Workflow for Featuring a Specific List of Products for Members of a Specific Company

Overview of Managing Product Categories

This topic provides an overview of a workflow for featuring a specific category of products (Featured Category) for a specific group of users (members of a company). The workflow is intended to show how several elements of MarketDirect StoreFront are related in accomplishing the task.

Workflow: Administrator wants to offer a list of products on the site for members of Company A:

1.        Publish the products you want users who belong to Company A to see to a category (if necessary, add a new category on the Manage Categories page; see Manage Categories for help on creating a category).

2.        Make sure the intended buyers for the products are indeed in Company A.

         To do this, go to the Reports page and select Report Category: Business, Report Type: User List, and Companies to include: [target company whose users you want to see the products]. Review the list.

3.        Determine what storefront Company A is associated with.

         To do this, go to the Storefront Customization page and locate the company in the Associated Companies column). If Company A is not associated with a storefront, select a storefront to associate it with and click the companies icon and select the company to associate with it. If you to create a new storefront for Company A, click Add Storefront (and follow the steps in To add a storefront.

4.        Go to the Storefront Customization page and click the name of the storefront associated with Company A to open it for editing in the Storefront Management page.

         In the Content: panel make sure the Default Products & Categories box is unchecked.

         Click Manage Homepage.

         Specify the necessary Category Information (see To customize a storefront layout - manage homepage if you need help with this step). Click Next.

         On the 2: Featured Categories page, click Add Categories and select the category you want to have featured on the storefront and then click Next. (The Featured Categories will now be displayed on the Manage Categories page as a storefront category represented with this purple roof house icon .

         On the 3: Featured Products page, click Add Products and select the products you want to have featured on the storefront and then click Finish.

5.         Log on as a member of that company and ensure you can see the categories and products on the storefront.

The illustration below shows the relationships between various elements in MarketDirect StoreFront:  

Notes:

A product can be included in one or more categories. Products can be on the Storefront home page or in categories. Publishing a product is assigning it to a target category or Storefront home page so it can be displayed to buyers.

Categories are associated with storefronts, which means that they are displayed on the Web site that visitors land on. The Manage Categories page is where product administrators pick a Storefront and assign Featured Products and Featured Categories to it. It is also where they can create categories that are seen in the Categories navigation (the Catalog block) on a storefront.

Storefront = the branded Web site that site users such as buyers will visit to browse and order products. On the Manage Categories page, the Storefront defines the Featured Products and Categories that buyers will see when they visit that storefront (Web site).

A company is associated with a storefront, which is the Web site (with its look and feel, products, branding, etc.) that site users will visit to browse and order products. More than 1 company can be associated with a storefront; but the same company cannot be associated with more than 1 storefront.  

A user (a buyer, Print Shop personnel such as an operator or CSR, administrator) can belong to only one company (at a time).

See Also

         Edit and Configure Product Categories