Product: Product Manager
Refer to the definitions below to organize the information you provide when listing products. An example ordering site is presented below to help illustrate these concepts.
Product*
Highest-level designation for anything listed in the PIM. Each product consists of at least one item with a description.
Variant
Used to distinguish between two or more uniquely saleable items listed under the same product: size, color, packaged quantity, and so on. There may be a single variant (choice of sizes) or variant combinations (different sizes in different colors) where each represents a unique instance of the product. Variants may or may not lead to separate pricing.
Item*
Unique instance of a product. A product may be a single item or it may comprise multiple items created by unique combinations of variants.
Attribute
Distinctive product feature: shape, style, fabric, special ingredient, alcohol content, and so on. Attributes do not lead to uniquely saleable items under the same product.
Description
Brief paragraph about what the product is or does, and why it is worth purchasing. This may include some marketing copy or other pertinent information. Unlike attributes, the description would emphasize product qualities and benefits rather than list specific features.
Option
Innate setting associated with the behavior of a product listing: brand, UOM, inventory tracking, SKU, and so on.
Category
Used by various industries to identify and group their products and services. Categories can be a hierarchy (taxonomy) or a simple list of product types. For example, standard categories (Domestic, Craft, Premium, Import, and so on) would be used by beer retailers to help customers navigate the products on their site.
Brand
Brand is an element that makes up the product record but for most customers, the brand will be synonymous with your company. Some customers might require additional logic which would benefit from multiple brands. For example, you might need to have separate life cycles for a brand or you need certain validations for one brand or another.
Life Cycle
A life cycle allows you to assign statuses to each of your products: New, Active, Discontinued. Your business might require certain people to work only with items in certain statuses. For example, you might have someone who adds the products but once it gets to a certain point, you change the status and it moves to another team to add imagery.
*Mandatory Field
rev: 10/28/21