Licence: A licence upgrade is needed to use this feature. Please contact us for details and to enable this on your site.

EU IOSS: Bundles are not available to EU buyers when EU IOSS is enabled on the site due to the complexity of VAT/tax rules that exist outside of the UK and issues of compliance.

  • Introduction
  • Terminology
  • Types Of Bundling
  • Ways To Use Mixed Bundling
  • How Mixed Bundles Work (inc VAT/Tax)
  • Setup Instructions For Mixed Bundles 
  • Adding Assembly Instructions to appear on the Picking List
  • Order Management, Reporting & Integration

Introduction

Product bundling opens up new opportunities to promote and sell your products. 

Perfect for gift sets, starter kits, cross-sells and more. 


Other ideas that can work well with bundles...


> Add Klarna or Paypal Commerce to your site to help spread the payments too!

> Check Product Addons for extra upsell on product pages: read about addons



Terminology
We are introducing some new terminology to the system, which can be changed in Site Definitions if required.
  • 'BOM' means Bill of Material which is the way that product bundles are stored in the system.
    Change in Site Definitions > PRODUCT_BOM
  • 'Component' means a product which is added to the BOM.
    Change in Site Definitions > PRODUCT_BOM_COMPONENT
  • 'Assembled' is the name given to an assembled product made from the components
    Change in Site Definitions > PRODUCT_BOM_ASSEMBLED


Types of Bundling

We support two types of bundling: "Pure bundling" where you can only buy the bundle together, as well as "mixed bundling" where you can buy either the bundle or each separate item which is what this new feature supports.


Mixed Bundling - Uses this new feature 

Pure Bundling - uses existing system

Setup and sell bundled price deals made up from other products that are also available to buy on your site. 



The items that make up the bundle can only be purchased as part of it and not separately. 
Handles:
  • Product bundle built up from existing products/variations that can also be on sale on the site.
  • Pricing and special pricing is calculated from the addition of the price of each component part, with discounts able to be set against each component line to alter the overall price
  • Stock control based on availability of individual components to make up the bundle, if required
  • Integration into supported accounts systems at an individual product component level in Sage/Tradebox and currently at a product bundle level in Unleashed/Xero (subject to change)
  • Picking lists
  • Assembly instructions

Doesn't Handle:
  • Options set up at the product bundle level when integration is required


Licence
  • Requires a separate subscription 

Setup Instructions


See below.

Handles:
  • Product / options on the bundle item
  • Pricing and special pricing on the bundle item

Doesn't Handle:
  • Stock control of individual components
  • Integration into supported accounts systems unless the bundle is set up as an individual product
  • Picking lists
  • Assembly instructions

Licence
  • Included in standard ecommerce licences

Setup Instructions

This  simply requires you to set up a new product record (and options if required) which describe what is included in the bundle and has a price set for all the described items.



Ways To Use Mixed Bundles 

Here are some of the ways to use mixed bundles for your promotions and cross-selling:


How Mixed Bundles Work (including VAT calculations)


A mixed bundle is set up as a product in it's own right, for example a gift set, which is a combination of existing products/variations on the site. This is sold at a discounted overall price compared to buying them separately i.e. the final bundle price is lower than the addition of all the components.


You set up the bundle comprising other products/variations on the site. 


VAT Calculation

VAT is totalled up from each individual product component line's VATable rate, which means you can mix zero/exempt/standard products in the bundle and it will work out the VAT based on each line's VAT rate.


Note: 
In Product Manager on the product record > Pricing tab we show the aggregate VAT rate across all components that make up the bundle as a 'Custom VAT Rate' so if there are components with different VAT rates then this is what is displayed in that field for system purposes (e.g. this could be 18.25% if there is a mix of VAT and non-VAT items), however we split lines out in the rest of the system into their normal VAT rates. 



Example product bundle


Setup Instructions For Mixed Bundles

Product bundles use existing products already set up on the site

Site Settings


When using product variations, you can simplify the display of product options and variations on the product page so that some option fields are hidden where they need to be filled in on the variation record instead.


Tick to enable this in Site Settings > Ecommerce > Hide Product Option Fields Used In Variations  (This hides some option fields that need to be entered on variations instead)


This is how it will then look in the product > options tab:


Add the Bundle product 

  • In Product Manager > Add product > Enter product code, details and images
    (The product code is required for feeding into Google Ads)

  • Pricing
    The pricing is calculated from the addition of each component which will work out the combined price of all of them for you. Discounts can be set against each component line.

    Note: You don't need to enter stock levels or choose an option for stock control if you have the 'Sync stock' setting ticked on the BOM tab when adding components (see below).

Add the Components in the BOM tab - settings

  • Go to the BOM / Bundles tab* on the product record  
    *remember you can rename this in Site Definitions > PRODUCT_BOM
  • You can tick to synchronise:

    Stock - You can only sell the bundle product if there is sufficient stock to make it up from the components.
    If you are running stock control you will normally tick this. The stock level is calculated from:
    • the lowest level of availability across all components or a mix of components with options/variations
      (because you can only sell if all components are available) - this is the way you're most likely to have set up.

    • the sum of all options if only options/variations are set up and no components
      (because you can sell all of the different options)

      Note: When ticked the product bundle does not need any stock settings to be set on its product stock tab and the stock level is automatically calculated by the system.

  • Prices - If integration is used to a backend system this will need to be ticked for the prices to carry through. The bundle product price will be calculated from the prices of all component parts and this will update/overwrite the price in the Prices & Delivery tab when you Save the product.

    If not using integration, then you can enter a price on the product bundle itself to set a different price and leave this unticked.

    Cost & Weight - calculated from the data held against each component.
    Otherwise you can enter a different cost or weight on the bundle product and untick these as required.


  • Google Products: 'Is Bundle' flag - tick this if you are advertising this bundle on Google.

  • Now add the Components that make up the Bundle by entering the component's product code in the Component Code field as shown below.

    Notice the overall price is automatically calculated and you can enter a discount on each component at this point to vary the bundle price. Alternatively you can enter a  price in the pricing tab rather than use these prices and leave 'Sync Prices' unticked.
    Note on discount and price calculation:
    The discount field excludes VAT and component lines could be a mix of VAT and non-VATable items which you need to remember when working out the final price for the customer. 

  • Final step, in the main product tab, set the status to Special Offer for these prices to apply.
    Afterwards, make sure the product page on the public website displays the expected price.

  • Testing & Invoice / Order Layout
    Push through a test order and check the invoice / order layout and email notifications are fine.

Adding Assembly Instructions to appear on the Picking List

Add assembly instructions in the Stock tab and these will be displayed on Picking Lists which can be generated in Order Manager. Do not enter a bin number because it will use whatever is set on each component line. 

Order Management, Reporting & Integration

  1. The bundle will appear in Order Manager as a line with the component lines split out underneath.
  2. The invoice/order note and picking lists will show the component lines split out with a reference to the bundle.
  3. When the order is transmitted into 3rd parties (i.e. Tradebox or Unleashed) each individual component line will be shown with the product bundle name prefixed in front of them to act as a reference. This maintains stock control and valuation at the component level rather than sending through a product bundle line.
  4. When the order is transmitted via Unleashed, it will only currently allow you to send products with the same VAT rate.
  5. Reports within REC+ will use the product bundle so that you can see how many bundles were sold.