Purgatory

Purgatory: Your Essential Tool for Ecommerce Data Mapping

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Managing inventory across multiple sales channels can be a challenge, especially when product data doesn’t always match up. That’s where Luminous’ Purgatory feature comes in. It acts as a data mapping tool to keep your sales data organized and accurate. Here's a closer look at how it works and why it matters.

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What is Purgatory?

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Purgatory is a feature within Luminous that helps map incoming sales data to your existing products. Often, sales channels like Amazon, Shopify, or your direct website will use different SKU formats, and when this data enters your inventory system, it can cause confusion if not mapped properly. With Purgatory, you can avoid those headaches by mapping mismatched SKUs to the correct product in your system.

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Why Is This Useful?

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Many inventory management tools overlook the issue of unaligned SKUs from various sales channels. This is a critical problem for omnichannel brands that deal with different product identifiers like ASINs, FNSKUs, and other codes. Without proper mapping, these different codes can skew your inventory reports, making it difficult to track stock levels and sales performance accurately. Purgatory allows you to:

1. Map SKUs efficiently: Link SKUs from different platforms to your existing products.
2. Create new SKUs on the fly: If a product doesn't exist in the system, you can create it directly within Purgatory.
3. Keep inventory accurate: By mapping sales data correctly, your inventory stays up to date across all channels.

Who Benefits from This Feature?

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Brands that sell across multiple platforms will find Purgatory especially useful. If you're selling on Amazon (using ASINs and FNSKUs), Shopify, or other channels, keeping track of all these identifiers can be overwhelming. Purgatory helps streamline this process, so your sales data is accurately reflected in your inventory system.

By keeping your SKUs properly aligned, Purgatory helps keep your sales reports reliable and your inventory accurate. This is vital for brands looking to scale their operations across multiple channels while avoiding common inventory pitfalls.

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Key Takeaways

• Purgatory is for unmapped sales data: SKUs coming in from your sales channels that don't match a product in Luminous land here.
• Two options: Map the incoming SKU to an existing product, or create it as a new SKU.
• Built for omnichannel: ASINs, FNSKUs and channel SKUs can all point to the same product.
• Better data everywhere: Accurate mapping means accurate inventory and better sales reports.

Example: One Product, Many Identifiers

Say you sell a water bottle across three channels. In Luminous, it's one product with the SKU BTL-BLUE-24. But each channel sends sales data with its own identifier:

• Shopify: BOTTLE-BLUE-24OZ
• Amazon: an ASIN like B0XXXXXXXX
• Amazon FBA: an FNSKU like X00XXXXXXX

Without mapping, those look like three different products, and sales from each one wouldn't deduct from the same inventory. In Purgatory, you map all three to BTL-BLUE-24, so every sale comes off the right stock and shows up under one product in your reports.

Map or Create? How to Decide

• Map it when the incoming SKU is a product you already carry, just listed under a different identifier on that channel.
• Create it when the incoming SKU is a product that doesn't exist in Luminous yet, like a new listing or a product you haven't set up.

When in doubt, check whether the product name, size and color match something already in your catalog before creating a new SKU. Creating duplicates splits your inventory and sales history across two records.

Tips for Keeping Purgatory Clean

• Check it regularly: Unmapped sales data means inventory and reports aren't fully accurate until it's resolved.
• Map before big sales events: Clean mapping before a promotion keeps inventory deductions accurate when volume spikes.
• Set up products first: Importing your catalog up front means fewer SKUs land in Purgatory. See how to import and create SKUs.
• Watch the walkthroughs: See how to use Purgatory in Luminous and how to clean up Purgatory and use data mapping.

Common Questions

Why is it called Purgatory?

It's where incoming sales data waits until it's mapped to a product or created as a new SKU.

What if the SKU doesn't exist in Luminous yet?

You can create it right from Purgatory instead of mapping it.

Can multiple identifiers point to the same product?

Yes. That's one of the main reasons Purgatory exists. ASINs, FNSKUs and other channel SKUs can all be mapped to the same product.

Streamline Your Data Mapping with Luminous

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The Purgatory feature in Luminous is a smart solution for managing SKU mismatches and keeping your inventory accurate. It’s particularly useful for omnichannel businesses that deal with varying product identifiers across platforms. By using Purgatory, you can map sales data effectively and keep your inventory in check, saving time and reducing errors in your sales reporting.

With Luminous, inventory management just got a lot easier. Book a demo today and discover how Purgatory can simplify your data management and improve your overall efficiency.