytics by SKU and by date. This helps businesses understand which products are the most profitable and when they sell the best.
Q: What is FBM Order Processing in Planyard?
A: FBM (Fulfillment by Merchant) Order Processing in Planyard facilitates merchants in managing their own packaging and shipping operations. Planyard supports this model, streamlining the process for businesses to fulfill their orders. You can seamlessly integrate your ShipStation account with Planyard to further enhance your FBM order processing.
Q: Does Planyard support multiple warehouses?
A: Yes, Planyard supports multiple warehouses. This feature helps businesses that operate in different locations or have various storage facilities to efficiently manage their inventory.
Q: How does Planyard customize suggestions for FBA & WFS replenishment?
A: Planyard provides customized suggestions for FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) & WFS (Walmart Fulfillment Services) replenishment. It takes into account your historical sales data and seasonal trends to give you the most accurate suggestions.
Q: How does Planyard handle bundled listings?
A: A bundle is a situation where a listing carries multiple products, each of which is also sold separately as individual items.
For instance, you might have an Amazon listing that sells a kit consisting of three products: a Phone, a Wall Charger, and a Car Charger. You also have separate listings that sell just a phone, and so on.
In Planyard, you would handle this by creating three separate products accordingly. Then you would map all four listings to their respective product or products. The bundle will be mapped to all three products, while the single items will be mapped to their respective product.
Please note that in Planyard, every SKU needs to be mapped to a product. A single item would be mapped to a single product. A SKU carrying multiple products would be mapped to all respective products.
The mapping process is best done in Inventory>SKUs>Show Sidebar.
Q: How does Planyard handle the creation of Product Packs?
A: A Pack is when you have a listing that carries a higher quantity of a single product, while there is another listing that sells the same product but with a quantity of just 1.
For example, you might have an Amazon listing that sells a pack consisting of three phone chargers. Then, you have a separate listing that carries just one phone charger.
To handle this in Planyard, you would create one product, let's call it "Phone Charger". Then you would map both listings to this one product. The single item listing would be mapped with a quantity of 1, and the pack listing would be mapped with a quantity of 3.
The mapping process is best done in Inventory>SKUs>Show Sidebar.
Q: How do I map my SKUs in Planyard?
A: Mapping SKUs to products can be done individually or in bulk in Planyard, depending on your needs. Also, it's important to note that inventory counts are held at the product level, not the SKU level.
Mapping SKUs to products in Planyard allows the system to generate accurate demand forecasts based on historical sales data. When your SKUs are correctly mapped to products, Planyard can analyze your sales trends on a product level, regardless of which marketplace or SKU was responsible for generating the demand. This information allows you to make informed purchasing decisions and ensure sufficient inventory for customer orders.
Q: How can I add inventory removed from FBA back to local stock in Planyard?
A: When you have an FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) removal order, your FBA inventory will get readjusted automatically in Planyard. However, to reflect the returned inventory in your local stock, you will need to manually adjust it.
To add inventory back to your local stock, you need to adjust the stock quantity for the specific product. This can be done by navigating to Inventory>Product in Planyard, then clicking on "Details" for the respective product. After that, proceed to the "Stock" tab and edit the stock quantity to reflect the new quantity. This step will ensure your local stock levels are up-to-date.
Q: What are the case rounding settings and "Enforce Case" in Planyard?
A: In Planyard's Forecasting module, case rounding settings allow you to preset your vendor items to be rounded by the vendor case when a purchase is recommended. This is helpful when your vendor sells items in specific quantities, also known as cases.
For instance, if the purchase suggestion is 44 pieces, and your vendor case is preset to 20 pieces, you have several options for rounding your number:
Up: Rounds 44 up to 60.
Down: Rounds 44 down to 40.
Nearest: Rounds 44 to the closest number divisible by the case size, in this instance, 40. However, if the suggested quantity were 51, it would round up to 60 because it's closer to 60 than 40.
None: Keeps the quantity at the suggested number, in this case, 44.
In the "Update Products Bulk" upload sheet, you can select your desired rounding setting by filling in the "Enforce Case" column with the appropriate selection.
Q: What's the difference between Products and Vendor Items in Planyard?
A: In Planyard, "Product" is the term used in-house for the items you are selling. It's your internal identifier for a certain item. On the other hand, "Vendor Item" is what your vendor calls the same item. It's the identifier your vendor uses for that product.
You can have multiple vendor items linked to a single product. This is particularly useful when you source the same product from more than one vendor. It's important to note that SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) are mapped to Products, not to vendor items.
Here's an illustrative example: Let's say you sell an Office Desk. You can purchase the same desk from two different vendors: ABC and XYZ. You then sell these desks across various platforms or within different bundles. In this case, you might name the product "Office Desk" internally. One vendor item could be "ABC-OD" and another "XYZ-OD", followed by your marketplace SKUs for each specific configuration.
If you are not purchasing a product from multiple vendors, you can technically have your product name the same as your vendor name for simplicity.
Q: How can I find and reactivate "inactive" items in Planyard?
A: To find "inactive" items in Planyard, you need to follow these steps:
In the SKUs page, open the drop-down menu at the top right corner of your screen.
Check off the "Active" line to add this column to your view.
Look for the "Active" column on the left side of your screen.
Open the filter in the "Active" column and select "All". This will display both active and inactive items.
Once you've located the inactive item, you can manually reactivate it by:
Opening the drop-down menu next to the item.
Clicking on "Activate".
This process will change the status of the item from "inactive" to "active". After an item has been reactivated, it will show up in your active inventory, and it can be included in forecasts, purchase orders, and other inventory management activities.
Q: How do I use Planyard to create purchase orders, receive goods, ship them out to FBA, and adjust my local inventory?
A: You can manage your inventory, from purchase orders to shipping, using Planyard by following these steps:
Step 1: Create a New Purchase Order
First, go to Purchasing > Purchase Orders and click on the "New Purchase Order" button.
Step 2: Enter Vendor Information
Fill in your vendor's name in the provided field and click "Create."
Step 3: Edit Purchase Order Details
Open your newly created purchase order and click "Edit." You can now start adding items along with their respective costs.
Step 4: Update PO Status
Change the status of the purchase order to "Working" and then click "Save."
Step 5: Export PO for Your Vendor
To generate a PDF of the purchase order that you can send to your vendor, click on the three-dot button located in the top right corner and select "Print."
Step 6: Receive Goods
Once you receive the ordered goods, open your purchase order, click "Edit," change the status to "Receiving," and click "Save."
Step 7: Enter Received Quantities
Click "Edit" again, and begin entering the received quantities. You can either use the "Receive All" button at the top of the item list to receive all items, use the "Receive All" button for individual line items, or enter a specific amount in the "Received Qty" column if you've only received part of the order.
Step 8: Save Received Quantities
Once you've entered all the received quantities, click "Save."
Step 9: Create FBA Shipment
To create an FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) shipment, navigate to Shipping > Replenish. Use the "Local stock" column filter to display only items in your local stock (those that have been received via the purchase order).
Step 10: Adjust Local Inventory
After you've shipped your goods, use the "Deduct from Inventory" button within your shipment to adjust your local inventory to reflect this.
Q: How does Nineyard's forecast adjust with seasonal sales fluctuations?
A: Nineyard adjusts its forecast with seasonal sales fluctuations by incorporating a concept known as "Seasonal Velocity." This measure is significant in stock forecasting as it takes into account fluctuations in sales volume that occur during specific seasons or times of the year. Here's a breakdown of the process:
1. Understanding Seasonal Velocity: Seasonal Velocity is a measure of the average daily sales volume during a particular season. It is calculated based on sales data from previous years during the same period, taking into account the sales volume spikes (hot seasons) when sales volumes for specific items increase significantly.
2. Importance of Seasonal Velocity: Regular sales velocity, usually calculated based on sales data from the last 30 to 90 days, may not accurately forecast sales during specific seasons. By incorporating Seasonal Velocity, which takes into account historical sales data from the same season in previous years, the forecast for future sales becomes more accurate.
3. How Nineyard Calculates Seasonal Velocity: Nineyard uses a sophisticated algorithm to calculate Seasonal Velocity. The process involves identifying the 'hot season' based on historical sales data, reviewing the sales data from the same season in the previous year(s), calculating an adjustment factor based on the review, and applying this adjustment factor to the regular sales velocity. For example, if the adjustment factor is 1.5 due to a 50% increase in sales during the hot season in the previous year, Nineyard will suggest a purchase quantity of 1500 items instead of the regular 1000, anticipating an increase in sales during the hot season.
Q: What is Velocity in Planyard, and how does it work?
A: Velocity in Planyard refers to the average number of units sold per day over a specific period based on in-stock days only. For example, if the 7-day velocity is 5, it means that over the last 7 days of being in stock, this item sold an average of 5 units per day. This metric is crucial in inventory management and forecasting, as it helps determine how much stock is needed to meet customer demand over a given period.
Q: What is the "Sales" column in Planyard?
A: The "Sales" column in Planyard reflects the total number of units sold during a particular time frame. This raw figure provides a broader view of product performance, similar to the sales data you would find in your Amazon Seller Central.
Q: Can I enter a wholesale order in Nineyard for products that I am not selling on Amazon but would like to sell to a customer?
A: Yes, Nineyard allows you to manually enter a wholesale order. To enter a manual sale order in Nineyard, navigate to Orders > Orders, then select Action and click on "Create Order". This allows you to record and track wholesale orders even if the products are not being sold on Amazon.