In SAP Retail, the default case is for R/3 article numbers appear in product catalogs. However, you can choose article order numbers which differ from the R/3 article numbers. This enables you to compare sales revenues generated by different catalogs and thus fine-tune your marketing strategy accordingly.

You can have different product catalogs based on different seasons, different parts of the country, or other demographic data. Or, you may mail out the same catalog several times during a given season (especially at Christmas), but with a different cover picture each time or with a different sequence of catalog sections.

You can assign catalog codes (also called source codes) to identify each of these catalogs; for example, B99 = early fall, 1999 catalog, women's section in front, men's in back. By configuring R/3 to add this catalog identifier in front or in back of the article number (e.g., B99-1234567 or 1234567-B99) to form a unique article order number, you can tell exactly which catalog generated the order.

Catalog codes are limited to 4 alphanumeric characters, and are normally used in conjunction with the R/3 article number. The total order number cannot exceed 18 characters (including the catalog code).

The system can generate article order numbers in the following ways:

• Article order number = catalog code + article number in R/3 master data

• Article order number = article number in R/3 master data + catalog code

• Either of the above alternatives, but with a separator symbol

• According to a custom algorithm that you can define in a user exit

In Customizing you can define product catalog types. The catalog type causes certain parameters to be established for the catalog (for example, whether or not article order numbers are to be used).

You can specify whether or not catalog code numbering scheme is internal (system-generated) or external (user-defined) codes.

In Product Catalog Maintenance:

• On the basic data screen, you assign a catalog code to the specific product catalog. A product catalog can have only one catalog code.

• If you want to use article order numbers that differ from the R/3 article numbers, then in layout area maintenance you can manually assign an article order number to each individual article, or have a user exit that automatically generates the number. Since an article can be assigned to more than one layout area, you can assign a different article order number to each instance of the article with in the catalog (equivalent to having an article appear on multiple pages of a catalog, with different article order numbers for tracking purposes). When you later analyze the data, you can see, for example, that the half page spread for a cashmere sweater yielded 80% of the sales revenue for this article, while only 20% resulted from a tiny picture stuck in the back of the catalog.

During sales order transactions, customers give the article order number that appears in the catalog. The system can then determine the catalog associated with this article order number.