Configurable products of group products

Question

We sell baby gates on our site and on amazon. We have combination of gates & extensions of different sizes as group products. It is essential that we keep them as grouped products from inventory management point of view. As each gate (of different size) & each extension (of different size) has different SKU which needs to go from our inventory when a combination of gate + extension is sold.

On Amazon we want to show multiple of these (grouped products) options as one configurable product eg.http://www.amazon.co.uk/Safetots-Extra-Safety-6-4cm-Extension/dp/B00IJVY5FI/ref=sr_1_29?ie=UTF8&qid=1446194604&sr=8-29&keywords=safetots+gate It is a configurable products with grouped products as options.

As magento won't let us do it. Please can some one guide on what might be better way of doing it.

Thank you!

Answer 1

A solution is to use the Bundle Products rather configurable products for this:

• A configurable product is a product that has many different versions, for example a T-shirt that is listed as a single product in your store but where the user can choose the size.
• A bundle product is a product that is comprised of several different products, for example a desktop computer where the user chooses the components independently.

The problem with this approach is that the client would have to create the bundle himself, rather than see a list of preset bundles to choose from in a configurable product.

You could define the grouped products as separate SKUs, and monitor the bundling/kitting process in a separate inventory management extension and not inside Magento. To do this, you need to use an Inventory Management extension that features manufacturing module that will allow you to create Bundle Products/Finished Goods through Work Orders. This will model your actual processes better and will allow you to monitor your stock levels (both stock levels of components and stock levels of finished goods) as well as your manufacturing/kitting process. An extension that offers this functionality is, among others, the Inventory Management for Multiple Locations extension.