What Is Kitting? Kit vs Bundle vs Assembly and Stock Counts

Kitting is grouping separate items into one set that is stored, picked or sold as a single unit. Companies use "kit", "bundle" and "assembly" loosely. This page uses them in four fixed ways: a built kit, a virtual kit, a bundle and an assembly.

A kit becomes an assembly when the work creates a new product that needs its own cost and a production order. If the parts could go back on the shelf and be sold loose, it is a kit. If they are consumed, it is an assembly. For the assembly side, see our bill of materials example and the glossary entry on a production order.

In a factory, the same word also describes gathering every part for one job and delivering it to the production line. The stock question below applies there too.

Count stock on the parts when sets are picked together at order time. Count it on the kit when sets are physically built in advance. Software differs here: NetSuite counts the components, Zoho Inventory counts a composite item (Zoho's name for a kit) as its own stock line, and Odoo, inFlow and Katana mix the two, as the table shows.

We publish this page, and Arka Inventory is one of the systems in the table. Each row describes the provider's own documentation.

NetSuite's available-to-build calculation (how many units of an assembly can be made from current component stock) works from the minimum on-hand quantity among the components (Oracle NetSuite help, Available to Build Calculation).

For a virtual kit, the number you can sell is the lowest result across the parts. Our model:

• Formula: sellable kits = the lowest of (on hand ÷ quantity per kit) across all parts, rounded down.
• Illustrative inputs: 10 tents (1 per kit), 14 sleeping bags (2 per kit), 6 stoves (1 per kit).
• Working: 10 ÷ 1 = 10, 14 ÷ 2 = 7, 6 ÷ 1 = 6. The stove limits the set, so you can sell 6 kits.

The example numbers are invented to show the arithmetic, not measured.

Our recommendation follows from how these models behave. A kit that carries its own count shows zero until someone builds it, however many parts are on the shelf. A kit count typed or synced separately from its parts also drifts when a part is sold loose. A count calculated from the parts avoids both problems.

Use a virtual kit when the same parts also sell loose or the set changes often. Use a built kit when you physically box sets before orders arrive. Use an assembly when work turns parts into a new product. Five questions settle the choice.

Every kit you sell needs a stock keeping unit (SKU), the code that identifies an item in your records. Our guide to the SKU numbering system shows how to design that code and audit it.

Run three checks on a spare set of test items: set one part to zero, sell one kit, then sell one part loose. Each check has a pass or fail result visible on the stock screen. Together they show which counting model the software uses.

1. Set one part to zero stock.
   • Virtual kit pass: the kit's available quantity falls to zero.
   • Built kit pass: the next build is blocked or flagged, while kits already built stay sellable.
   • Fail: the kit shows sellable stock it cannot ship.
2. Sell one kit.
   • Virtual kit pass: each part falls by its quantity per kit and no kit count moves.
   • Built kit pass: the kit count falls by one and the parts do not move.
   • Fail: both the kit and the parts move, which counts the same stock twice.
3. Sell one part loose.
   • Virtual kit pass: sellable kits are recalculated from what remains.
   • Built kit pass: the kit count is unchanged and the part count falls.
   • Fail: the kit count changes without any matching change in parts.

Your sales team quotes from these numbers, so they must come from one place. Our page on inventory visibility explains the figure to quote before promising stock.

It can. As of November 2026, section 8(b) of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017 provides that a mixed supply is taxed as the supply that attracts the highest rate of tax. A composite supply is taxed as its principal supply (the main item in a naturally bundled set). Which one a kit is depends on how its items are sold (CBIC, CGST Act, 2017, section 8).

The Act's definitions in section 2 describe a composite supply as items "naturally bundled and supplied in conjunction with each other in the ordinary course of business." A mixed supply is two or more individual supplies made together for a single price that do not make up a composite supply.

In practice, the make-up and pricing of a set can change the tax on it. Agree the contents with your tax adviser before you create the kit record. A set sold at one price can be a mixed supply under GST, taxed at the highest rate among its items, so confirm the treatment of each kit with your tax adviser.

In Arka Inventory you combine multiple items into a single kit to sell, and we track component inventory and availability for it. Kitting is on our Advance and Enterprise plans. We are built natively on Salesforce.

Our kitting feature suits businesses that handle bundles regularly. A camping company can kit a tent, sleeping bag and stove. A computer retailer can offer a gaming kit of graphics card, mouse and keyboard. Customers then buy a ready-to-sell package instead of researching each part. See the kitting feature for details.

As of November 2026, our Advance plan is $499 a month, billed yearly, with two licences and extra users at $52 a month. It includes bills of material, production and kitting (see our pricing). Our Enterprise plan has flexible pricing. When a set needs to be built from parts, our bill of material and manufacturing features cover assembly and disassembly.

Onboarding typically takes a minimum of two weeks, depending on data readiness and integration needs. You provide the inventory, product, warehouse and operational data for setup.