Product Types, Bundles & Aliases

A Product in Endless represents a distinct item identity. Its SKU identifies it within the Company, while its Product Type describes how that item can relate to inventory and to other Products.

Most Products are Finished Goods. Parts, Bundles, Aliases, and Non-Inventory items describe more specific roles in the catalog.

The Mental Model

Product Type	What it represents
Finished Good	A standard finished product. It may be stocked directly or made from Parts. This is the default Product Type.
Part	A raw material, ingredient, packaging item, or other component used by another Product.
Bundle	A sellable SKU made up of multiple Finished Goods or Parts.
Alias	An alternate commercial SKU for an existing Finished Good or Part.
Non-Inventory	A service, fee, or other item that does not represent tracked inventory.

The Product Type is separate from the unit of measure. A Finished Good, for example, may use Each, Case, Carton, or another unit of measure.

Product Composition

Composition connects one Product to the Products needed to represent, make, or fulfill it. Each relationship identifies a component and the quantity required for one unit of the parent Product.

The supported relationships are:

Parent Product Type	Allowed component Product Types
Alias	Finished Good or Part
Bundle	Finished Good or Part
Finished Good	Part
Part	None
Non-Inventory	None

A Bundle cannot contain another Bundle, and a Part cannot contain other Products.

The records connected by composition remain distinct Products. Each keeps its own SKU, name, pricing, attributes, external identifiers, and inventory record. Composition does not copy or synchronize those fields, and it does not physically assemble or move inventory.

Aliases

An Alias represents a Product that is known by another SKU in a particular commercial context. Common examples include retailer-specific SKUs, customer-specific item numbers, marketplace identifiers, or a legacy SKU that must remain recognizable on incoming Orders.

The Alias preserves that alternate identity while its composition identifies the physical Product it represents.

For example:

Retailer SKU: RETAILER-COFFEE-12OZ (Alias)
Represents:   COFFEE-12OZ (Finished Good)
Quantity:     1

An Order can retain RETAILER-COFFEE-12OZ as the item the customer requested, while fulfillment can use COFFEE-12OZ as the physical item to allocate and ship.

Most Aliases should contain exactly one Finished Good or Part at quantity 1. If a SKU represents several Products or multiple units, it is normally a Bundle rather than an Alias.

Defining an Alias

An Alias requires two Product records and a relationship between them:

1. The underlying Finished Good or Part represents the physical item.
2. A separate Product with the alternate SKU is classified as an Alias.
3. The Alias composition maps the alternate SKU to the underlying Product, normally at quantity 1.

Creating the Alias does not replace or rename the underlying Product. Both SKUs remain valid, distinct catalog identities.

Bundles

A Bundle represents one sellable SKU whose fulfillment depends on a defined group of Finished Goods or Parts. Each component quantity describes what is required for one Bundle.

For example:

COFFEE-GIFT-SET (Bundle)
  2 × COFFEE-12OZ (Finished Good)
  1 × COFFEE-MUG (Finished Good)

The Bundle and its components remain separate Products. The Bundle may have its own pricing, content, identifiers, and direct inventory in addition to the inventory available through its components.

Defining a Bundle

A Bundle is defined by creating the Bundle Product and then recording its complete component list. Every component must already exist as a Finished Good or Part, and every quantity must be greater than zero.

Composition should describe the complete contents of one Bundle. If the physical contents change, the composition must be updated so inventory availability and fulfillment requirements remain accurate.

Inventory Behavior

Aliases, Bundles, and Finished Goods with composition can have two sources of availability:

• Direct inventory: units stocked under the parent SKU itself.
• Available to Make: units that can be represented or assembled from available component inventory.

For each component, Endless divides its available quantity by the quantity required for one parent unit. The component that supports the fewest complete parent units determines Available to Make.

Available to Make = the lowest whole number of
component availability ÷ component quantity required

In the gift set example, 10 bags of coffee and 8 mugs can support 5 complete Bundles because each Bundle requires two bags of coffee.

Changing component inventory or composition causes the parent's Available to Make quantity to be recalculated. It does not convert component stock into physical stock under the parent SKU.

See Inventory Overview for how Available to Make contributes to Available to Sell.

Fulfillment Behavior

Products with components can be decomposed during fulfillment. Decomposition tells the Fulfillment Order to allocate and ship the component Products instead of the parent SKU.

For example, if a Fulfillment Order contains three COFFEE-GIFT-SET Bundles, decomposition produces the following component requirements:

6 × COFFEE-12OZ
3 × COFFEE-MUG

The Sales Order still records three COFFEE-GIFT-SET items because that is what the customer ordered. Decomposition changes how those items are fulfilled; it does not rewrite the original demand.

A composed Product can be decomposed directly while its Fulfillment Order is in Draft. This allows someone processing the Order to choose between using direct inventory under the parent SKU and using its components. Before allocation, a decomposed item can also be returned to the original parent SKU.

This manual choice does not require a Fulfillment Rule. A Fulfillment Rule is an optional way to automate the same decision during allocation. Its decomposition strategy determines when Endless switches from the ordered SKU to its components:

Decomposition strategy	Behavior
Do not auto-decompose	Allocate and fulfill the ordered SKU directly. Its components are not substituted automatically.
Find available inventory	Use direct inventory when the ordered SKU has enough stock. Otherwise, decompose only when its components can cover the required quantity.
Always decompose unless in stock	Use direct inventory when it is sufficient. Otherwise, decompose into components even when component stock is insufficient.

This distinction is especially important for Aliases. If an Alias never holds physical inventory under its own SKU, the Fulfillment Order must use its mapped Product. A user can choose to decompose the Alias directly, or a Fulfillment Rule can automate decomposition. Creating the Alias relationship alone does not force either behavior.

Explaining a Specific Alias or Bundle

To explain the behavior of a composed Product, check these records in order:

1. Identify the parent Product Type and its direct inventory at the relevant building.
2. Review every active component and the quantity required per parent unit.
3. Confirm that the parent and component Product Types form a supported relationship.
4. Calculate which component limits Available to Make.
5. Check whether the Fulfillment Order uses the parent SKU directly or has been decomposed into component lines.
6. If decomposition was expected to happen automatically, identify the Fulfillment Rule and its decomposition strategy.

Do not infer that an Alias shares all data with its underlying Product, that a Bundle exists physically because its components are available, or that composition will always be used during fulfillment. Those outcomes depend on the distinct Product records, inventory, and whether decomposition is selected directly or automated.

Importing Composition

Composition can also be managed in bulk. The component import treats the rows supplied for a parent SKU as its complete component definition rather than appending them to the existing definition.

See Importing & Exporting Product Relationships for the CSV format and replacement rules.