Kitting is assembling several separate items into one set, which you sell or ship as a single product. It's also called bundling or assembly. It happens in the warehouse, before or during order processing.
Examples of kitting
- Gift boxes: a personal care or gift box with a selection of products, a card and filling material.
- Starter packs: an appliance with the right accessories and a manual.
- Service kits: all the parts a technician needs for a specific repair or maintenance job.
- Point-of-sale material: displays filled and prepared to go straight into the shop.
- Sample packs: small quantities of different products for prospects or influencers.
In advance or to order?
You can assemble kits in two ways:
- In advance: you build a stock of ready-made sets. Shipping is fast, but your individual items are tied up in the sets. Handy for fixed products with predictable demand, such as gift boxes in December.
- To order: the set is only assembled when the order comes in. More flexible, but every order takes more work. Handy if you have many variants.
What to look out for
- 1Give every kit its own item number, and record which components it contains.
- 2Make sure your system automatically reduces the stock of the individual components when a kit is assembled.
- 3Write a clear instruction, ideally with a photo, so every kit looks the same.
- 4Plan seasonal kits in time. You don't assemble holiday gift boxes in the last week.
Kitting is one of the services Sendwit offers alongside storage and shipping, as are labelling and preparing displays. For technical customers we assemble service kits. Read more about e-commerce and retail fulfilment and technical fulfilment.