Product statuses are product availability labels that are displayed on the product and category pages. They are independent of inventory management settings and hence, can be anything you choose.
By default you have four product status settings: In Stock, Back Order, Discontinued and Out of Stock
You have the option of adding product statuses as per your needs (Example: Quick Ship, Ships in 1-2 Weeks etc). You can relate these to inventory settings as well. Please click here to read the article on Managing Inventory for details on relating product statuses to Inventory Management.
There are 2 steps to setting up Product Statuses:
- Define Product Statuses
- Assign the Product Status to products
Step 1: Define Product Statuses
Browse to Settings > Catalog > Product Statuses
To add a new product status setting:
- Click the New Button to add the status
- Enter a Product Status name of your choice. (Example In Stock, Out of Stock, Ships in 1-2 Weeks, Quick Ship etc)
- Set flags that products will exhibit when set to the status by checking any of the flags: Unavailable, Back Order, Hide, Show Quantity. These flags are optional and are checked only when applicable.
- Enter a Label to display 'Usually Ships In'. This helps provide clarity for your customers and is optional.
- Click the Save Tab to save your new product status for your store.
The status flags function as follows:
- Unavailable - Product cannot be ordered when set to this status but will be shown still.
- Back Order - Products with this flag are able to be back ordered, which means their current stock count can go negative.
- Hide - Products with this flag will not be shown in the catalog.
- Show Qty - The quantity in stock for items with this flag will be shown on the product details page.
- Usually Ships In - This message is shown next to the status as a note, i.e. "Usually Ships In" (ex: 1-2 business days) or any note needed to explain the status further.
Step 2: Assign Product Statuses to products
You can assign defined product statuses to products on the product editor, through the product import tool, or through the mass product editor.
You can use the Product import tools to assign product statuses to products as well.
Below is a snapshot of how the product status and 'Usually Ships in' label appears on the store front
