The Item Attribute Master in Gofrugal HQ is a feature designed to enhance inventory management by allowing businesses to organize and classify items with greater precision. This functionality enables users to create, define, and manage multiple attributes for their items, improving operational efficiency, reporting, and customer satisfaction.

Key features of the Item Attribute Master  

• Attribute customization
  Users can define specific attributes for items, such as size, color, brand, material, and more. These attributes make it easier to group and categorize items for streamlined inventory tracking.

• Matrix management
  With attributes in place, businesses can create item matrices that combine multiple attributes into one. For example, a clothing retailer can manage items by size (S, M, L) and color (red, blue, green) in a matrix format for easy selection and stock updates.

• Improved search and reporting
  The Item Attribute Master simplifies searching and filtering items based on attributes. For example, businesses can generate reports to track stock availability for a specific brand, size, or material.

• Dynamic stock management
  By categorizing items with attributes, businesses can efficiently manage stock, preventing overstocking or understocking of specific variants. This is particularly useful for industries like retail, footwear, apparel, and FMCG.

Benefits  

• Enhanced operational efficiency
  Better classification leads to faster billing, stock checks, and inventory updates.

• Improved customer experience
  With detailed attribute classification, staff can quickly find and recommend items to customers, reducing wait times.

• Accurate analytics
  Attribute-level reporting provides insights into best-selling product variants, allowing businesses to make informed decisions about restocking and promotions.

• Scalability
  The attribute system supports businesses as they expand their product lines, ensuring a scalable inventory management solution.

 What is item hierarchy? 

The item hierarchy, or the category tree structure, is used to set up the categorization of the items for structural designing, reporting, as well as for the website or mobile apps category structure.

See the below structure & description for reference:

In this structure, "Department" represents the highest or Parent Level Category. Here, we will list values such as "Beverage," "Bakery," "Snacks," etc.

The "Category" is the second level of the item hierarchy and falls under the "Department." For example, categories under "Beverage" might include "Water," "Energy Drink," and "Health Drink."

The "Sub Category" is the third level of the item hierarchy and is a child of the "Category." For instance, sub-categories under "Water" could include "Packaged Water," "Spring Water," and "Flavored Water."

Finally, "Brand" is the last level category within the item hierarchy.

Note: It is important to maintain this structure, as it is highly relevant for any ecommerce website or mobile application development. We recommend using this same structure for our OrderEasy App.

 Benefits 

This structure will standardize the category architecture and make it future ready so you can integrate with any ecommerce platform or mobile development company and even use our OrderEasy App.

 How to create the Item Attribute/Hierarchy in HQ 

1. Go to MDM > Attribute Master Management > Item Attribute Master.

2. Click Add to add a new category.

3. Enter the following details to create a Major Category or an Attribute:

• Type - Select Category to create a category or select Attribute to create attributes.

• Attribute Name - This will be used for setting the category name.

• Note: The Category's or Attribute (Name)'s starting letter must be a character (a-z or A-Z).

• Allow Multiple List - This means whether multiple lists can be created in case of attributes.

• Attribute Data Type - Select String, Numeric, or Date from the list as per your need.

• Status - Select Active or Inactive as needed.

• Attribute Type - Select Outlet or HQ as applicable from the list.

• Allow Value Entry In - Select HQ or Outlet as per needed.

• Value Mandatory - Select Yes or No as needed.

• Barcode Generation - Select Auto or Manual as needed.

• Max Barcode Length - Enter the length as you wish.

• List Order - Enter the order as you need.

• Enable Hierarchy - Select Yes or No as needed. If Yes is selected, the category tree structure will be created.

• Parent Attribute - Set the parent category name if you wish to create the category tree structure.

• Applies for Offer - Select Yes or No as needed.

• Applies for Loyalty - Select Yes or No as needed.

• Applied for Indent - Select Yes or No as needed.

• Allow Coupon - Select Yes or No as needed.

• Barcode Applies - Select Yes or No as needed.

• Major Category - Select Yes or No as needed.

4. Click Save to create the category.

 How to modify an existing category or attribute from HQ 

1. Click the Edit button to edit an existing category.

2. Make the required adjustments and then click Update to refresh the category.

Note: Item Hierarchy or the Category Tree structure is the most important part while implementing our HQ solutions. If we do it in the wrong way, it will create issues in the future. If the structure is wrongly created and live entries are done in the database, we cannot change the structure in the future. The only way is to do a re-implementation. So before going live, check the structure and then proceed.

 How to add value to the newly created attribute 

1. Navigate to MDM > Attribute Master Management > Item Attribute Master.

2. Click + in the New Attribute List Hyperlink column and open it.

3. Enter the details below and click Save.

• Value: This is the value or the sub category name.

• Applicable Online: Set it as Yes if you want this category to be displayed in any of our integrations.

• Visibility: Set it as Yes to activate or view the category in Item Master.

• Applicable to Mobile Devices: Set it as Yes or No based on your preference.

• Choose Parent: Select the Parent item for the sub category if you want to activate the Item Hierarchy Level feature or the category tree structure feature.

Note: You can see all the sub categories list on this page as well.

4. Click on PRODUCT TYPE under Attribute Name to see the newly inserted category details.

5. Click on the List Value/Category Name to view or modify the details.

Note: This is applicable for all the values under the List Value column.

 How to sort or locate any value in the list 

1. Click on the dropdown icon under List Value to filter the report.

2. Choose either "Asc" (Ascending), "None," or "Desc" (Descending) to sort as per your need.

3. Choose the Filter option as per your need. Here, "contains" is selected to find the value containing the keyword.

4. Enter the desired value and click Apply.

You will now be able to view the filtered value displayed on the screen.

 How to add or insert new values in sub categories 

1. Go to Support > Migration > Bulk Category Insert.

2. Select the desired Category from the list.

3. Under the new List Value or the category name, set Applies Online to Yes, the Applicable to mobile device to Yes. Select the Parent name from the lust, and set Visibility to Yes.

4. Click Save to complete the process.

 Conclusion 

The item hierarchy or category tree structure is a must-have feature for the online ordering apps as well as for the ecommerce portals.

In summary, the Item Attribute Master in Gofrugal HQ empowers businesses to handle complex inventories with ease and precision, ensuring a more efficient workflow and a better customer experience.