Product Catalogue
The Product Catalogue is the Business product offerings to its contacts and partners - to buy or subscribe to - such as product descriptions, prices and promotions.
THE ESSENTIALS
A product is a physical good or a service that your business offers to contacts and partners to either purchase or subscribe to. CRM.COM maintains detailed information that describes a product such as its SKU, name, characteristics and brands. Product images, description and categories are essential to showcase your products to contacts in front-end systems.
Products are created from two workflows. Key user based, within CRM.COM using the user-interface, Import Data utility or APIs; or automatically when a purchase is received from a Point-of-Sale for a new item.
Products can have a simple, flat structure with a single fixed price, or they can be set up with more complex structures such as bundles, variations, or advanced pricing models. In all cases, each product must be clearly defined before it can be made available for sale, i.e. a product such have a clear name and description, price, category and image.
CRM.COM’s Pricing enables you to set up simple or complex pricing strategies that can accommodate multiple currencies, tailored for specific contacts and pricing terms.
Let’s get familiar with some Product-related key terms and features.
Type
Every product is assigned a Type, which defines three key things: how the product is classified, how it is structured (composition), and optionally, what characteristics describe it (such as colour, size, or storage capacity).
Classification
Classification determines whether a product is a physical good or a service, and how it should be tracked and billed.
Classification | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
Traceable Physical Good | A tangible item that is individually tracked using a unique identifier (e.g. serial number). |
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Non-traceable Physical Good | A tangible item tracked by quantity rather than individually. |
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Termed Service | A service that contacts subscribe to and are billed for on a recurring basis according to defined pricing terms. |
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One-Time Service | A service billed once at the time of ordering, typically valid for a defined duration. |
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Usage Service | A service billed based on actual usage over a period. Requires an active termed or one-time service to be consumed. |
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Expense Service | A service used to apply additional charges or fees. |
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Composition
Composition defines whether a product is sold as a single item or as part of a bundle or variant group.
Composition Type | Description | Key Characteristics / Examples |
|---|---|---|
Flat | A single, standalone product. | Sold independently with no variations or bundled items. |
Fixed Bundle | A predefined set of individual products sold together as one bundle. | Contents are fixed for all contacts. |
Flexible Bundle | A customisable bundle composed of selected products. | Contacts choose from a predefined selection of products at the time of ordering. |
Composite | A product offered in multiple variations (variants), based on combinations of characteristics. | Variants (e.g. size, colour), may include optional add-ons (modifiers). |
Modifiers
Modifiers are optional extra items that can be ordered along a composite product. While modifiers may have a price, they cannot be sold individually. They are only available as additional options to select from, to personalise or customise their order within the composite product’s boundaries.
Accessibility
Accessibility gives control over which Organisation in your Business Network is allowed to keep stock, sell and fulfil Orders for products they have access to.
Ownership
The Owner shows who officially manages the properties of a given product. Possible Owners include your business or a Merchant within your Business Network or even a B2B Merchant. Ownership defines who can configure the product.
Order Catalogues
Order Catalogues are menus that may include a sub-set of the entire of your product catalogue, and you publish them when you want to differentiate your product offerings per location, supply method or time of the day in front-end systems.
Tags
Tags are labels assigned to products to categorise, track and group them for more flexible filtering and reporting purposes. Refer to the Generic Settings manual to find out how to configure Tags.
Managing the Product Catalogue
Products can be created using one of the following methods.
Creation Method | Description |
|---|---|
User Interface | Products are created manually through the back-end UI. |
Import Data Utility | Products are created in bulk by importing data files. |
Products are created through integration using Web APIs. | |
Product Synchronisation | Products are synced from an external system. |
POS Auto-Creation | Products are created automatically when a POS submits purchases for unknown items. |
Navigate to Commerce > Products > Products Catalogue to see and manage existing products.
Creating Products
Select Create Product to create a new product.
Follow this step-by-step setup to quickly complete the minimum required product information. After creation, more details and prices can be added to the product.
Product Offering
First provide the basic information of your product offering:
Select whether you want to create a new Service or a Physical good. This selection displays a list of Product Types to select from. Selecting a Type is mandatory as it determines the product’s Classification and Composition.
Optionally, for physical goods, explicitly specify whether the product is a modifier or not, this information is utilised when you set up Composite products.
Enabling the restricted visibility option denotes that this product will:
Be eligible for use in Reward Offers and Promotions
Not be available for ordering
Not appear in the best-selling products section on front-end apps
Not be included in the recommended products section on front-end apps
Product Information
Next, provide some additional product details.
Name - The title or label of the product, used to promote it to front-end systems for contacts to select
SKU - Stock Keeping Unit - a unique code or identifier assigned to a product - used to uniquely identify each product, stock tracking and managing Orders accurately. SKU cannot be changed after the product is created.
Description - Clear description of the product, essential for describing your offerings in front-end systems.
Images - Upload a high-quality image to make the product easily recognisable on the front-end. Be sure to follow the recommended size, format, and resolution. There are two types of images to choose from:
Image – The main product image.
Carousel – Extra images (e.g., different angles) with optional captions. Use the drag-and-drop icon to change their order.
Categories - Categories help in organising your products in a hierarchical structure, the one your contacts browse in a front-end’s menu. A product can be assigned to multiple categories. The sections your contacts browse in the app menu
Family - Families are used to group products with similar traits, like decoders or televisions. Each product can belong to one Family.
Brands - A commercial brand can be assigned to a Product to group it for Reward Offers and Analytics. Each product can have only one brand.
Tags - Use tags to easily filter and report on your products
Pricing
Set the product’s price by specifying the pricing model and monetary value. After creating the product, more prices can be added for multiple currencies, pricing terms and contact conditions. For detailed pricing setup, check the Pricing manual.
Also select the tax category that this product belongs too.
Stock Information
Specify inventory-related settings for your physical goods:
Is this product stockable? - Determines whether you will maintain stock levels in your business’s warehouse.
Continue selling when out of stock? - Can this product still be sold when out of stock? This implies that the stock level will become negative.
Provisioning Information
Determine whether the product’s information will be forwarded to third-party, Provisioning Provider integrations. This option is available only for Termed and One-time services and for Traceable physical goods. For such products, you will also have to set up their provisioning information.
Service Management
Determines termed services instance model:
Quantity-based (default option): Denotes that each termed service is added once to a subscription, with a quantity representing how many units are purchased and billed. Service quantity can be increased/decreased and all units share the same pricing and usage (i.e. all units follow the service’s price terms). Quantity-based services are billed in a single line in an invoice, having the service’s quantity to determine the invoice’s line quantity as well.
Line-based: Denotes that each time a termed service is ordered, it’s added on the subscription an a separate, unique service line. Each instance is managed independently, with its own usage and device. Such services cannot have a quantity, their billing is aligned with the subscription’s (immediate or delayed alignment accordingly) and they are included in separate lines in invoices since they might be billed for different periods (due to alignment).
Components
For flexible service bundles - set up the component options that the contact can choose to include in their service bundle, or that are required to be purchased as part of the bundle.
For physical products - optionally set up the composite product's modifiers and define the different variants that can be sold to contacts. If the variants are existing products, locate and select them. If they do not exist, they will be automatically created with unique SKUs based on the information provided.
Managing Products
Continue by specifying detailed product set-up to complete your products. Please note that the setup of each product varies depending on the selected classification or composition.
External Code
An external reference code, used only for filtering and integration purposes. It can either be set by a user or by the product synchronisation process.
Accessibility
Restrict which Organisations can fulfil your products.
Product Accessibility
Defines which organisations can stock, deliver, or offer pickup for a product.
Option | Description |
|---|---|
across Business Network (Default) | All organisations within your Business Network can fulfil orders for this product. |
only by the Business | Only your business can sell and fulfil this product. |
across Business Network and specific B2B Merchants | All organisations in your Business Network, plus selected B2B merchants (that your business is a peer of), can fulfil this product. |
by Business and specific Merchants | Only your business and selected organisations within your network can fulfil this product. |
Product B2B Accessibility
Defines how a product is shared with other businesses on the platform. Your business remains the owner of shared product (you manage and fulfil it), but the product is also included in other business’s (B2B Peer’s) product catalogues.
Option | Description |
|---|---|
only by the Business | The product can only be ordered, managed, and fulfilled by your business. |
by specific B2B Peers | The product is shared with selected businesses (B2B peers). It appears in their catalogue, but your business remains responsible for fulfilment. |
Taxes
The Taxes tab provides overview of the applicable taxes for the specific Product. Refer to the Taxes manual for further information on configuring taxes.
Modifiers & Components
Modifiers are products that cannot be sold separately, but only as part of another product, a Composite one.
Components on the other hand are the items that comprise a bundle, Fixed or Flexible one, but they can also be sold individually.
The similarity between these two is that they are part of Composite or Fixed/Flexible bundle compositions. The composition indicates the products available for selection to contacts during the ordering process.
Add “Modifier” products in Composite products, whereas in Fixed and Flexible bundles set up, you add “Components”.
Select Add Components or Add Modifiers accordingly to define the composition in each case.
When setting up the composition you must specify one or more of:
Individual products - Select an individual product to be available for selection or
Groups of products - Select a group of products that indicates that contacts may select one or more products of this group to order from. A group is either a product Type, Category, Family or Component set.
Then determine restrictions on individual products must be included in the order:
Should this product be included with the main product?
Mandatory - This product will be included in the order by default and cannot be removed.
Optional - The product can be optionally selected by contacts.
For product groups define:
How many products from the selected group can be added to the main product? - Set a minimum and maximum number of items that can be ordered from this group.
Default - Optionally select a default product from each group to be included by default in orders.
Mandatory - One of the products of the group can be set as a mandatory, meaning that is added by default and cannot be removed.
Finalise the composition’s set up by defining whether each added product will be price inclusive or not:
Price Inclusive - Contacts do not pay an extra amount for each added product. If not, the product’s price will be added to the main product’s price.
Key items to consider when setting up a valid product composition:
Fixed Bundles
Can include a mix of physical goods and services, e.g. a decoder and an installation service.
Cannot include Expense or Usage Services.
Priced as a single bundle (all component prices are included).
Provisioning applies to the bundle product.
Stock is maintained at the bundled product level.
Flexible Bundle
Can include a mix of physical goods and services, e.g. a decoder and an installation service.
Cannot include Expense or Usage Services.
Pricing can be defined at both bundle and component level.
Provisioning applies to the individual components (not to the bundle itself).
Bundle is included in stock balance calculations.
Composite
Must be a physical good (traceable or non-traceable).
Requires at least two characteristics, each with multiple values
Stock is maintained per Variant product (if stockable).
May include optional modifiers (additional products sold with variants).
May be marked as provisionable (e.g. STBs). However, the composite product itself does not possess any provisioning parameters (external references), while its variant products do.
Variants
A Composite product is sold in multiple variations, called Variants. Variants derive from the Composite product’s characteristics, based on all combinations of their values. Each Variant product has its own SKU, name, description, it may also have its own price. Additionally, you may maintain stock levels for each Variant in your warehouse.
The Composite product is the one that your contacts see in front-end menus, but when they actually order they have to order one of its variations.
Example
A Composite product (e.g. a smartphone) has two characteristics; ‘Colour’ with values Black and White, and ‘Capacity’ with values 128GB and 256GB. So, this composite product might have up to 4 variants, one variant for each colour-capacity combination (Black-128GB, Black-256GB, White-128GB and White-256GB). During ordering, contacts can choose the color and storage capacity of their smartphone, indirectly ordering the variant of their choice.
To create Variants for a product:
Expand the Variants section and click Add Variants.
Characteristics - Select from the pre-configured characteristics and their values. Characteristics (and optionally their allowed values) are defined in the Product Type.
As you select characteristics and values, you will see one Variant product for each combination with a default SKU and name, automatically generated based on the composite product’s attributes and characteristics.
Optionally, you may also select from products in your existing catalogue to add using the Add Existing option
Up-Sell Products
Upsells are products offered to your contacts at checkout as a higher-value alternative to the one they included in their basket, encouraging them to spend more.
Cross Sell Products
Cross-sell products are related or complementary products offered alongside the basket items and they are offered at checkout so as to encourage additional purchases.
Device Characteristics
Specified in Traceable Physical goods and are used to indicate which characteristics will be inherited and defined when a Device - an instance of such products - is created. This means that the product’s setup includes the characteristics whereas each Device with be assigned the value. For example, a SIM card’s characteristics is its MSISDN so when SIM devices are created, each device is assigned a unique MSISDN number.
Provisioning Information
Additional information required for successful provisioning to a Provisioning Provider. For:
Termed/One-time services - Select the Provisioning Provider(s) to provision the service and its code as this is defined in the provider’s side.
Traceable physical goods - Select the Provisioning Provider.
Copying a Product
When copying a product, only selected attributes, such as the type, components, and modifiers, are copied. Prices are not copied. The user must provide the new product’s name, SKU and variants (if a composite product is copied).
Bulk Update Options
Users can select multiple products from the Product Catalogue summary screen to update specific attributes simultaneously, eliminating the need to modify each product individually.
B2B Accessibility - Share products with your B2B Peers
Update Products - Modify the Family and/or Brand of the selected products to the ones specified by the user.
Deleting a Product
A product cannot be deleted if any of the following conditions are true:
The product has been invoiced at least once.
The product is included in at least one non-completed Order, active Subscription, or Service Request.
The product is included in a bundle as a component.
The product is included in an order catalogue.
Managing the Order Catalogue
Order Catalogues can be created:
Via the user-interface or
Using back-office Web APIs
Creating an Order Catalogue
Navigate to Commerce > Order Catalogues. Select Create Order Catalogue to create a new one.
Provide the following information to create the order catalaogue and then you can start adding your products.
Name - The order catalogue name - for internal user and only appears on the back-end.
Display Name - The order catalogue name as it will appear on front-end apps, choose one that’s meaningful to your contacts.
Description - Optionally provide a short description for the order catalogue for internal use.
Supply Methods - Specify whether the order catalogue is valid for specific supply methods (e.g. delivery only).
Pricing Table - Enable this option if the order catalogue contains products that should be displayed in a pricing table format. Pricing tables are especially useful for services, as they allow contacts to easily view and compare options side by side, helping them choose the one that best suits their needs.
Images - Upload an image to showcase the order catalogue on the front-end.
Once the order catalogue has been created, additional options are made available.
Time Availability
If the order catalogue isn’t available for ordering at all times, specify the days and times when it will be available.
Accessibility
Optionally specify which organisations have access to the Order Catalogue, meaning they can sell the items in the catalogue, while the Merchants/Venues fulfil the Orders.
Option | Description |
|---|---|
only by the Business | Products in the order catalogue can only be purchased directly from your business. |
across Business Network (default) | Products can be purchased from any organisation within your Business Network. |
by Business and specific Merchants | Products can be purchased from your business and selected merchants only. |
Categories
Organise products in the Order Catalogue using categories. Create parent categories and sub-categories, then add products to each one. You can also sort both the categories and the products within them. Categories can be structured in one or two levels.
Optionally, you can add an image to each category or sub-category to visually represent it in front-end apps/portals. These images are used when Skin 2 is selected in App Settings for your app/portal configuration.
If the Order Catalogue uses pricing tables, you will be prompted to define the billing period and unit of time for each category or sub-category relevant to the services it inlcudes.
It is not mandatory for an organisation to create an Order Catalogue, if not defined, then the standard Product Catalogue will be used for ordering instead.
Pricing Utility
The Pricing Utility allows you to search for products using specific criteria and update their prices from a single screen - eliminating the need to locate and edit each product individually. With the Pricing Utility, you can:
Retrieve product prices using filters such as the pricing area (contact, segment, sales model, merchant, venue).
Identify products that do not have prices configured.
Update product prices without navigating to the product page.
Add prices in additional currencies by copying an existing product price.
Edit the price terms for a subscription service.
To access the Pricing Utility, navigate to Commerce > Products > Pricing Utility.
To retrieve product prices, optionally choose how you want to search for products - by Name, Type, Brand, Family, or Classification, then select the Pricing Area to retrieve products for. If you want to retrieve prices for a specific Country of Agreement, select the relevant countries. You can also select a Currency to display prices in that currency only, and choose the Tax Model to use when retrieving prices. Click Search Prices to view all prices for the selected products.
To update a product price, click the pencil icon next to the product. After making your changes, select Apply Changes to save.
For services, click the Price Terms badge to view and edit the contract terms.
Note that only Owner users or users with Manage Product Catalogue permissions can access this utility.
Product Settings
Navigate to Settings > Commerce > Products to configure product-related settings.
Products
Define settings relevant to how Products will be configured.