Before creating any new products in CRM.COM, it's important to read the Business Network manual and understand the organisational structure. This is because the level at which a product is defined has an impact on its availability for ordering. For example, if you're using a multi-merchant setup, you may need to masquerade to another organisational level to create the products.

In summary, any products created at the Business level will be available for ordering from all Merchants/Service Providers of that Business. However, any products created at the Merchant/Service Provider level will only be available for ordering through that particular Merchant/Service Provider.

THE ESSENTIALS

These are the most common key terms used throughout CRM.COM regarding Products.

Product Catalogue

The product catalogue in CRM.COM is a list of products from which an organisation’s contacts can choose to order. Refer to Creating Products to configure the products for the product catalogue.

Order Catalogue

An order catalogue is a set of products selected from the product catalogue available for ordering based on the supply method and specific day/time settings, e.g. a restaurant business could configure a separate order catalogue for lunch and dinner on weekdays and another for weekend brunch.

Multiple order catalogues with overlapping days and times can be configured. In such cases, the Contact will be prompted to select from which order catalogue they wish to place an order. Learn more about order catalogues and how they are configured below.

SKU

A unique code to identify products throughout the system, and useful for external integration systems.

Type

The Type of the Product determines its overall properties and behaviour throughout the system. The product type Classification, Composition Method, and Characteristics settings determine the features which can be defined for products of the specific type.

Classification

Product types are classified as follows:

• Traceable physical goods - Physical goods that can be traced through a unique identifier (serial number), e.g., installation items and decoders.

• Non-traceable physical goods - Physical goods which can be traced to a single instance and are measured based on quantity (e.g. magazines).

• Termed Service - Services provided continuously and billed for a recurring period, regardless of usage (e.g. a TV channel).

• Usage Service - Services provided upon request and billed according to their usage/consumption, such as telephone calls, internet or petrol refuelling.

• One-Time Service - Services provided and billed once with a specific amount and duration, e.g. duration of time required for an installation service.

• Expense Service - Services provided and typically billed once for a fixed amount, such as an installation fee, a penalty fee etc. Expenses can also be billed on a recurring basis (e.g. a rental fee) but always based on a fixed amount.

Composition Method

The product composition determines whether a product is offered as a standalone product or as part of a bundle of products.

• Flat - a single, flat service or physical good

• Fixed Bundle - A selection of flat products offered as one Product

  • Cannot include Expense Service or Usage Service products

  • The price represents the bundle price and not the individual products

  • The bundle product is the provisionable Product for which stock is maintained (if a physical good and if stockable)

  • Can include a combination of physical goods and services, e.g. a decoder and an installation service

• Flexible Bundle - A variable selection of flat products that are customisable 

  • Cannot include Expense Service or Usage Service products

  • The bundle’s components are selected at the time of ordering

  • Prices can be specified on both the bundle and its products

  • Provisioning is applied to the bundle components (and not to the bundle itself)

  • The flexible bundle product is included in stock balance calculations

  • Can include a combination of physical goods and services, e.g. a decoder and an installation service

• Composite - A product sold in multiple variations

  • Must be a physical good

  • Has a set of characteristics, each one having multiple values that define the multiple variations in which the Product is sold (e.g. the size, which can be Small, Medium, or Large and its colour, which can be White or Red)

  • Each variant product has its own SKU and, optionally, a price

  • If stockable, the total stock balance of the variant product is the stock balance of the composite Product

  • A composite Product has a set of modifiers

    • A modifier product is a product that is not sold individually but only as part of a composite product (e.g. cheese is only sold as part of a pizza)

    • A modifier product is classified through its product Type

    • Can optionally have its own price

  • A Composite product type might be marked as provisionable (e.g. STBs). However, the composite Product, as such, does not have any provisioning parameters (external references), but its variant products will do

Characteristics

A Characteristic represents another attribute of a product, such as its size or colour, which is selectable during ordering.

Refer to the system Settings to see how to configure product Types.

Family

Families can be defined to group products with similar characteristics, such as decoders or televisions. Each Product can belong to a single family. Families can also be used to identify products for reward offers or promotional purposes. Refer to Settings for configuration.

Brand

Commercial brands can be assigned to products, each Product can have only one brand. Brands are used throughout the software, e.g. for analytics or reward offer purposes.

Category

Categories provide a business classification to products and can be used for analytics or reward offer definitions. Each Product can belong to multiple categories. Categories can be created in a hierarchical structure, refer to Settings for configuration.

Modifiers & Components

Modifiers and Components can be configured for products with a composition method of Fixed Bundle, Flexible Bundle, or Composite. This allows customers to select add-ons to a main product during ordering. The composition methods for products are defined using Product Types.

Modifiers - Modifier products are flat products that cannot be sold separately but only as part of a composite product. During ordering, the Contact can view the available modifiers for the selected Product and choose those required for the order.

Example

The ‘Classic Pizza’ product is a composite product with modifiers for ‘Size', ‘Crust type’, ‘Extra toppings’ etc. which are sold as part of the pizza, but cannot be sold individually. During ordering however, the Contact can choose which pizza size, crust type and extra toppings they wish to order.

Components - If the main Product is a bundle type product, then it can be sold in conjunction with other component products too (i.e. a component product can be sold as part of a bundle but also on its own).

Example

‘Basic Plan’ is a subscription bundle, Contacts purchasing the ‘Basic Plan' subscription can optionally add-on ‘Kids TV’ channel at an additional cost. 'Kids TV’ is a product in itself, which can also be sold separately.

Refer to the Settings configuration at the end of this document for further information.

Up-sell Products

Sales gimmick to promote products that could be offered as an upgrade (i.e. an alternative, more expensive Product), as opposed to the selected Product for ordering, e.g. recommend the ‘Telephony & Internet’ package as opposed to the ‘Telephony’ package chosen by the Contact. Up-sell products are defined on the respective product screen and appear in the shopping cart screen when ordering using apps/portals.

Cross-sell Products

A sales gimmick to promote products that could be sold in conjunction with the Contact’s selected Product, e.g., recommending a cell phone cover when purchasing a smartphone. Cross-sell products are defined on the respective product screen and appear on the shopping cart screen when ordering using apps/portals.

Component Sets

Component sets allow the grouping of a set of products to be optionally added to another product (of type Flexible Bundle or Composite) and subsequently selected during ordering. For example, define a component set with the milk options for coffee or the add-on channels for a TV subscription service.

Price Rate Models

Price rate models offer four different product pricing methods.

• Flat - A single flat price is defined and multiplied by the quantity ordered

• Tiered - Multiple quantity-based tiers are defined, with varying prices, the purchased Product could be charged at multiple prices, starting from the lowest tier and moving upwards

• Volume - Multiple quantity-based ranges are defined with varying prices, a single range is identified based on the purchased quantity and the same price is charged per Product

• Stair-step - Multiple quantity-based ranges are defined with varying prices, a single range is identified and charged as a flat fee for the total purchased quantity

Refer to the Pricing manual for a detailed explanation of the price rate models.

Promotions

Promotions are unrelated to reward schemes and apply an instant discount to the shopping cart total or to selected products in the shopping cart. Refer to the Promotions manual for further information.

Dependencies

Dependency Rules have dual purposes. They can be used to define a set of pre-requisite products that a Contact must have already purchased or rented in order to purchase another product, or alternatively, they can be used to define which service products cannot coexist for the same subscription.

Dependency Rules are applied when purchasing services or physical goods. Refer to the Subscriptions manual for more information about service subscriptions.

Product Tiering

Product tiers are only used for termed services and define the permitted changes between subscription services. See the Subscriptions manual for information on tier paths.

Measurement Units

Measurement units are the defined units for a usage service quantity, e.g. GB of data or litres of fuel. Measurement units are used when setting up the usage allowance of a usage service - i.e. how much a contact can consume within a set period. They are also vital in setting up pricing information since a price for such services is set per its measurement unit.

Allowance

Allowances are the non-traceable physical goods or services with their respective volumes, which can be consumed within a period of time as part of a subscription service purchased by a Contact. Usage allowance settings can be configured for termed or one-time service products.

Provisioning

Provisioning is clearly related to subscriptions, it’s the action of providing or disconnecting a subscription service for a Contact. In CRM.COM, only products of type Traceable Physical Goods, Termed and One-Time Services can be provisioned. Provisioning integrators are defined at the product level on the product definition screen.

Synchronising Products

This is the process of establishing data consistency between products defined on an external integration system (source) database and CRM.COM (destination) database. Product synchronisation updates the products in CRM.COM either through an API call or when a product file is imported. Settings can be configured to handle new and existing products. In short:

• New products are created in CRM.COM along with their accompanying definitions - e.g. a new product, ‘Homemade Lemonade’, is created along with a new product category, ‘Cold Drinks’

• Existing products in CRM.COM are updated using the transmitted data - e.g. the description and price of ‘Forest Fruit Smoothie’ is updated

• A Product Synchronisation automation can also be configured, which is triggered when the product synchronisation API is called to carry out further actions.

Managing the Product Catalogue

Navigate to Commerce > Products > Products Catalogue to see and manage existing products. If you want to create products for a specific merchant/service provider, then masquerade to the merchant/service provider level first, then navigate to the products screen.

Open

Creating Products

Select Create Product to create a new product.

Common Setup

These configuration options are common for all products, irrespective of the product type selected. Most of these can be edited and changed once the initial Product has been saved.

SKU

When creating a new product, you will be prompted for a SKU which must be unique. If you also have your products listed in another system (e.g. a POS), then it’s a good idea to use the same codes to define your products in CRM.COM too.

External Code

This is an optional, external reference code for a product used only for integration purposes. It can either be set by a system user when creating the product definition or by the product synchronisation process.

Name

This is the product name which will appear on the product catalogue when ordering. Products can be defined with duplicate names, subject to product settings.

Description

A brief product description, this is also visible to contacts upon ordering from front-end applications.

Type

Choose the relevant product Type for your Product. The product type selected will impact the product configuration properties.

Brand

Assign a commercial brand to the Product to group it for rewards and analytics.

Family

Another form of categorising products is by assigning a family to group similar products together, e.g. Drinks, Food, Modems, Impulse Range etc. Families can also be used, for example, to apply conditions to rewards, for analytics representations etc.

Tags

Tags provide a way of labelling Products with one or more custom terms so that they can be categorised and filtered in the system. Refer to the Generic Settings manual for further information on configuring and managing tags.

Categories

Each Product can belong to multiple Categories based on business classifications. Categories can be created in a hierarchical structure, refer to Settings for configuration.

Accessibility

This setting applies only to products defined at the Business level. Use this setting to restrict which organisations can view and sell the Product.

• Product accessibility

  • only by the Business - The product can only be purchased when ordering from the Business.

  • across Business Network - This is the default setting, the product can be purchased from any organisation in the Business network.

  • across Business Network and specific B2B Merchants - The product can be purchased from any organisation of the Business network and selected B2B Merchants that the Business is a Peer of.

  • by Business and specific Merchants - The product can only be purchased from the Business and selected Merchants.

• Product B2B accessibility

  • only by the Business - The product can only be purchased when ordering from the Business.

  • across B2B Network - This is the default setting. The product can be ordered and used for offers by all B2B Peers (Business organisations) that the Business is a B2B Merchant of.

  • by specific B2B Peers - The product can be ordered and used for offers only by selected B2B Peers (Business organisations) that the business is a B2B Merchant of.

Open

Pricing

Provide basic pricing information for the Product, and select the pricing model, currency and price. If the price is not specified at this point it can be added along with other additional prices once the Product has been saved. There is a separate Pricing manual which provides more information about product pricing.

Images

Adding an image for a product is essential, as it provides a visual representation to the consumer when ordering. Upload good quality images to be displayed on the product list for ordering purposes.

Select the Edit Images option from the Product screen to add a new image.

Other Setup

The configuration options hereon vary subject to the product Type selected and appear once the initial product definition has been saved.

Pricing

This is the selling price for the Product when ordered. Various prices can be defined for a single product based on factors such as in multiple currencies, whether it’s sold or rented, offered as part of a bundle, etc. Refer to the Pricing manual for full details on price configuration.

Allowance

The Product’s price might also provide an allowance, i.e. a usage allowance for a period of time. See the Pricing manual for allowance configuration.

Taxes

The Taxes tab is visible only after saving a product definition. It gives the system user an overview of the applicable taxes for the specific Product. These taxes are configured as part of system configuration, refer to the Taxes manual for further information on configuring taxes.

Modifiers & Components

The back-end system UI adapts according to how the product Type is configured, so for bundle type products, you will see the Components option, whereas, for composite type products, you'll see the Modifiers option.

Select Add Components or Add Modifiers to define add-ons for your Product. Choose the selection method you would like to use to locate your components/modifiers:

• Product - Locate and select a single specific product

• Product Type - Locate and select a group of products based on their product type configuration

• Product Family - Locate and select a group of products based on their product family configuration

• Product Category - Locate and select a group of products based on their product category configuration

• Component Set - Locate and select a group of products based on the Component Set configuration

Add minimum and maximum quantities if these apply. This is used during ordering to control how many modifiers/components of the same set can be selected. Minimum and maximum quantities are also used when including individual termed services in a flexible bundle.

If your set of modifiers/components is price inclusive (i.e. no additional charge), then select the respective check box to denote that their price is included within the bundle’s/composite Product’s price.

Finally, select a default modifier if required from the set of modifier products.

Variants

The Variants option is visible only after saving a Composite product. A Composite product might have multiple variations, each with a unique combination of the composite Product’s variant attributes.

Example

A Composite product has two variant attributes; ‘Colour’ with attributes Black and White, and ‘Size’ with attributes Small and Medium. So, this composite product might have up to 4 variants, one variant for each colour & size combination.

To set up variants for your Product - expand the Variants section, select Add Variants, and then proceed to select the configured variants that apply to the Product. Your Product's variations must either be defined as Products in CRM.COM or can be created on the fly. If existing products are to be used, then select the Add Existing Products check box and provide the respective Product SKU or provide the name to locate and select the Product. If the products don’t exist, complete the SKU and Name fields, and the products will be automatically created in the system.

Up-Sell Products

This is a marketing tool to recommend an alternative, more expensive Product to the one the Contact has selected for ordering. Locate and add upsell products here using either the product SKU or name.

Cross Sell Products

This is also used for marketing purposes, suggesting an accompanying product in addition to the one the Contact has selected for ordering.

Commerce Spend Restrictions

This option must be enabled at the Service Owner level (via Settings > Commerce > Commerce Spend Restrictions) and allows selected Businesses to set the maximum amount a contact can spend on each product when opting to use their Business Commerce funds from their wallet to pay for their order.

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).

Deleting a Product

A product cannot be deleted if any of the following conditions are met:

• 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 are compiled using products from the product catalogue and form a list of products sold by an organisation with optional criteria such as day/time and supply method restrictions. Order Catalogues are used when ordering via front-end systems like mobile apps and portals, whereby Contacts can select the products they wish to order from the available list.

Multiple Order Catalogues with overlapping days and times can be defined, in such cases, the Contact can select from which Order Catalogue they wish to order.

Creating an Order Catalogue

Navigate to Commerce > Order Catalogues. Select Create Order Catalogue to create a new one.

Name

The order catalogue name - for internal use only.

Display Name

The order catalogue name as it will be displayed when ordering.

Supply Methods

Specify whether the order catalogue is valid for specific supply methods (e.g., delivery only).

Images

Upload an image to represent the order catalogue. This image will be visible on front-end systems and only in cases where a Contact has multiple order catalogues to choose from.

Once the order catalogue has been created, additional options are made available.

Time Availability

If the order catalogue is unavailable for ordering from on all days and times, then specify the days and times from which it will be valid.

Accessibility

Optionally specify which organisations have access to the Order Catalogue, i.e., they can sell the items in the catalogue, and the Merchants/Venues fulfill the Orders.

• only by the Business - The products in the order catalogue can only be purchased when ordering from the Business.

• across Business Network - This is the default setting. The products in the order catalogue can only be purchased from any organisation in the Business network.

• by Business and specific Merchants - The products in the order catalogue can only be purchased from the Business and selected Merchants.

Categories

Create parent categories and sub-categories for your order catalogue products. These categories and sub-categories define how your products will be categorised and sorted on front-end systems. It’s possible to define single level categories too, and have all products at the first level only.

When ordering, the parent category is displayed as level 1 and the subcategory as level 2.

Pricing Utility

Navigate to Commerce > Products > Pricing Utility to access the Pricing Utility. Note that an Admin user or a user having Manage product catalogue permission can access this screen.

• Easily retrieve product prices for a specific pricing area (Contact, segment or sales model)

• Easily identify products without prices for a pricing area

• Easily add prices for one or more products in one go

• Modify product prices in one go

• Remove product prices

Firstly select how you want to identify the products you would like to search for, choose from Product name, Type, Brand, Family, and Classification. This selection is optional.

The next step is to choose for which pricing area to retrieve products, if Contact is selected, then one or more specific Contact will need to be specified, if Segment is selected, then one or more segments must be specified, if Sales Model is selected, then one or more sales models must be provided.

When you’re done with the search criteria, select Search Prices to see the results. Products are retrieved based on your selection criteria. Use the ‘pencil’ icon to amend the prices of the required products. Select Apply Changes to apply the price changes.

Product Settings

Navigate to Settings > Commerce > Products to configure product-related settings.

Products

Define settings relevant to how Products will be configured.

Product Name Rules

Define whether duplicate product names will be permitted throughout the system.

Brands

Define any product commercial brands, each Product can have only one brand.

Families

Define product families to be able to group products of similar characteristics, each Product can belong to a single family.

Categories

Categories can be defined in a hierarchical structure and provide a business classification for your Products, one or more categories can be assigned to each Product.

Categories for Ordering

If you will be using an app or portal for ordering purposes, make sure that your categories have meaningful names, as these will be visible to the consumer. A two-level structure consisting of a main category and sub-category must be defined in such cases, and the sub-category should be assigned to the Product for ordering.

To make the main category and sub-category visible on the app/portal, you need to activate the Available in order menus checkbox.

Once the categories have been defined, assign them to the products that will be available for ordering, there is no need to assign a category to variant products.

Characteristics

Create any additional characteristic attributes required for Products, these can be included as part of the Product Type definition. Characteristics might have multiple variants, i.e. a set of attributes that describe the Product (characteristics or features) and their values.

Characteristics can also be assigned to warehouse products classified as traceable physical goods. When these products are stocked-in to a warehouse, their characteristics can be edited and assigned a value. In addition, characteristics such as username and password can be edited and assigned when such products are sold/rented to Contacts (e.g. assigning a username and password to an STB). Refer to the Inventory manual for further information on stockable products.

Types

The Product Type definition determines the Product's behaviour and its configuration.

The Product Classification selection determines the Composition options too. Refer to Types for guidelines on configuring the Classification & Composition settings.

• Products of this type are stockable - Refers to physical products only and identifies a product that resides in the organisation's warehouse

• Products of this type are modifiers - Only physical goods of flat composition can be classified as modifiers, modifier products can have their own price and can be included in a composite product definition (e.g. sugar or milk on coffee products)

• Allow negative balance - Not available for all compositions, this setting allows the inventory stock level to drop below zero

• Is provisionable? - Only products of type traceable physical goods, termed and one-time services, can be provisioned. Provisioning entails the integration between CRM.COM and a provisioning provider, therefore, creating such products also requires the necessary integration. Provisioning examples:

  • Subscription actions that set/modify the provisioning information of services and/or physical goods

  • Utilities implemented by the provider which are triggered on user demand

Component Sets

CRM.COM provides the ability to group a product’s components into a set so that they can easily be added to the main Product, e.g. grouping of all milk options (full fat milk, skimmed milk, almond milk etc.) as a Component Set to be added to coffee products. The products included in a component set would not typically be sold individually.

Component Sets can then be added to a (main) Product of type Flexible Bundle or Composite product using the Modifier option.

Synchronisation

Configure settings to be used when synchronising products through third-party systems. Define the default behaviour when synchronising, and set the default attribute values that will be automatically assigned to the newly created products or to the existing ones if not specified.

Tier Paths

Tier Paths are only used for Termed Services and define the permitted transitions between subscription services during a service change.

Dependency Rules

Dependency Rules are applied when purchasing products (services or physical goods). They can be used to define a set of pre-requisite products that a Contact must have already purchased or rented, in order to purchase another product. 

Dependency Rules can also stop Contacts from purchasing two services that cannot be included in the same subscription.

Measurement Units

Define the measurement units for a usage service quantity, e.g. GB of data. Measurement units are used when setting up the usage allowance of a usage service.

AI Tool

CRM.COM has an in-built AI tool that can optionally be used once an organisation's products have been created or imported to create product descriptions or add a category.

This tool has two different options, that must be run separately:

• Product Categorisation - Assign a product category to products without a category.

• Product Description - Create suitable descriptions for products based on the product name.

Generic Settings

Navigate to Settings > Commerce > Products to configure product-related settings.

Sales Model

Sales models can be assigned to both contacts and product pricing, allowing the business to manage which product prices are extended to which contacts.

CRM.COM has two predefined sales models:

• Retail - This is by default assigned to Contacts of type Person.

• Wholesale - This is by default assigned when creating a Contact of type Company.

Additional sales models can be configured and assigned to Contacts, denoting the prices that will be applied when contacts place orders or are billed for services.

Product pricing policies are applied based on sales models, therefore, a business can setup different prices for the same product based on different sales models.

Order Catalogue

No settings are available.

Reference Material

You may also find it helpful to refer to the following manuals for further reading about Products and Order Catalogues.

Products APIs

• Public key

• Secret key

Business Network

Business Network

Orders

Orders

Promotions

Promotions

Automations

Automations

Integrations

Integrations

Pricing

Pricing

Subscriptions

Subscriptions

Billing

Billing

Inventory

Inventory and Devices

Integrations

For service provisioning.

Integrations

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