Configuration: Inventory Scarcity Indicators

The Inventory Scarcity Indicators feature requires additional configuration that enables particular products to display inventory scarcity at specific thresholds. This guide will review how to set up those new global and product-specific settings.

Prerequisite Steps

The following prerequisite steps must be completed in preparation for enabling the Inventory Scarcity Indicators.

• Install the following plugins:

  • Nop.Plugin.Aspenware.DynamicPricing

  • Nop.Unity.Plugins.DynamicPricing

  • Nop.Plugin.Aspenware.Commerce

• Configure the Styling for the Inventory Scarcity Indicators by going to Aspenware Commerce > Aspenware Styling

  • Toggle on Use POS Inventory on Pricing Calendar Tab.

    Open

    

  • Colors for the low inventory date indication are customizable. See below for instructions on setting the color choice.
    
    

    Open

    

  • Low Inventory color indicator (this will also change the color on the legend for low inventory indication)

    • Choose Under Threshold Settings

    • Update Date Background Color with the HEX color choice. Note that this color is used for the Advanced Dynamic Pricing Calendar and, if changed here, will be reflected across any calendars using the Under Threshold Date Background color.

    • Be careful with your color choices as certain combinations are difficult to read.

  • Date Selected indication color is based on the primary color in the theme.

  • Sold Out dates will use the same treatment that is always used on the inline calendar.

  • Custom inventory scarcity coloring is not customizable per calendar template so that guests experience inventory urgency in a consistent way across the ecommerce experience.
    
    

     

• Ensure desired products are set up with inventory in both Aspenware and the POS.

• Update the language string unity.dynamicpricing.inventoryremaining from the default value ‘{CountRemaining} on this date’, if desired. This will enable the badge messaging to inform guests how many of an item are left for a particular date. Please note that this language string functionality is limited to dynamically priced products.

Detailed Setup Guide

1. Create Calendar Templates

2. Edit Calendar Templates

3. Assign/Change/Remove Calendar Template assignment for the desired product(s). Use the Calendar Display tab within the Dynamic Pricing section from the product editor area. (detailed steps below)

4. Set Up Inline Calendar on the PDP

5. Audit Calendar Template Assignments

1. Create Global Calendar Templates

To create the new global calendar template, go to Aspenware Commerce > Aspenware Styling > Calendar Templates > Create New Template.

• Configure the following settings:

  • Name: Name must be unique and allows for identification of the calendar template when assigning the template to products.

  • Admin Description: The admin description is only visible to admins and displays when assigning the template to products in the product editor. The description cannot exceed 120 characters and will show alongside the name in admin to make assigning products to calendar templates easier.

  • User Description: This description will be displayed above the calendar (see example above) for products assigned to this calendar template. It is optional to add calendar display text. This text cannot contain HTML and cannot exceed 120 characters.

  • Display Inventory Urgency: Setting to define whether or not to display inventory urgency on the product’s calendars. This inventory urgency color coding will appear on the large pricing calendar if configured and also on the calendar on the product detail page if configured. It will not appear on the standard drop-down calendar or the radio button calendar at this point.

  • Threshold: If Display Inventory Urgency is true for a calendar template, an admin can also optionally define a specific threshold number at which to trigger the shading of the date in the calendar based on low inventory. This threshold will be used for all products assigned to this calendar template.

  • Legend Label: Define an under-threshold legend text that is specific to the calendar template before saving a new calendar template not to exceed 20 characters. (See “LIMITED” above).

• Click Save.

2. Edit Global Calendar Templates

Calendar templates may be edited but keep in mind that changes to the calendar template will immediately affect all products assigned to that calendar template. If the desire is to make a change that only applies to a single product rather than all assigned products with that template, the best course of action is to create a new template or find an existing template with the desired settings, and update the single product to be assigned to the updated calendar template. If you aren’t sure how changes to the calendar template will cascade to products, each template has a message about the assigned templates in the edit modal.

Go to Aspenware Commerce > Aspenware Styling > Calendar Templates and click the Edit icon next to the template you wish to edit and edit the items you wish to update.

Deleting calendar templates is only possible if no active (published) products are assigned. when deleting a calendar template with assigned products, a message displays to the admin stating, “Cannot delete [Name of calendar template] due to active products being assigned.”

3. Assign Calendar Template to Desired Product

A calendar template can be assigned to a product and must be assigned to a product for the inventory availability scarcity functionality to work. A product can have only one calendar template assigned, but a calendar template can have multiple products assigned to it. If a product already has a calendar template assigned, the assigned template can be changed or removed.

To assign or edit the assignment for a product:

• Go to Catalog > Products > Edit Product > Dynamic Pricing > Display Calendar
  Note that the Calendar Display tab is within the Dynamic Pricing section on the Edit Product page.
  
  

• Select Assign or Manage Calendar Templates
  
  

   

Once the template is assigned, it will appear in the Calendar Display section of the Product Editor.

4. Set Up Inline Calendar on the PDP

Inventory Scarcity Indicators will now appear on inventoried products that are set up with an Inline Calendar and are setup using the steps above.

To update the calendar display to show as an Inline Calendar, go to Catalog > Products > Edit Product > Product attributes. Find the ‘Start Date' attribute and select Edit. From the editor screen, add ‘[Inline Calendar]’ as a value in the Text Prompt field and Save.

5. Audit Calendar Template Assignments

Admins may audit the Calendar Template assignments across products from the global calendar template admin area.

To see all assignments, go to Aspenware Commerce > Aspenware Styling > Assignments.