If we work in Odoo with the modules Purchasing, Sales, eCommerce, Warehouse or Rental, we have to deal with the configuration of products. The products form the basis for mapping our processes in these modules. In the process, a separate object must be created in Odoo for each product. Odoo offers us numerous options for this, which make it much easier for us to work with products in the subsequent processes.
We have already touched on the topic of product definition in our blog posts on the Rental Module and the Sales Module. In today's blog, we will deal with the configuration of products in detail and guide you through the individual configuration options.
We can access the products in Odoo in many different ways. In all of the modules mentioned above, we find the menu item for the overview of our products. Using the Sales module as an example, we navigate from the Odoo dashboard to Sales --> Products --> Products.
If we open a product, we go directly to the general settings. Besides entering a product name, we can upload a picture of the product in Odoo. Then we define whether this product can be sold, purchased, rented and/or booked as expenses. This helps us within each module primarily for clarity. For example, if we open the product overview in the Purchasing module, only the products that can also be purchased are displayed by default filter. If we remove this default filter, all our products will be displayed, of course.
In the next step, we define the product type, which is the most important setting for the rest of the process. Odoo distinguishes between three product types, service, consumable and storable product. Each product type is characterized by partly different configuration options and automatisms in the further process.
Service products are services that are not physically present, can be linked to the project management module and can, for example, generate new projects or project tasks after the sale. Consumables are physical products that are not to be recorded in Odoo in exact quantities, but generate a goods delivery after the sale. The goods delivery is possible at any time. Products that can be stored are physical products that are to be recorded in Odoo using warehouse management and trigger both a warehouse movement and a goods issue after the sale. In this case, the goods delivery is only possible if the product has a stock level.
Next, we specify a product category. We can customize the categorization and it is not only used for easier filtering of our products, but it also offers the possibility that we can make settings within a category that apply to all products within that category.
Entering sales price and taxes will result in this information being automatically applied to the quote later when the product is selected. In a Multi Company Environment , we can additionally define which company our product is assigned to. The product is then only available in this company. Optionally, we can also manage our products in different units of measure.
The next optional, but nevertheless helpful configuration can be found in the Product Variants tab. If we manage a product with different characteristics and do not want to create individual products in Odoo, we use the product variants. To do this, we define attributes and the corresponding values for a product. In the example of the desk, we have defined the attribute color with the values black and white, among others.
The selection of the product or the product variant in the offer is made by default from a list. All product variants are made available to us in the list as a selection. As additional options, however, Odoo offers us the selection via a product configurator or a table for multiple selection.
Using the product configurator, we select the main product from the list in the offer. Then a wizzard opens where we can select the appropriate variant. By means of a table, after selecting the main product, a wizzard also opens, in which we can also select different variants of the product and thus a multiple selection is possible.
The configuration options in the following tabs Sales, eCommerce, Purchasing and Warehouse partly differ from the product type. In the following we will go into the configuration, which is the same for all product types. In the Sales tab we first select the billing rule. Here we define whether the invoicing refers to ordered or delivered quantities. Furthermore, we define whether the product is a subscription product. This makes it easy to map service contracts in Odoo, for example. We will explain how this works in one of our future blog posts.
Specifying optional products boosts our cross-selling. On the one hand, it simplifies our internal process by showing us the optional products when we select the main product in the product configurator and we can quickly add them to the offer. On the other hand, the optional products are offered to our customers when they purchase the main product in our online store. Specifying a sales description is an additional product description that is automatically added to the offer as soon as we select the product in the offer.
In the eCommerce tab we make the settings we need when we sell our product in our online store. In a multi-website environment, we define the website where our product will be displayed in the online store. Categorization helps visitors to our online store to navigate through our products more easily and find the relevant products. Additionally, we can specify alternative and accessory products to again push our cross-selling and upselling respectively.
In the Purchasing tab, we can store suppliers for our purchasing products with the corresponding prices. When creating a quote request in Odoo and selecting the supplier and the product accordingly, the price is automatically transferred to the quote request. Furthermore, we also define an invoicing rule or control policy here and specify whether invoicing is based on the quantity ordered or the quantity received. Specifying a purchase description is again an additional product description that is automatically transferred to the quote request as soon as we select the product within the quote request. We will also introduce the purchasing module in one of our future blog posts.
Finally, we can define different routes in the Warehouse tab. Here we define how a sold product will be procured. Depending on the modules installed, we can take the product out of the warehouse through a sale, trigger a purchase from the supplier stored in the product, trigger a production or activate drop shipping. In this case, the product is sent directly from the supplier to our customer.
Within the product configuration, we still find various quick links that make it easier for us to navigate through Odoo. For example, we can go directly to the product description in the online store on our website, view the quantities bought and sold, or check the stock.
So we can see that Odoo provides countless configuration options for our products to make it easier for us to work in our processes. Our most important task here is to structure and cleanly define our products once. This allows us to focus entirely on our core processes in the following workflows.
Do you have questions or need support with the configuration of your products in Odoo? No problem! Contact us now and we are your reliable Odoo partner!
Sources: www.odoo.com