What Is the Difference Between a Sales Kit/ Virtual Bundle and Grouped Sales Unit?

A customer may order a single commercial offering while the warehouse fulfils that order by picking several individual Sales Units. This is fundamentally different from a multipack, starter pack or other combination that has been physically assembled and packaged as a separate trade item.

This article explains the difference between a Sales Kit / Virtual Bundle and a Grouped Sales Unit, including the implications for GTIN identification and PPWR packaging.

Sales Kit / Virtual Bundle

A Sales Kit is a commercial combination of multiple Sales Units that are sold together but are not physically combined into a new trade item.

GS1 refers to this concept as a Virtual Trade Item Assortment/Bundle.

According to the GS1 General Specifications, the individual trade items in a virtual bundle have their own GTINs, while the virtual bundle itself does not require a GTIN because it is not physically combined and does not constitute a new trade item. The individual items are assembled when the order is fulfilled. (GS1)

A Sales Kit may nevertheless have:

an internal Article Number
a commercial name and description
a price
a defined composition
quantities for each component
commercial availability and assortment information

Example: L-shaped couch

An L-shaped couch might be sold under one Article Number and consist of:

Component	Article Number	GTIN	Quantity
Corner element	Yes	Yes	1
Short straight element	Yes	Yes	1
Long straight element	Yes	Yes	1
L-shaped couch configuration	Yes	No GTIN required

The customer orders the L-shaped couch, but the warehouse picks and delivers the three individual Sales Units.

The L-shaped couch is therefore a Sales Kit / Virtual Bundle, rather than a physical Sales Unit.

Example: Philips Hue Starter Kit

Consider an offer consisting of:

1 × Philips Hue Bridge
2 × Philips Hue bulbs
1 × Philips Hue smart plug

There are two very different ways this can be brought to market.

Scenario 1: Virtual Starter Kit

The customer purchases a "Hue Starter Kit", but the warehouse picks:

1 × Bridge
2 × Bulb
1 × Smart Plug

from normal inventory.

The products are never physically combined into a dedicated retail package.

This is a Sales Kit / Virtual Bundle.

The Starter Kit can have an internal Article Number, description and price, but it does not require its own GTIN under the GS1 virtual bundle concept. The underlying Sales Units retain their individual GTINs. (GS1)

Scenario 2: Physical Starter Kit

Philips could instead physically combine the individual products by adding an additional layer of packaging around them, creating a dedicated Starter Kit. This outer packaging groups the individual Sales Units into one physical trade item and carries its own scannable barcode.

For example:

Hue Starter Kit, GTIN X

containing:

Bridge, GTIN A
2 × Bulb, GTIN B
Smart Plug, GTIN C

The physical bundle becomes a trade item in its own right and receives its own GTIN. Within SyncForce, such a physical combination can therefore be represented as a Grouped Sales Unit.

The key difference: commercial versus physical composition

The easiest way to distinguish the two concepts is to ask:

Does the combination physically exist before the customer order is fulfilled?

	Sales Kit / Virtual Bundle	Grouped Sales Unit
Commercially sold as one offer	Yes	Yes
Physically combined	No	Yes
Combination stocked as one item	No	Yes
Components individually identifiable	Yes	Yes
Components can have their own GTINs	Yes	Yes
Combination needs its own GTIN	No, according to GS1 virtual bundle rules	Yes
Own physical packaging	No	Yes, where packaging is used. PPWR Packaging Level: Grouped Packaging
Commercial composition	Yes	Yes
Packaging hierarchy	No	Yes

A Sales Kit is therefore primarily a commercial relationship between Sales Units.

A Grouped Sales Unit represents a physical relationship between Sales Units.

Relationship with PPWR

This distinction also matters for the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, PPWR.

PPWR defines sales packaging as packaging conceived to constitute a sales unit consisting of products and packaging for the end user.

Grouped packaging is packaging conceived to group a certain number of Sales Units at the point of sale. The grouping may itself be sold to the end user or used for stocking or distribution. (EUR-Lex)

This means the existence of a commercial bundle does not automatically create grouped packaging.

Virtual bundle

Consider:

Smart Home Starter Kit

consisting commercially of:

1 × Bridge
2 × Bulb
1 × Smart Plug

If the warehouse simply picks these four Sales Units separately, there is no additional physical packaging associated with the Sales Kit.

Therefore:

Sales Kit ≠ Grouped Packaging

Each underlying Sales Unit can have its own packaging and PPWR Packaging System, but the virtual Sales Kit itself has no additional Packaging System.

If the products are subsequently put into a shipping carton to fulfil an online order, that carton would generally represent transport or e-commerce packaging, rather than turning the commercial Sales Kit into grouped packaging. PPWR explicitly defines e-commerce packaging as transport packaging used for distance sales. (EUR-Lex)

Physical grouping

If those same Sales Units are physically assembled in an additional retail box before being offered for sale, the situation changes.

For example:

Hue Starter Kit:

1x Hue Bridge
2x Hue Bulb
1x Hue Smart Plug

Physically grouped in Starter Kit packaging

It can have its own GTIN and the additional packaging can qualify as grouped packaging where it groups existing Sales Units in accordance with the PPWR definition.

The Sales Kit itself:

does not require a GTIN
does not represent a physical Sales Unit
does not create another level in the trade hierarchy
does not have its own Packaging System
references existing Sales Units as its components

The Grouped Sales Unit can then have:

its own GTIN
its own Article Number
dimensions and weight
packaging information
its own position in the trade hierarchy
the applicable PPWR packaging information