Kits are a collection of inventory items gathered at the time an order is placed to produce a single product such as a gift basket. The individual items which comprise a Kit may be sold separately or together as a Kit. A Kit is a virtual SKU lacking some properties found in a regular SKU. Though it has a price, it does not have a quantity on hand, cost, barcode, or supplier since those properties are tracked by the individual components which comprise the Kit.
Assemblies on the other hand differ from kits in that it is comprised of two or more individual inventory products to create a finished product. Like kits, the individual components of an Assembly can be sold separately. Assemblies have a price, cost, quantity on hand, barcode, and supplier. It does not depend on the individual components which comprise the Assembly for these properties.
Kits can be easily separated into its individual components and returned to the warehouse. The components for the Kit can be sold individually or regathered at a later time to fulfill an order. Assemblies cannot easily be separated into its individual components without loss in value. Once an Assembly has been produced, it must be sold as a finished product unlike kits.
Merchants do not usually preassemble kits in their warehouse for sale until it is actually sold. The kit SKU is a virtual SKU which does not physically exist until it is time to fulfill an order. The components which comprise a kit are picked from the warehouse and brought to a staging area for order fulfillment and shipment.
Selling the same Kit and fulfilling it from an FBA fulfillment center changes it from a Kit to an Assembly. How does a Kit become an Assembly when fulfilled through FBA? The answer is obvious once it is explained.
In order to sell a Kit and fulfill it through FBA, there are preparations necessary before the Kit can be shipped to an Amazon fulfillment center. The individual components for a Kit must be gathered from the warehouse and brought to a staging area for preparation. The components for each Kit are assembled into secure packaging. Each package is affixed with an FBA label. The components which make up the Kit are not affixed with labels since the components cannot be sold individually. Finally, the package is sealed and ready to be shipped to an Amazon fulfillment center for sale.
Once the package has been sealed it becomes an Assembly. Given the nature of Amazon fulfillment, the components of the Assembly will never be separated and sold individually. It will always be sold as a set in the packaging provided. Otherwise, a loss in value would occur for the packing material along with a likely loss of value for the components of the Assembly.
Fulfillment In your warehouse makes it a Kit since you can gather the components of the kit to fulfill an order at the time it has been placed. It’s an Assembly when a Kit is produced into a separate finished product with its own packaging awaiting sale at an Amazon fulfillment center.
This distinction may seem minor, but the distinction affects your product replenishment and resource planning strategies. Assemblies represents an investment in time and resources effecting your cash flow to produce a finished product for sale at an Amazon fulfillment center. Fulfilling an order for a Kit is no different than fulfilling an order with multiple products. Kits do not represent the same kind of investment as an Assembly.
We hope this post has been helpful. Any questions or comments, please feel free to post.