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Products and kits
Products come from Shopify. The warehouse details that Shopify does not hold, such as weight, box dimensions, carton quantities and hazmat, are set in Lodsted and change how waves, replenishment and the pack station behave.
Where products come from
Lodsted reads your Shopify products during sync, picks up a new product the moment it is created in Shopify, and fetches a variant on demand the first time an order line names one it has not seen. The SKU is the key everywhere, matched without regard to case. Products are never deleted.
The product sync also brings over each product's shipping weight from Shopify. Keep it accurate there: it is what Shopify Shipping rates a label from and what the Pack page pre-fills. Dimensions are not synced yet: Shopify does not expose package dimensions to apps, so for now they are entered in Lodsted; a future version will sync them once Shopify makes them available. Fields Shopify does not hold at all (group quantity, master carton, hazmat, shippable) are set in Lodsted.
A Shopify variant with a blank SKU is known to Lodsted by its variant id (a long number) instead, on orders, pick lists and the Inventory page alike. Everything works; it is just harder to read on paper. Give physical variants a SKU in Shopify when you can, before the first orders arrive, since a SKU added later creates a second product.
Editing a product
Clicking a SKU on the Inventory page opens the SKU details modal with a one-line edit strip. The same fields (except description, cost and weight) are also on the Replenishment page's edit button. Three of them are owned by Shopify and re-set on every product sync: weight, Ship and Act. Edit those in Shopify.
| Field | Meaning | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| SKU | The identifier shared with Shopify. | Everything. Changing it here does not change Shopify. |
| Description | Product name. | Pick lists, packing slips, search. |
| Group | A product group you define (brand, category). | Filtering on Inventory and Replenishment; a column on both. |
| Wt | Weight in pounds of one unit. Synced from the product's shipping weight in Shopify. | Shopify Shipping labels are rated from it; the in-frame Pack page pre-fills the packed weight from the line weights. Wave definitions can select orders under 1 lb. The packing slip header prints the weight. |
| Cost | Current unit cost. | Default cost for stock added by adjustment; updated automatically when a PO line is created for the SKU. Inventory value on the Inventory page. |
| L, W, H | Dimensions in inches of one unit, entered in Lodsted for now (Shopify does not expose them; a future version will sync them). Saved sorted so L ≥ W ≥ H. | Only H is used today: the pack station's First Class auto-promotion adds up quantity × height across the order and requires the total under half an inch. L and W are stored and shown for reference. Not used for wave size, and not sent with label requests (those use the box preset or the box size you type). |
| GRP | Group quantity: the inner-pack or move multiple. | Auto-moves and replenishment round quantities up to it. |
| MCQ | Master carton quantity: the case pack. | Auto-moves try to move whole cartons when the pick bin's Max allows (up to 30% over). Recommended Max on the Replenishment page is rounded to it. |
| Haz | Hazardous materials. | HAZMAT on the packing slip and the pack screen; USPS labels get the hazardous-materials handling flag. |
| Ship | Shippable. Set by Shopify: it follows the product's "This is a physical product" box, and every product sync sets it again, so a change made here is undone at the next sync. Change it in Shopify. | Non-shippable lines (digital goods, services, gift cards, fees) are not allocated, not on pick lists, not deducted, not pushed to Shopify, and never block an order from being "fully shipped". Shown with a NOSHIP badge. A sync that flips a product sends an alert email. |
| Act | Active. Also set by the sync: a shippable product is active, a non-shippable one inactive. | Inactive SKUs are struck through on the Inventory page. |
Weight
The weight is the shipping weight of one sellable unit, in pounds (decimals are fine: a sleeve of three balls is
0.31), taken from the product in Shopify. It matters most for Shopify Shipping labels: the Pack page
sums the line weights to pre-fill the packed weight, and the label is rated from what is sent, so a missing or
wrong weight means a wrong rate or a label that cannot be bought. The pack station with a scale reads the live
weight instead. Wave definitions can also pick light orders for envelope service. If a product has no weight,
the Pack page asks you to type it.
Dimensions
Where they are used today, in full: the pack station's First Class promotion reads the product height (quantity × height, summed over the order, must be under half an inch for a light USPS Standard parcel to be bought as a First Class envelope). Nothing else reads length, width or height: label requests, Endicia and Shopify Shipping alike, use the box preset or the box size typed at the bench, not the product. So enter height on flat products that could ship in an envelope (gloves, towels, tees) and treat L and W as reference. Shopify does not expose package dimensions to apps yet; when it does, a future version will sync them and this section will change.
Dimensions do not change how many orders go on a wave; that is the cart size on the wave definition, and it never changes on its own. If bulky items need a smaller cart, give them their own definition (for example a rule on their SKUs or product group) with a smaller cart size.
The stacked height is shown on the pack screen next to the order. A blank height counts as zero, which lets the promotion fire; put a real height on anything that is not flat so it does not.
Group quantity and master carton
These describe how the product is packed on the bulk shelf and make moves practical for the person carrying them.
- GRP (group qty): the smallest unit you move. A dozen-ball box that comes 6 to an inner pack has GRP 6.
- MCQ (master carton): the case. 4 inner packs to a case gives MCQ 24.
When a wave needs 10 units brought forward and the pick bin has room, the auto-move asks for 24 (one carton). If the bin's Max is 20, a carton would overfill it by more than 30%, so the move asks for 12 (two groups). Blank, 0 or 1 means exact quantities.
Stock tracking in Shopify
Lodsted can only send a count to Shopify for products whose inventory Shopify tracks. The review page lists every SKU with whether it is physical, whether Shopify tracks it, and what Lodsted has on hand. The default filter shows only physical products not yet tracked. Select the ones to switch on and click the button; the page warns how many of them have zero on hand, because those will show as sold out the moment tracking starts. Gift cards and services cannot be tracked and are listed for information. Mark the review done when finished; the Setup checklist records it.
Until a product is tracked the Inventory page shows a small hint badge next to its SKU.
Kits
A kit is a Shopify SKU that is really a set of other SKUs shipped together: a "starter set" of a glove, a dozen balls and tees. Define it once and every order for the kit SKU is expanded into its components when it is downloaded. The components are what get allocated, printed on the pick list and deducted; the packing slip lists them.
- Type the Parent SKU (the kit as sold in Shopify).
- Add one row per Component SKU with the quantity per kit.
- Save kit. Existing kits are listed below with Edit and Delete.
The kit parent's own quantity is computed, not received: it is the smallest of (component available ÷ quantity
per kit) across the components, recalculated during sync, and held at the virtual location 01KIT. Receive and
count the components, never the parent. Deleting a kit stops future expansion; orders already downloaded keep their
component lines.