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Object documentation Catalog View

Definition

Specific view of a product catalog based on target group or business partner assignment.

Use

You use catalog views to create customer-specific views of a catalog for particular business partners or target groups. Catalog views are created for catalog variants and contain particular areas, items, prices, or attributes from a catalog, and are visible only to assigned recipients. For example, you can filter catalog data so that customers only see products they are allowed to order. Or, you can create a reduced catalog view for all your customers, for example during a sale period. You use catalog views when exporting your catalog to a customer or in the CRM E-Commerce B2B Web shop.

Example

You have categorized your customer base into gold, silver, and bronze customers, and created a catalog containing sports shoes and t-shirts, for use in your Web shop. Your gold customers have shown loyalty to the company and you, therefore, want to offer them special discounts or extra items. You create two views of the catalog; view A for your silver and bronze customers and view B for your gold customers. You assign your customers to the different views of the catalog. When your gold customers log on to the Web shop, the system displays view B, which contains additional special offers and brands. When a silver or bronze customer logs on view A is displayed and they see only a limited product range with standard prices.

The diagram below shows the different views displayed for different customers.

This graphic is explained in the accompanying text

New Items

When creating a view you can choose to include new items in the view. This means, after you have created your view, any new items added to the catalog areas in your view, will also automatically be included in the view.

 

Business Partner or Target Group Assignment

You can assign individual business partners, or groups of business partners, so-called target groups, to a catalog view, or a mix of both. The catalog view can then be exported to these customers in the XML catalog export, or displayed to them in the Web shop.

 

Specifics for CRM E-Commerce and Channel Management

Catalog Determination

You use catalog determination when using catalog views for Web shop customers. According to the catalog view to which the business partner is assigned in SAP CRM,  the system displays this view when  the customer logs on to the Web shop. The views can be personalized customer-specific views, or Web shop-specific views.

Personalized views

The system determines which view is shown in the Web shop, according to which business partner is logged on. If the business partner is assigned to more than one view, he can choose which view to display.

Example

You have created a catalog variant with two areas; Laptops and Accessories. Business partner A should only be allowed to buy laptops from you, business partner B should additionally be allowed to buy accessories. You create two catalog views; View 1, containing the area Laptops, and View 2, containing the areas Laptops and Accessories. You assign business partner A to View 1 and business partner B to View 2. You assign the catalog variant and views to your Web shop. When business partner A logs on the system checks the authorizations and displays catalog View 1. When business partner B logs on catalog View B is displayed.

 

Web shop-specific views

All Web shop customers see the same catalog view, which you assign to the shop on the Catalog tab page in the Shop Management application.

Example

You create a reduced catalog view of your standard catalog variant for use during a sale period, as not all standard items or prices in the catalog are relevant for the sale. You assign the catalog view directly to the Web shop, so all customers entering the Web shop see the sale catalog view, and not the standard catalog view.

Prerequisite: To set up catalog determination in the Web shop you must select the flag Catalog Determination on the Catalog tab page in the CRM E-Commerce Shop Management application.

Collaborative Views

In addition to catalog views you can also enable the set-up of collaborative views by superusers. Collaborative views area created by superusers of an organization for their employees.

 

 

 

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