Stok.ly integrates with a variety of 3rd party eCommerce sites including Magento, eBay, Amazon, Shopify, WooCommerce and more.

Each 3rd Party eComm site has its own unique architecture and method for handling product/inventory, listings, sales etc.

To be flexible enough to deal with many different requirements from 3rd party sites, Stok.ly has created a unique method of storing product data, linking this data to your eCommerce sites and managing a real time two way data flow.

This document is designed to provide an overview of the Stok.ly eCommerce onboarding process that you will work through with your account manager.

Product Data
  1. What product data do you display on your product pages?
  2. What product data do you wish to push from Stok.ly to your eCommerce sites?
  3. How does product data differ between your eCommerce sites? E.g. what product information do you show on an eBay product page vs. a website page?

It may be helpful to think of Stok.ly as a hub, with each of your eCommerce channels as a spoke.

We store all product data in the hub and push specific data out through each spoke.

If your data isn’t in Stok.ly, we cant push it out to display on your eCommerce stores.

Managing product data via the CSV importer will save time when you wish to list or edit products

It is very important to spend time with your Account Manager getting used to the different CSV templates and the importer.

Item Types

Item Types in Stok.ly are similar to categories.

Item types are used in the Stok.ly back office to help you filter for and find products.

Item Types are used extensively in reporting.

We map Item Types from Stok.ly to Categories in eBay and Item Types in Magento and other eCommerce sites.

Item Types can have a 1:Many relationship with categories on 3rd party eCommerce sites.

e.g. If we create an Item Type of TRAINERS in Stok.ly, we could map TRAINERS to:

  1. Mens Trainers
  2. Ladies Trainers
  3. Kids Trainers.

Creating broad Item Types in Stok.ly makes it easier to list your ITEMS across different eCommerce channels.

Broad Item Types are more flexible and easier to work with.

It's important to make sure you don't have a Many:1 relationship from Stok.ly to your eCommerce platforms, ie. three Stok.ly Item Types mapping to one eBay category, as this will mean that Store Scan won't be able to pull your eBay data through correctly.

Tip:

Lets get you up an trading on Stok.ly as quickly as possible!

Start with broad Item Types e.g.  “Shirts” or “Men’s Shirts” rather than “Men’s linen shirts” or “Men’s White Shirts.”

We can always help you add depth and granularity to your Item Types if you require more detailed reporting data.

Your account manager is always on hand to help you get the most out of Stok.ly.

Item Attributes

Item Attributes in Stok.ly hold information that you wish to push to your eCommerce sites.

Item Attributes are assigned to Item Types.

E.g. Item Type of JEANS may have Item Attributes “Waist Size” and “Leg Length”

If you wish to show the “waist size” on a website page or eBay listing, then we will need an Item Attribute in Stok.ly called “waist size.”

Item Attributes can also manage the following on eComm channels (to name a few):

  • Shipping rates
  • Delivery options
  • VAT
  • Meta Data

We also use Item Attributes to populate eBay Item Specifics and Custom Specifics.

Variable Items

Variable Items in Stok.ly are the same as Item Variations in eBay.

Variable Items are the Parent product with child products assigned to them are Simple Items.

               E.g. A Variable Item might be a “Jacket” that comes in different “Sizes” and “Colours.”

               “Size” and “Colour” are Item Attributes.

Creating the Variable Item in Stok.ly creates a product page on an eCommerce site with drop downs for your customers to select “size” and “colour”.

Your account manager will look at examples of Variable Items with you.

Important questions:

  1. Do you have Variable Items or Simple Items?
  2. If you have Variable Items, what drop downs do you require on eComm product pages.

We need to create the correct Item Attributes and the correct Variable Items composed of Variable Attributes which form the drop downs on a web page.

Tip:

Look at your existing website or eBay product pages with your account manager to understand what Item Attributes you will need.

Review eBay product pages to identify Item Attributes required to populate Item Specifics.

Looking at your product pages will help you identify how to best set up Variable Items and which Variable Attributes to assign the Variable Items.

Settings: 3rd Party eCommerce Sites

For each eCommerce site, what options do you have for:

  1. Delivery
  2. Shipping costs
  3. Tax / VAT

How do you want to manage inventory on each eCommerce site:

  1. No inventory management
  2. Manage inventory
  3. Fallback inventory
Pick, Pack and Dispatch

Once your products are set up in Stok.ly and we have tested sales orders are  reaching Stok.ly correctly, the next stage is to work through the processing of sales orders.

Your account manager will work with you to set up Automatic Fulfilment Rules.

These Fulfilment Rules automate the allocation of Sales Orders to couriers and create Goods Out Notes for picking and packing your items ready for dispatch.