Inventory By Country is considered a critical configuration component for international inventory management for multiple reasons. It can help to ensure that the appropriate verbiage is displayed in accordance with local laws, ensure that only permitted items are sold in the country, and ensure that only items with the correct currency are sold as well.
Inventory by country is relatively easy to implement, but there are some behaviors to prepare for when first configuring it. When it is first enabled, the system will immediately begin checking to verify that the ship country of the shopping cart, or party order, matches the country that is configured on the item. Depending on how many items you have, it may be advisable to request a data repair to prepare your inventory for the change. The option to set the country on inventory items is not available until the feature is enabled, meaning that there would be a time when items would not be available while the initial configurations are being added.
Inventory By Country uses the shipping address of the AutoShip Profile, Order, or OnlineOrder to determine what items are available. It is immediately used in the following areas once enabled:
It can optionally be enabled for BackOffice orders under Administration > Settings > Freedom Settings and then performing a Keywork Search for "Restricts orders to Inventory by Country on the BackOffice".
Adjusting the applicable countries on an item can be done with viewing the item in the BackOffice Inventory Department. Once Inventory By Country has been enabled, you will see the Country Associations section between the sections for Group Items and Warehouses.
Selecting Edit at the top right of this section will allow you to toggle which countries are enabled for the given item.
Please note that there is no save option on this page as it automatically updates the selections as they are made.
Inventory By Country is most commonly used by client with multiple currencies or when using VAT Taxation.
DO NOT Select countries with different currencies for the same item.
An inventory item cannot have multiple currencies applied to it. A different version of the item would be needed for each currency.
DO NOT Mix items across different VAT Tax jurisdictions that use different VAT Percentage rates.
VAT Percentage is configured on the inventory prices and the Country association is for the whole item. You would need separate items for the difference country level VAT Percentage tax rates.