Configurable with Same Configuration Options but different SKUs from different Vendors

Question

In Magento 1.9 , please consider this problem.

One Jersey with different colors and sizes is manifested as a Configurable in my System. (For example, with Colors: REd,Blue,Green and Sizes : AS,AM,AL,AXL)

So JERSEY-RED-AM is a Simple product in the System that can be chosen from the configurable in the website.

But for me, JERSEY-RED-AM is supplied by different sources. And they have different pricing . So I catalog them internally as different SKUS. JERSEY-RED-AM : SKU1 - $10.50 JERSEY-RED-AM : SKU2 - $12.00 JERSEY-RED-AM : SKU3 - $13.00

I'd like to sell the SKU1 first as part of the configurable, then when that runs out of stock, automatically add the SKU2 to the configurable .

Is this even possible? How can I use Magento to solve this problem? is it possible to do this without custom coding? Any pre-existing extensions? If custom code, any ideas on how to approach this?

Answer 1

Magento 1.9 doesn't have multi-level inventory tracking, so this is not possible natively.

If this must be handled by Magento, then I think you'd need to setup a unique SKU for each physical product (JERSEY-RED-AM-SKU1, JERSEY-RED-AM-SKU2, etc), then by using a cron job or an after checkout observer you would confirm the availability of the SKUs and connect the next SKU to the configurable product. Here's an intro on programmatically adjusting configurable products.

Depending on the complexity of your inventory system, this might be better handled outside of Magento. You could export the new orders from Magento to a local inventory management system, and then have that internal system select which warehouse inventory sku is associated with a Magento sku.