Differentiate "Sold Out" versus "Out Of Stock"

DEFINITIONS:
Sold Out - an item with 0 quantity that we will NOT be re-ordering and should be disabled (products_status = 0) so it is not found in searches, etc.
Out Of Stock - an item with 0 quantity that we WILL re-order and can stay enabled so it will show up in searches and display as "Out of stock".
QUESTION:
Is there currently a way that I could mark an item as a "Sold Out" item or an "Out Of Stock" item?
Am thinking that the product_type could be used here, but is that over-kill, as we do not need to change anything in the display layout, product info, etc. between the two types?
OR, should I just add a custom field to the products table with a simple 1/0 value?
APPLICATION:
We sell items in our physical store and online, so we run a daily script to update the quantity from our in-store sales tool. Am writing a SQL query to disable any "Sold Out" items that are now 0 quantity while leaving "Out Of Stock" items alone.
Thoughts?
Thanks!

MSRWebMaster:

DEFINITIONS:
Sold Out - an item with 0 quantity that we will NOT be re-ordering and should be disabled (products_status = 0) so it is not found in searches, etc.
Out Of Stock - an item with 0 quantity that we WILL re-order and can stay enabled so it will show up in searches and display as "Out of stock".
QUESTION:
Is there currently a way that I could mark an item as a "Sold Out" item or an "Out Of Stock" item?
Am thinking that the product_type could be used here, but is that over-kill, as we do not need to change anything in the display layout, product info, etc. between the two types?
OR, should I just add a custom field to the products table with a simple 1/0 value?
APPLICATION:
We sell items in our physical store and online, so we run a daily script to update the quantity from our in-store sales tool. Am writing a SQL query to disable any "Sold Out" items that are now 0 quantity while leaving "Out Of Stock" items alone.
Thoughts?
Thanks!

Typically items that are "sold out" and not returning to the store are deleted. This eliminates the issue, and it isn't indexable since it isn't present.

Also to capture those sales of those items that are out of stock I suggest.
https://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=1944

bislewl:

Typically items that are "sold out" and not returning to the store are deleted. This eliminates the issue, and it isn't indexable since it isn't present.

Is it a good thing to actually delete an item? I would worry that that would break any tracking, previous sales, customer history, etc.
(Any DB that I've built or worked on includes a "deleted" field, that indicates if that record has been deleted by an admin-type and shouldn't be shown, but is still in the DB for historical records and keeps the DB cleaner with no missing id numbers.)

In the meantime, still need a way to indicate if the product is "deletable" (sold out) vrs one that can stay there.

Ordered products are stored per order line in the 'orders_products' table, so your order history will stay available.
You will lose the info for that product in pages like bestsellers, because the number of times a product is sold is stored in the products table

Well a product can be disabled which will accomplish/complete the above.

As for the "field", while not a global solution, the particular store's use of other aavailable fields could be assessed to see if there is something applicable that could be used, whether an attribute that is not shown to customers or a field elsewhere in the database.

mc12345678:

Well a product can be disabled which will accomplish/complete the above.

As for the "field", while not a global solution, the particular store's use of other aavailable fields could be assessed to see if there is something applicable that could be used, whether an attribute that is not shown to customers or a field elsewhere in the database.

I agree with disabling the product, is a good solution.

However the issues becomes when stores that have thousands of products have all these discontinued products it really creates un-need bloat, and since the products are stored in the TABLE_ORDERS_PRODUCTS it shouldn't be an issue. Unless a programmer wasn't aware or too lazy to use that table.

we run a daily script to update the quantity from our in-store sales tool
Not sure what scripting you are using but in the products table one can alter the "product_status" field from "1" to a "0" to turn a product off

bislewl:

I agree with disabling the product, is a good solution.

However the issues becomes when stores that have thousands of products have all these discontinued products it really creates un-need bloat, and since the products are stored in the TABLE_ORDERS_PRODUCTS it shouldn't be an issue. Unless a programmer wasn't aware or too lazy to use that table.

This does/can work for reports on product purchased, but then I don't recall that the products viewed report has an independent table of record of views as I thought that was tracked with the product. Then if the product is deleted, assessment data is then lost preventing the ability to see what things "visitors" took interest.

Of course it depends on the store and product if there is any value in having that information, at what periodicity it provides value, etc...

Thanks for the replies.
So, just to clarify my intent. I will use the existing product_type field to indicate what type of product it is (0 = a "sold-out" item, 1 = an "out-of-stock" item).
My script will find all products where inventory = 0, then check the product_type:

if (product_type == 0) then
  set products_status = 0
else
  set products_status = 1

This way a user will still see any out-of-stock items that we intend to re-order. and not find any sold-out items that will not be returning to our store.
Guess I just need to see if using the product_type field like this alters anything in the display of the items. Thanks again.

I need whole changes how to set a product OUT OF STOCK not a sold out .
If all my product sold out then don't show the message sold out , message should be out of stock with product details.
Please help anybody its urgent Thanks.

SameerSam:

I need whole changes how to set a product OUT OF STOCK not a sold out .
If all my product sold out then don't show the message sold out , message should be out of stock with product details.
Please help anybody its urgent Thanks.

I thought that something like this was discussed earlier in the thread, but if understood correctly, change the sold out image to an out-of-stock image and any related text the same way.

Thanks mc ,
but my question is that
-Out of stock product still visible with out of stock notification
-Out of stock items in a category listing should be listed in end and one more thing
-Search option should include/exclude out of stock items.

SameerSam:

Thanks mc ,
but my question is that
-Out of stock product still visible with out of stock notification
-Out of stock items in a category listing should be listed in end and one more thing
-Search option should include/exclude out of stock items.

No problem. So what is happening now that is not desired? Is it that when a product has zero quantity that it is disabled?

As to having the "out-of-stock" product at the end of the list, is that expected to always be the case? What if customer sorted by name or by price? Is there expected to be a separate sort for in stock and out-of-stock? Is there a sort by quantity available option? Etc...

Thanks, OK when the customer doesn't sort by name by price or by quantity so on ..
customer just select a category
and that category have 25 products
out of 25 products
5 products have zero quantity(sold out image is still showing)
is it possible to display 5 products in below row and 20 products above of 5
that is those products have quantity should come first and those do not have quantity(sold out) come in last.
Thanks once again and have a great time.

SameerSam:

Thanks, OK when the customer doesn't sort by name by price or by quantity so on ..
customer just select a category
and that category have 25 products
out of 25 products
5 products have zero quantity(sold out image is still showing)
is it possible to display 5 products in below row and 20 products above of 5
that is those products have quantity should come first and those do not have quantity(sold out) come in last.
Thanks once again and have a great time.

Hi mc I am waiting for your replay, thanks