🔄 How To: Replace an Existing Product with a New Product
When a manufacturer updates a product line or you decide to replace an existing item with a newer version, you do not want to lose all the valuable historical sales data tied to the old SKU. If you start completely from scratch, the algorithm will treat the replacement as a brand-new item and default to a forecast of zero.
To ensure a smooth transition and maintain accurate purchasing advice, you need to transfer the sales data to the new product. Here are the three options available to achieve this.
♻️ Option 1: Reuse the Old Product (The Easiest Method)
One of the absolute easiest ways to update a product is simply by reusing the existing one in your webshop or ERP.
Instead of creating a brand-new entry, you adapt the original product directly in your source system (e.g., Shopify, Magento, Exact) to fit the new product.
How to do it: Modify the Title/Name and the SKU Code of the original product to match the new version's details.
The Result: When the system syncs, Optiply updates the product name and SKU, but the underlying database ID remains the same. All the historical sales data is perfectly retained, and the algorithm continues forecasting without missing a beat!
📦 Option 2: Create a New Product via Compositions
Sometimes, for accounting or inventory management reasons, your source system will not allow you to simply overwrite an old SKU. If it is not possible to implement the first option, you must create a brand-new product in your source system.
To transfer the data from the old product to the new one in Optiply, you can use our Product Compositions (Bundles) feature.
How to do it: You can configure a bundle structure to link the new product to the old product's data.
The Result: By linking them via compositions, Optiply will be able to recognise the new product as the spiritual successor to the old one, attaching the relevant historical sales data to the new SKU so forecasting can continue.
🔗 Option 3: Create a Predecessor Product
Optiply has a dedicated, advanced feature specifically designed for handling product lifecycles and version updates. You can formally assign the old item as the "Predecessor" to the new "Successor" product.
Because this is a powerful feature with specific setup rules, we have created a dedicated guide for it.
How to do it: Please check out our dedicated article on the Predecessor and Successor Products Page for detailed, step-by-step instructions on configuring this option!
❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
If I overwrite the old SKU (Option 1), will it mess up my past financial reports?
This depends entirely on how your specific source system (ERP/Webshop) handles historical order data. Some systems lock historical invoices so changing a SKU today doesn't alter past receipts, while others might update everything dynamically. Always consult your specific e-commerce platform's documentation before overwriting old SKUs!
What happens to the physical stock of the old product when I replace it?
If you still have physical stock of the old product that needs to be sold off before the new one takes over, we highly recommend using Option 3 (Predecessor/Successor). Overwriting the SKU (Option 1) will immediately merge the identities, which can cause warehouse confusion if both the old and new physical boxes are sitting on the shelf simultaneously.