Product fields reference
Every field on a product, what it does, and which ones are required.
A look-up for every field on a product. For the steps to actually create one, see Adding products.
General fields
Product type
Stock for anything you track inventory on. No stock for services, fees and subscriptions. Configurable for a parent product with variants.
Yes
SKU
Your unique product code. Use the supplier's, or a random 6–7 digit number.
Yes
Name
Short title of the product.
Yes
Product group
One group per product. Drives reporting and campaigns.
Yes
Brand
One brand per product. Drives reporting.
Yes
Serial number controlled
Whether the product is tracked by serial number — either at both receiving and sale (validated), or at sale only (not validated).
Yes
Recommended retail price
The default sales price. Price lists and campaigns take priority over it.
Yes
Agreed purchase price
The default purchase price, used when no supplier-specific price is set for this product.
No
Calculation factor
Used for several things, including deriving cost price when no purchase price exists. Use 1.25 for 25% VAT at zero margin.
Yes
Choosing a SKU. Use only digits and uppercase A–Z. Avoid underscores, dashes, slashes and other special characters — they cause trouble downstream in scanning, import and integrations.
EAN and barcodes
A product can carry an unlimited number of EAN/GTIN barcodes. Add every barcode you want to be scannable, and any of them will resolve the product in any product-lookup field across the clients.
EAN (European Article Number) is the 13-digit code on most products sold in Europe. It is being superseded by GTIN (Global Trade Identification Number). GTIN-13 is the same thing as EAN-13; GTIN-12 (UPC) is used for most US products.
Description fields
Four description fields, each with a different audience.
Short description
Staff and integrations
The brief version. Exists so e-commerce and PIM systems have both a short and a long field to map to.
Description
Staff and integrations
The full version. Most stores use one of the two, not both.
Internal info
Staff only
Pops up for the user when the product is added to a sale. Use it for precautions to mention, or internal selling notes.
External info
The customer
Same trigger as internal info, but printed on the receipt or offer.
Advanced — product limitations
Can be sold
Blocks selling, either outright or from a set date.
Set expired date
Marks the product expired from a date. Informational only — it blocks neither selling nor purchasing.
Refund not allowed
Blocks refunds. Typical for heavily discounted end-of-line stock the customer was told is final sale, or for bespoke items.
Price change not allowed
Stops the user adjusting the price during a sale.
Purchase not allowed
Blocks purchasing the product.
Delivery
Blocks delivery, either outright or from a set date. Useful for a launch embargo where the manufacturer forbids handover before a date.
Advanced — other
Commission
A percentage commission. Used by features such as Arts, for paying a supplier based on sales.
Visibility
Set to Not visible to hide the product from search. Entering the exact SKU still opens it.
Limit to specific stores
By default every store sees every product. Naming stores here restricts it to them — mainly for chains where some stores carry their own range.
Available for webshop
Excludes the product from synchronisation with the e-commerce store.
Exclude from statistics
Keeps the product out of sales statistics. Typical for gift cards.
Warranty conditions
Selects a pre-defined warranty text, maintained under Products > Warranty conditions. Printed on the customer's receipt.
Pieces
Sets how many pieces the product consists of.
Customer requirements
Requirements that must be met before the product can be sold. You can require a basic customer record (a name), and any of email, mobile number or delivery address.
Age limit can be set to a number such as 18. This prompts the user to verify the customer's age — Flow Retail performs no age verification itself. The check is the operator's, not the system's.
Accounting
An accounting number can be set per product, for finance and accounting purposes.
Media
Product images can be uploaded, or referenced from an external URL held in a PIM, DAM or e-commerce system. See Product images.
Properties
Any pre-defined property can be attached to the product. Properties are also what make configurable products possible — see Properties.
Warehouse
Warehouse-specific values, set per warehouse rather than per product.
Max/Min
Minimum and maximum stock levels, used to drive purchase ordering — including automatic purchase order suggestions.
How it works. Minimum 10, maximum 50:
20
Nothing. 20 is above the minimum of 10.
5
Suggests 45, bringing stock up to the maximum of 50.
Location
A location value per warehouse. The scheme is yours to choose, but a simple and durable one is XX-YY-ZZ — row, section within the row, and floor.
Suppliers
The purchase price per supplier, usually just one, with an optional supplier SKU. These are the values used when creating purchase orders.
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