Get Started with MSI

With MSI installed and enabled, all of your inventory and order management through MSI.

Typically, merchants fall into two categories: Single Source and Multi Source. The number of sources determines your first getting started steps with MSI. All merchants start with a Default Stock and Default Source with options to edit the details or add more stock and sources.

The following information details the initial changes with MSI installed and how to best get started:

• Inventory and Migrations with MSI
• Single Source Merchant
• Multi Source Merchant

Inventory and Migrations with MSI

When first installing or upgrading and enabling MSI, the following initial changes complete:

• A Default Source and Default Stock are added. You should not disable these defaults.
• All products and inventory quantities are associated to the Default Source.
• The Default Stock is associated with your main website and Default Source.

All MSI features are available out-of-the-box including Source Selection Algorithm and Concurrent Checkout to match order quantities to sources and order fulfillment. Depending on your websites, stores, and merchant type, you can create additional stock and sources, assigning inventory amounts, and more.

MSI supports Magento import/export features for modifying SKU associated sources, inventory quantities, and stock status (in/out of stock).

Single Source merchant

Single source merchants have a single location that manages on-hand inventory and fulfills orders. Typically, you have multiple websites (or sales channels) selling products from the same catalog, inventory, and location.

For example, you may have websites for the United States, Germany, France, and Brazil all pulling products from one large warehouse. This single source manages all inventory quantities, shipments, and returns regardless of which sales channel receives the order.

To get started, we recommend:

1. Configure global settings for your store's inventory as needed.
2. Update the Default Source with information for your single inventory location.
3. Add Stocks as needed for your websites and other sales channels with the Default Source.
4. Complete any further configurations per product for quantity thresholds, backorders, and so on.

Note: If you add new locations to ship products such as a warehouse, store, distribution center, and so on, you add sources and stocks anytime in Magento. MSI scales with your expanding business out-of-the-box.

Multi Source merchant

Multi source merchants have multiple locations managing on-hand inventory and fulfilling orders. You may have one or more websites as a sales channel selling inventory through one or more of your available sources.

For example, you may have a single website selling and shipping all products from multiple sources. Or you may have websites for the United States, Germany, France, and Brazil and one or more sources providing stock. You may want to create stock for European based sources (warehouses and stores) to provide inventory to your Germany and France sales channels. A second stock may connect the US sales channels to sources in North America and Canada. And a third connecting your Brazil sales channel to sources in Brazil and Mexico.

To get started, we recommend:

1. Configure global settings for your store's inventory as needed.
2. Add Sources for your inventory locations: warehouses, stores, drop shipments, and distribution centers.
3. Add Stocks for your websites and other sales channels for one or more sources. Configure sources in priority from top-to-bottom.
4. Associate products to your sources (bulk options supported).
5. Complete any further configurations per product for quantity thresholds, backorders, and so on to calculate accurate Salable Quantity.