The Planet of Plants Feature Showcase is a collection of detailed examples of core and frequent used features of Intershop 7. It is based on Version 7.0.1.0.116, but some of the presented topics will work for older versions, too.

The Planet of Plants Feature Showcase is a collection of detailed examples of core and frequent used features of Intershop 7. It is based on Version 7.0.1.0.116, but some of the presented topics will work for older versions, too.

Overview

Introduction

Content

• Introduction
• Intershop 7
• Feature Knowledge
• Create the Planet of Plants Base Frame
• First Login
• Creating a new Consumer Channel
• Prepare the Storefront
• Upload Branding Package
• Uploading Product Images
• Consumer Group and User Import

Introduction

All Intershop 7 systems are delivered with a complete demo shop, called Primetech. It contains almost every feature that Intershop 7 provides. Sometimes, the complexity of a full shop system makes it difficult to explore core features for themselves.
To understand the individual parts, another demo shop has been set up. "Planet of Plants" aims to present the individual features as stand-alone-versions, including some meaningful examples. Each one of them can be installed and deleted completely.

Intershop 7

Intershop 7 provides an all new Content Management System (CMS), which will ease the way of storefront editing. To offer you the great feeling and flexibility that Intershop 7 serves you should know that the Cartridge sld_ch_consumer_app was dropped, that’s why you cannot use the “old” storefront again. But the new CMS of Intershop 7 offers much more opportunities in creating your own storefront than the old Enfinity Suite.

Feature Knowledge

Before we start you should know that you will find a rich documentation on almost every feature Intershop 7 provides on your installation-DVD or your installation-image.
Just take a look at the “…/docs/pdf/ directory”.
→ read: Readme for Intershop 7.0

Create the Planet of Plants Base Frame

Now we want to define the Base Frame for the feature showcase. The Sales Organization represents the owner or root organization of a system that implements a multi-channel sales business model. Typically, the Sales Organization represents an organization which manages its demand chain, publishes content and manages orders.

Sales Organizations use Intershop 7 to:

• Manage the internal structure of the sales organization, such as departments, users, and roles.
• Create and manage channels for partners and consumers.
• Manage catalogs and publish them through sales channels.
• Sell goods and services to consumers.
• Receive orders that can be fulfilled directly or exported to external systems.

To create a new enterprise you have to log in into the Sales Organization backoffice. There are two possible ways to do that:

1. Enter a URL with the following syntax into your internet browser:
   https://<hostname>/INTERSHOP/web/WFS/SLDSystem/en_US/-/
   Where <hostname> is either the IP or the DNS name of the machine hosting the Intershop 7 Web Gateway.

2. Start → All Programms → Intershop 7 → Logon → E-Selling

   To log in enter the following data in the provided fields:

   • Name: admin
   • Password: !InterShop00!
   • Organization: Operations

   Note: All data are case sensitive per default!

   Hint: If you use a Intershop 7 build below 7.0.1.0.116 the password should be “intershop” instead of “!InterShop00!”.

   
   Figure 1: Operations backoffice

   You are now logged into the Intershop 7 Organizations backoffice. Here most of the central administrations tasks are done.

   Note: For further information on the administration tasks read the following article:
   Intershop 7.0 Administration and Configuration Guide

   To create the all new organization "Planet of Plants", click on the tab Sales Organizations on the left hand side and create a new enterprise by clicking the button New.

   
   Figure 2: Sales Organization creation

   Enter the following information for the new organization:

   • Name: Planet of Plants
   • ID: PlanetOfPlants
   • Description: A new organization to show you some of the most important and frequently used features and some of the completely new features that Intershop 7 provides.

   Note: Do not forget to check if the status online is set; otherwise you won’t be able to log in to your Sales Organization.

   The earmarked admin login is the default login you already should know:

   • Name: admin
   • Password: !InterShop00!

   If you don’t want to use the provided login data you can enter your own.

   Click on Apply to create your organization. Now you have access to the tabs of the recently created organization. Here you can enter some additional information; you can assign a branding and so on. One of the more interesting tabs is the Services tab. Here you can decide which service should be available in the back office of your organization and which should not.

   
   Figure 3: Sales Organization available tabs

   Intershop 7 provides service interfaces for integrating 3^rd party business services like Web analytics, Mail, Order and PIM or ERP solutions via dedicated service provider cartridges.

   For more information about services read:
   Intershop 7.0 Managing Master Catalogs and Content - Chapter: Organization Management and Preferences Management.

   First Login

   Now log off to close your established connection to Operations. Afterwards log in to your newly created Organization Planet of Plants by using the following login data:

   • Name: admin
   • Password: !InterShop00!
   • Organization: PlanetOfPlants

   
   Figure 4: Planet of Plants Master Channel backoffice

   After logging in you will find yourself in the so called Master Channel of your organization. But at this point you won’t be able to do something great because you have no access privileges at all. To change this you need to acquire some more privileges by clicking on the link Users (or Organization → Users).

   Here you’ll see that there is only one existing user called admin.

   
   Figure 5: Planet of Plants User List

   Click on the user admin and switch to the tab Access Privileges. Now click Select All to assign all available privileges to the user admin. Click the button Apply to confirm your selection.

   
   Figure 6: Assigning Access Privileges

   Note: Access Privileges assigned once can’t be taken away from the person. This is a protective mechanism to not be able to exclude yourself from the system. But be advised, a second user with administrative rights can although exclude you from the system.

   Click on Home to get back to the entry screen.

   Now you have full access to your Master Channel.

   
   Figure 7: Planet of Plants backoffice view with all Access Privileges

   Caution: Be careful whom you grant which access privilege.

   Creating a new Consumer Channel

   The Sales Organization represents the owner or root organization of a system that implements a multi-channel sales business model. Typically, the sales organization represents an organization which manages its demand chain, publishes content and manages orders.

   Consumers use the sales channel of Intershop 7 to:

   • Browse catalogs made available to them.
   • Create and manage baskets/requisitions.
   • Create orders.
   • Participate in tendering activities, such as live and hidden auctions.
   • Participate in online marketing campaigns.

   You need to create a new Consumer Channel to be able to implement the prepared examples. To do this you should switch to the Channels tab and click on the button New.

   You now need to enter a name and an ID and choose the preferred channel type.

   Enter the following information:

   • Name: Planet of Plants – Consumer Channel
   • ID: ConsumerChannel
   • Type: Consumer Channel

   
   Figure 8: Creating a new consumer channel

   For further information about channels and channel types read
   Intershop 7 Managing Master Catalogs and Content : Channel Management.

   After you have confirmed your channel creation, switch to the now accessible tab Access Privileges. Click on the button New and select the user admin. By clicking on Next you are redirected to the available access privileges page. Again choose all privileges by clicking on Select All and confirm your selection with a click on Finish.

   
   Figure 9: Assigning Access Privileges for the consumer channel

   You now have full access to your Consumer Channel.
   To switch to your Consumer Channel, you need to select it on the upper right hand side by clicking on the dropdown menu.

   
   Figure 10: Switching between the available channels

   Now switch to the Planet of Plants - Consumer Channel.

   Prepare the Storefront

   To prepare your channel with some content, click on the Design-View button. When you use this button for the first time, you need to decide either to prepare channel content or start from scratch.

   If you have no experience in creating a new storefront on your own, you should choose the Prepare Channel Content button.

   Note: To make all examples work right, choose the Prepare Channel Content button.

   
   Figure 11: Preparing the Storefront

   The demo content should be imported after clicking the Prepare Channel Content button.

   Note: The prepare process could take some minutes. Please be patient.

   Upload Branding Package

   The Sales Channel Storefront can be customized individually for each sales channel storefront application. This kind of customization pertains to brand information, such as logos, colors and other settings responsible for the look and feel of the storefront.

   General overview: Take a look at your installation DVD or the Knowledge Base ( Is7_user_consumer.pdf Pages 38 ff.): Managing Sales Channels → General Channel Management → Branding

   Branding Management: Take a look at your installation DVD or the Knowledge Base ( Is7_admin_cafe.pdf Pages 15 ff): Central Administration User Guide → Organization Management → Branding Management.

   To upload a branding package, head to the Applications tab of your Consumer Channel. Click on B2C Web Shop and look for the Branding tab. Here you can upload so called branding packages.

   Download the file intro.zip and unzip it.

   Caution: Remember where you stored the unzipped files, because you need the exact location when you want to import the files.

   Enter the following Data:

   • Name: Planet of Plants Branding
   • File: BrandingPlanetOfPlants.zip (can be found in intro.zip)
   • Description: The Planet of Plants branding package

   
   Figure 12: Uploading the branding package

   After clicking Apply you will be able to install the package in your channel.

   
   Figure 13: Branding installation

   Click Install and choose the locale. Install the branding for both, German and English.

   Your storefront now should look like this:

   
   Figure 14: Storefront view

   If your storefront doesn’t look like as on the screenshot above then you may need to invalidate the page-cache.

   Note: If you don’t know how to invalidate the page cache, read the following article:
   Intershop 7.0 Administration and Configuration Guide: Chapter 3: System Management

   Uploading Product Images

   Uploading product images is only possible in the master channel of your organization. To upload the images do the following steps.

   Note: It is possible to upload a .zip file with the whole directory structure. So if you plan to upload lots of product images, which should have a preferred directory structure, choose this method.

   Make sure you are in the master channel of Planet of Plants.

   Go to Master Catalogs → Image Management. In the section Upload File browse to the file PlanetOfPlantsImages.zip, which you can download within the file intro.zip.

   
   Figure 15: Product image upload

   Afterwards the import process is ready, your content directory should have the following structure:

   
   Figure 16: Product image content directory

   Consumer Group and User Import

   Read the basic information about the import and export in the following document:
   Intershop 7 Managing Master Catalogs and Content : Organization Management

   Now you need some consumers for Planet of Plants. Switch to the consumer channel and import the following file (included in the file intro.zip):

   • Consumers.xml

   As last step, create a Consumer Group. Make sure that you are located in the Consumer Channel of Planet of Plants. Now switch to Consumers → Consumer Groups.

   Create a new Consumer Group:

   • Name: ConsumerGroup
   • ID: ConsumerGroup

   After you created the group, assign the imported consumers to it. Click on the tab Consumers and assign the four consumers.

   ---

   If you did all steps from above you now have a sales organization with the name Planet of Plants, a Consumer Channel with prepared content, four consumers, a consumer group and a branding package installed in the Consumer Channel. The Planet of Plants base frame is now ready to use.

Basic Knowledge

Content

• Feature Overview
• Create and manage products and catalogs
• Creating catalogs
• Import and Export
• Naming
• Import modes

To be able to understand and reconstruct all of the features of Planet of Plants, it is necessary for you to have some basic knowledge about the essential components of Intershop 7. The following article will explain the most important basic features to make sure that you are able to work with the demo shop.

Feature Overview

For an overview of all Intershop 7 features take a look at the following Knowledge Base document:
Intershop 7 Feature List

Also take a look at the “.../docs/pdf” directory on your Installation DVD, here you’ll find several information about the whole Intershop 7 software. Especially take a look at
Intershop 7 Managing Master Catalogs and Content

You should feel familiar with the Intershop 7 software before we go on.

Create and manage products and catalogs

There are two possible ways to create products for your storefront:

1. Create the product in the Master Channel and share or syndicate them into the other channels.
2. Create the products in a specific channel.

Note: It is recommended to create the products in the Master Channel, because this is the only possibility to use the products in other channels, too. You can easily share or syndicate the product to as many channels as you want.

Products created within a specific channel will be only available there. It will not be possible to share the product to other channels. If you contrive to have more than one channel it is recommended to use method 1 to create your products. Otherwise you can choose method 2.

Note: You will have no disadvantages when creating your products in the Master Channel instead of creating them channel specific.

Creating catalogs

First, read the following documents on your installation DVD or the Knowledge Base:
Intershop 7 Managing Sales Channels → Standard Catalog Management → Standard Catalog Management (Pages 148 ff)
Intershop 7 Managing Master Catalogs and Content → Catalog and Product Management → Catalog Sharing, Standard Catalog Management (Pages 50/67 ff)
Intershop 7 Managing Sales Channels → Catalog and Product Management → Concepts → Catalog Types (Pages 127 ff)

Catalogs can be shared or local. Shared catalogs are master catalogs which are shared to one or more channels. These catalogs can then be accessed by the business partners using that channel. Catalog sharing makes it possible to use pre-defined catalog structures across different channels.

Import and Export

The import process is done in three steps. After you chose the right category, you first have to choose the file which should be imported. In the second step, Intershop 7 validates the file. Here you get some simple information about the data you want to import. If errors occur, you can check it in the log messages. In the last step you have to choose a suitable import mode.

Note: You have to upload the file first if you want to import data into Intershop 7.

If you want to export data you have to choose the right category. After a click on export you have to choose the data you want to export. Enter a filename and click on export.

Note: After you exported the data, do not forget to download the file.

What can be exported/imported?

The following allocations will show the items of the master and the Consumer Channel which can be imported in .csv or .xml format and exported in .xml format.

Consumer Channel:

• Consumers:
  • Consumers
• Marketing:
  • Promotion Export
  • Promotion Code Import & Export
• Catalog:
  • Product Image Upload
  • Product Attachment Upload
  • Categories
  • Products
  • Classification categories
  • Products and categories
  • Catalog views
  • Product Filters
  • Price lists
  • Variation Types
• Content:
  • Content
  • Pages
  • Includes
  • Page Templates
  • Component Templates
  • Page Variants
  • Components
  • Prepare Channel Content
• Orders:
  • Orders
  • Users
• Stores:
  • Stores

Master Channel:

• Organization:
  • Users
• Orders:
  • Orders
• Master Catalogs:
  • Product Image Upload
  • Product Attachment Upload
  • Categories
  • Products
  • Classification Categories
  • Products and categories
  • Image Views, Image Types and Image Sets
  • Variations types
• Master Content:
  • Content
  • Pages
  • Includes
  • Page Templates
  • Component Templates
  • Page Variants
  • Components
• Localization:
  • Text Localization

Note: All things that are not listed above have to be imported or exported into the channels in another way, for example by using the Intershop 7 Studio.

Naming

If you export something, please choose a name which identifies the content of the file. This is important to be able to identify the item and to choose the right category for import.

Note: You have to add the file extension .xml in the naming process of the export items. If you forget to enter that extension, you will get a file without one, after download of the file. It will work anyway, but to be able to identify the file after a longer time period, please be sure to always enter the right extension.

Note: Some files can have a relationship to the channel they were created in. To use it in other domains, the content of the files may need to be customized.

Import modes

If you import something, in step 3 of 3 you have to choose the import mode. Look at the following table to get to know the differences between the different modes:

Figure 17: Import modes

Note: Not all import modes are available in the different locations mentioned above.

Note: If you undo imports with the delete mode, sometimes parts remain that you have to delete manually. For example if you reimport a catalog, the categories of the catalog will be erased, but the catalog itself remains.

Image Management

Content

• Feature Knowledge
• Image Views
• Image Types
• Image Types for Consumer Channels
• Import image types and views
• Example
• Undo

In Intershop 7 the menu point Image Management is new. It is a real complex and useful instrument for constructing new image views and types. It offers you many opportunities which will easy your work in many ways.

Sales organization administrators can configure the product images that will be available for the possibly multiple product views in the storefront, like, for example, catalog list view, detail view or cart view. This includes image views (e.g., front, side, back), image types (e.g., S, M L, XL) and image sets (combinations of image views and image types). Image sets can then easily be applied to product classifications or used by accordingly set up content components.

The menu point Image Management can be found in the Master Channel in the Master Catalogs tab.

Feature Knowledge

The official overview can be found on your installation DVD and in the Knowledge Base:
Intershop 7 Managing Master Catalogs and Content : Catalog and Product Management → Product Image Management(Pages 53 ff.)
Intershop 7 Managing Master Catalogs and Content : Catalog and Product Management → Managing Product Images(Pages 103 ff.)

Image Views

Figure 18: Image View tab

In the tab Image View you can define different views to assign image types to. For example you can define a type frontview, backview and so on.

Note: Different image views can use the same image types.

Note: Only one image view can be the primary view by default.

Figure 19: Extract of product detail page in backoffice

The primary view is chosen automically when creating a new product, but you can of course change it manually.

Image Types

In the tab Image Types you can define different types of images. So it is possible to create different sizes without having each product image in many different magnitudes.

Note: There are already two default types included, called Image and Thumbnail.

We need to set a prearranged size for the two default image types.

To do so, click on the type Image to see the detail page.

Figure 20: Default image types

Now look for the attributes Width and Height, here nothing is defined at this point.

For the type Image now define the following values:

• Width:500
• Height: 500

So the picture, using the image type image, will be rendered in 500x500 pixels.

In case that some products won’t have a specific product image you can define an alternative fallback image, which will be shown shown if there is no specific product image defined. To do so, click on select and choose the directory Product Images, there should be an image called Fallbackimage.jpg. Select it by setting the radio button and confirm your choice with a click on Ok. Now save the changes you have made with the Apply button.

For the image type Thumbnail set the size to:

• Width:150
• Height:150

And also select the fallback image in this case.

Figure 21: Image type detail page for Image

Figure 22: Image type detail page for Thumbnail

Image Types for Consumer Channels

Every channel has its own image directory. If you have no administrative rights for the Master Channel there is an easy way to use the images uploaded in the specific channel, like your Planet of Plants Consumer Channel.

You’ll find the image repository in the tab Catalogs → Import & Export → Product Image Upload or Content → Content Upload.

Figure 23: Channel specific image repository

Note: Here you should also upload all images you want to use in the channel specific storefront e.g. banner graphics.

To use the images laying in the consumer channel repository you need to tell the image type the right URL Prefix with the following semantic:

<Sales Organization ID>-<Channel ID>:/ → PlanetOfPlants-ConsumerChannel:/

Figure 24: New image type with URL prefix to the consumer channel

Using this prefix will allow you to use the product images uploaded in the specific channel which is the consumer channel of Planet of Plants in this case.

Hint: New image types need to be assigned to a related image view, otherwise it is not possible to choose it when you create a product in the backoffice.

Figure 25: Related image views

Import image types and views

The import and export of created image types, image views and image sets is possible.

Now import the following file in your Master Channel:

Hint: The file can be found in the ImageMangement.zip

• ImageViewAndType.xml

Now take a look at the Image Types tab, there should be one new type called 1XS.

Figure 26: New imported image type

Example

Switch to your Planet of Plants Consumer Channel.

Download the file Image Management.zip and extract the content.

Now import the following files in descending order:

1. CatalogPottedPlants.xml
2. Product.xml

Mark the checkbox Show in Menu in the recently imported catalog Potted Plants in the backoffice, otherwise the catalog won‘t be visible in the storefront.

Now take a look at the imported product.

Figure 27: Product detail page in backoffice

Note: Imported products can already include image views/types with a related product image. But therefore the directory structure and picture name need to be similar to the structure of the directory the product was exported.

Figure 28: Design View button in backoffice

Click on the Design View button in the top area of your backoffice. Once the storefront is shown click on the catalog Potted Plants.

Figure 29: Product detail page in storefront (Design View)

Note that there is no product image shown although the product Ficus Benjamini has some related images assigned in the backoffice. To remedy this, look for the Inspect button in the lower area of your site. Click the Inspect button and now select the placeholder for the missing image.

Figure 30: Using the Inspect button

Once the image is selected, it should be highlighted in some kind of yellow color. To make sure you have selected the right component, check the lower left area, here Product – Primary Image should be selected. Now take a look at the right side. The image component needs an Image Type to be assigned.

Select the Image Type: Image from the dropdown menu and click on the Save button.

Figure 31: Determine the Image Type

Afterwards reload the site by pressing F5. Now the product image should be displayed.

Figure 32: Product detail page in storefront with determined Image Type

Note: Once you have determined the image type for the product detail page it must not to be done for every single product again.

Switch back to the backoffice by clicking the Data View button.

Figure 33: Data View button

Now create a new product:

• Name:New Plant
• ID:NewPlant

Leave the default settings for the other attributes and save the changes you have made with a click on Apply.

Assign the recently created product to you catalog Potted Plants.

Switch back to the Storefront (Design View) and choose the catalog Potted Plants. You should have two products in there, but again, no product image is displayed.

Figure 34: Catalog with two products in storefront (Design View)

Again use inspect button and click on one of the both products. Change the image type to Thumbnail, save your changes and reload the page.

Figure 35: Catalog with two product after determining the Image Type

Because the product New Plant has no product image assigned to it you will see the fallback image.

Click on the product New Plant to see the product detail page.

Note: As mentioned above, if you once have chosen a picture type it will be saved for the other products either.

Hint: It is possible to change the image type at any time.

This article should just to be thought of as a little clue to the way how it is possible to display the product images in the storefront. During the course of the Planet of Plants Feature Showcase you can apply what you have learned in different places.

Undo

It is important to undo the changes you made with the example files, because other examples may use the same names. So please make sure to delete all remains of the current example to avoid problems with other examples.

To roll back the changes you made with the example files please do the following steps:

1. Delete the two products
2. Delete the catalog

Or

Reimport catalog and product with the import mode DELETE.

Figure 36: Import mode DELETE

But be advised, the product New Plant must be deleted manually.

After this, delete all import files from the channel for a better overview.

Important: Do NOT delete the image types, you will need them later on.

Price Lists and special Price Lists

Content

• Feature Knowledge
• Create a new special price list
• Add price scales to products
• Assign Pricelist to consumer group
• Example
• Undo

Price lists serve to display the prices of all products in the channel at a central place. This makes it easier to handle the prices of many products. Beside there are special price lists which offer some great features.

You can add price scales to the products, so it is possible to grant some discount with a bigger purchase quantity.

Another special feature is that you can assign special price lists to consumer groups. With that option you can implement to offer some discount prices only to specific consumer groups.

Feature Knowledge

You can’t create standard price lists on your own, they are always there. There is one for list prices, one for cost prices and one for bonus points. If you click on one of these lists you will see all products from the channel with their prices. Here it is possible to edit any price you want.

Two price lists are available by default: the Standard Price List, which lists all products along with their defined list price, and the Cost Price List, which lists all products for which cost prices have been defined. These lists provide direct access to product prices, facilitating the management of list and cost prices for products. In addition to list prices, channel administrators can define special price lists for channel products.

Note: Products will be displayed in the lists instantly if they have a defined list price, cost price or bonus points. Products without such a defined value can be displayed in the lists with the help of the product search.

However special price lists have to be created by the user. They offer the possibility to add some special features to the products.

Note: You can only create special price lists in consumer channels. It is not possible to create them in the Master Channel.

Read: Intershop 7 Managing Master Catalogs and Content

The official overview can be found on your installation DVD and in the Knowledge Base:
Intershop 7 Managing Master Catalogs and Content : Catalog and Product Management → Master product pricing (Pages 54 ff.)
Intershop 7 Managing Sales Channels → Catalog and Product Management → Special price lists and scaled prices (Pages 136 ff)
Intershop 7 Managing Sales Channels → - Global Order Management → Manage Price Lists (Pages 192 ff)

Create a new special price list

To create a special price list switch to the consumer channel of your organization and click on the tab Catalog → Price Lists. Look for the section Special Price Lists and click the button New.

Note: Special Price Lists are only available in the em>Consumer Channel, not in the Master Channel.

Figure 37: Creating new Special Price List in backoffice

Enter the following data and click Apply to save the changes you have made:

• Name: New Special Price List
• ID: NewSpecialPriceList
• Price Type: Sale Price

Don’t forget to check the checkbox Enabled, otherwise your special price list won’t have any effect.

Now your new special pricelist is ready to use. The tabs prices and consumer groups are usable now.

Add price scales to products

With this feature you can add price scales to different products. These prices are useful if you want to give some discount if a customer purchases a larger quantity of products.

Look for the tab Catalogs and select the category Price Lists. Select your newly created Special Price List and switch to the tab Prices.

Figure 38: Special price list Prices tab

Now, in the section Product Search leave the field name or ID blank and select the option all from the drop down menu. With a click on the button Find all products related to the channel will be displayed. Just select the product where you want to add a special price to and click on the Add Price link.

Figure 39: Setting of price and discount

You can now either set a fixed price for a defined quantity or give a discount (in %).

Note: Only products to which you add a price scale stay in the list.

Hint: You can also define a scale price directly in the product options at the pricing tab.

Assign Pricelist to consumer group

With this feature you can assign special price lists to consumer groups. So you can offer discounts to specific consumer groups.

So, switch to the price lists section in your back office and select your special price list. Switch to the tab Consumer Group. As you can see, here it is possible to assign the special price list to all consumer or only specific consumer groups.

Figure 40: Assign price list to consumers

Now select the radio button for Selected Consumer Groups and click Apply. Now you have the opportunity to choose one or more of the existing consumer groups. Mark the checkboxes of the groups you want to assign a special price list to and click the Assign button.

Note: There are already four standard consumer groups which come with the installation: New Consumers, Recurring Consumers, Registered Consumers and Unregistered Consumers.

Note: To add a special price list to your own consumer group you have to create one. To learn how to create a consumer group, take a look at the following article:

Intershop 7 Managing Sales Channels → General Channel Management → Consumer Group Management (Pages 43 ff)

Example

The following example will show you the recent introduced feature. To make sure that everything works correctly, please stick to the instructions.

First download and unzip the PriceList.zip example file.

Caution: Remember where you stored the unzipped files, because you need the exact location when you want to import the files.

Switch to the Consumer Channel and do the following steps:

Hint: To learn about the import and export of files, read the following article:

Planet of Plants- Basic Knowledge

Import the files in descending order:

1. Catalog.xml
2. Product.xml
3. SpecialPriceList.xml

Switch to the menu point Catalogs and select the checkbox Show in Menu for the catalog Potted Plants to display it in the storefront.

Note: If the catalogs are not displayed in the storefront invalidate the page cache and clear the cookies and cache of your browser.

Figure 41: Storefront view

You can take a first look at the feature. The product has defined two special prices, one static discount for specific purchase quantities and the other one has defined discounts in percent for specific purchase quantities.

Figure 42: Special price list overview

Now switch to the storefront. Put a product to the shopping cart and raise the purchase quantity to see how the price changes.

Undo

It is important to undo the changes you made with the example files, because other examples may use the same names. So please make sure to delete all remains of the current example to avoid problems with other examples.

To roll back the changes you made with the example files please do the following steps:

1. Delete the products
2. Delete the Price List
3. Delete the catalogs

Or

Reimport catalog and product with the import mode DELETE.

Figure 43: Import mode DELETE

After this, delete all import files from the channel for a better overview.

Catalog Views

Content

• Feature Knowledge
• Example
• Undo

By default, all product catalogs defined or available within a channel are visible to all customers of this channel. Catalog views allow the channel catalog administrator to control the visibility of product catalog content on an organization-specific level. Using catalogs views makes it possible to personalize product catalogs depending on the individual needs of customers, or even to hide entire product catalogs from selected customers. There are some special things you have to consider if you use catalog views. Read the description carefully.

Note: Empty Catalog categories are not shown in the storefront, if they are displayed with the catalog view.

Feature Knowledge

To learn more about catalog views head to the following documents:

Intershop 7 Managing Sales Channels → Catalog and Product Management → Concepts –Catalog Views (Pages 129 ff)
Intershop 7 Managing Sales Channels → Catalog and Product Management → Catalog View Management (Pages 164 ff)

Example

To make sure that everything works correctly, please stick to the instructions.

First download and unzip the catalog views.zip example file.

Caution: Remember where you stored the unzipped files, because you need the exact location when you want to import the files.

Switch to the Consumer Channel and do the following steps:

Hint: To learn about the import and export of files, read the following article:

Planet of Plants- Basic Knowledge

Import the files in descending order:

1. CatalogPottedPlants.xml
2. CatalogSale.xml
3. Products.xml
4. CatalogViews.xml

Switch to the catalogs Potted Plants and Sale and select the checkbox Show in Menu in both catalogs to display them in the storefront.

Note: If the catalogs are not displayed in the storefront invalidate the page cache.

Switch to the catalog views and publish the imported catalog views.

Figure 44: Catalog Views

Note: Planet of Plants already contains some consumers and a consumer group, which is necessary to use catalog views.

Look at the consumer list in the channel to get the login for the different users. The password for every consumer is intershop. To take a look at the imported feature, switch to the storefront

Here you should see one catalog called Potted Plants filled with one product.

Figure 45: Storefront with catalog view Exclude View

Now the catalog view Exclude View is active because it is relevant for everyone who visits the Planet of Plants Consumer Channel. This view is excludes the catalog Sale for every visitor.

To enable the view Catalog View Sale it is necessary that you login with a customer belonging to the consumer group Consumer Group. For example use the following login data:

• User: three@test.intershop.com
• Password: !InterShop00!

Note, after you logged in, there should be another catalog available including another product.

Figure 46: Storefront after login with consumer three

Undo

It is important to undo the changes you made with the example files, because other examples may use the same names. So please make sure to delete all remains of the current example to avoid problems with other examples.

To roll back the changes you made with the example files please do the following steps:

1. Delete the products
2. Delete the catalogs
3. Delete the catalog view

Or

Reimport catalog and product with the import mode DELETE.

Figure 47: Import mode DELETE

After this, delete all import files from the channel for a better overview.

Product Variations

Content

• Feature Knowledge
• Example
• Undo

A product variation represents a product that is offered in multiple different variants. The offered variants share most of their attribute values, but are different in some of their attributes.

There are two ways of creating product variations and both deliver the same result.

Automatic creation with variation types is recommended if you have a large number of variations to create. With automatic variations you can only add one attribute per variation type, but you can use as many variation types as you want for one variation product creation process.

Note: If you use more than one variation type there will be combinations of the attributes. This means you get attribute₁ × attribute₂ × … × attribute_n variation products.

Note: If you create variation products with a variation type, all new products will have the name, the pictures and the price of the master product. If you want that these things differ from the master product, you have to change it manually. Besides, you have no influence on the product id, the variation type will create a cryptic word which consists of random letters and numbers.

The manual way is recommended if you got your product catalogs for example from a supplier or any other source and the variations products are already included in the catalog. So it is not necessary to create new variations, you just have to assign them. The manual creation process is also advised if you have specific attribute constellations you can’t implement with the automatic creation process.

Caution: It is not possible to create variation products with shared products. You have to create the variation products in the Master Channel.

If you syndicate the products, there will be no problems in creating variations in the syndicated channel. But to adobt already created variation products from the Master Channel you have to activate the checkbox to preserve product bundle, retail set and variation assignments when syndication takes place. You find the checkbox in the Mapping Rules under the tab Assignment. Otherwise you won’t find the variation products in the syndicated channel.

Note: The product you choose as variation master won’t be usable any longer as product in the storefront. Remind that if you create variations.

Feature Knowledge

To learn more about Product Variations read the following documents:

Intershop 7 Managing Sales Channels → Catalog and Product Management (Pages 140 ff)
Intershop 7 Managing Master Catalogs and Content : Catalog and Product Management → Concepts – Product Variations and Product Variation Types (Pages 57 ff.)
Intershop 7 Managing Master Catalogs and Content : Product Management → Manage Product Variations (Pages 95 ff.)

Example

To make sure that everything works correctly, please stick to the instructions.

First download and unzip the file Product Variations.zip example file.

Caution: Remember where you stored the unzipped files, because you need the exact location when you want to import the files.

Switch to the Consumer Channel and do the following steps:

Note: To learn how to create and manage products, read the following article:

Intershop Feature Showcase: Price Lists and special Price Lists

Import the files in descending order:

1. VariationType.xml
2. VariationProduct.xml
3. VariationProductCatalog.xml

Now, there should be one product in the backoffice called Flower Pot Variation, this will become our Variation Master.

Create variation products with a variation type:

Switch to the product section in the backoffice and select the product Flower Pot Variation. Choose the tab Variations and in the lower area, under Variation Products, click the button New.

Figure 48: Product detail view Variations tab

You can now choose to whether assign the variation product manually or create them based upon variation types. Choose Create variation products based upon variation types.

Figure 49: Variation assignment step 1 of 2

Figure 50: Variation assignment step 2 of 2

Select both variation types and click Finish. Wait for the batch process to be completed.

You now should have 6 variation products, based on the Variation Master, in the backoffice.

Figure 51: Variation product in storefront view

Switch to the storefront and take a look at the products in the variation product catalog. As you see the Variation Master Product can’t be added to the shopping cart. If you click on the master product you only get an overview about the corresponding variation products. You can filter them by attributes.

There is no difference in handling between the manual and the automatic created variation products.

Undo

It is important to undo the changes you made with the example files, because other examples may use the same names. So please make sure to delete all remains of the current example to avoid problems with other examples.

To roll back the changes you made with the example files please do the following steps:

1. Delete the variation master
2. Delete all the products
3. Delete the catalog

Or

Reimport catalog and product with the import mode DELETE.

Figure 52: Import mode DELETE

After this, delete all import files from the channel for a better overview.

Product Links

Content

• Feature Knowledge
• Example
• Undo

A sales or partner organization can define static links between products to define a relation between them. Product links can be of different types, depending on the business semantics of the link.

Note: If products with links get shared, the options to change the links are greyed out in the shared channel. But don’t worry, the links will be usable anyway. If you want to change something, you have to do the changes in the Master Channel. Another possibility is to create the links in the shared channel instead of the Master Channel.

Feature Knowledge

To get familiar with product links and the different link types available in IS 7 head to:

Intershop 7 Managing Master Catalogs and Content : Catalog and Product Management → Concepts – Category and Product Links (Pages 58 ff.)

Example

To make sure that everything works correctly, please stick to the instructions.

First download and unzip the file ProductLinks.zip example file.

Caution: Remember where you stored the unzipped files, because you need the exact location when you want to import the files.

Switch to the Consumer Channel and do the following steps:

Note: To learn how to create and manage products, read the following article:

Planet of Plants- Basic Knowledge

Import the files in descending order:

1. CatalogEquipment.xml
2. CatalogPottedPlants.xml
3. ProductsWithLinks.xml

Switch to the catalogs and select the checkbox Show in Menu in both catalogs to display them in the storefront.

Note: If the catalog is not displayed in the storefront invalidate the page cache and clear the cookies and cache of your browser.

Figure 53: Product with some links

First take a look at the storefront. In the catalog Potted Plants you will find a product called Ficus Benjamini which offers some different link types.

Note: The message Gift wrap available is some kind of special link.

To have the special Gift Wrap Link available you need a product of the type Gift Wrap as well as the option Gift Wrap enabled in the specific product where you want to have the link available.

Figure 54: Gift wrap option

Note: The link types Gift Wrap, Gift Message and Warranty can just use supported product types.

Hint: You can define the product type in the Classification tab of the specific product.

Figure 55: Classification tab

Undo

It is important to undo the changes you made with the example files, because other examples may use the same names. So please make sure to delete all remains of the current example to avoid problems with other examples.

To roll back the changes you made with the example files please do the following steps:

1. Delete all products
2. Delete the two catalogs

Or

Reimport catalog and product with the import mode DELETE.

Figure 56: Import mode DELETE

After this, delete all import files from the channel for a better overview.

Product Bundles and Retail Sets

Content

• Feature Knowledge
• Example
• Undo

A product bundle represents a group of products that is offered to customers with an own SKU and an overall price. The bundle is typically designed to be ordered as a whole and presented in the storefront as a single item.
A retail set is also a kind of product bundle. But a retail set combines products to be presented together on the same storefront page, as a group of products. Typically, all products can be added to the basket with a single click. Unlike product bundles, however, retail sets do not have an overall price.

Retail sets as well product bundles can be imported or exported like standard products.

Note: If you share product bundles and retail sets, keep in mind that you can’t edit or change the bundles or retail sets anymore. If you want to change something, you have to do it in the Master Channel and share the products again.

Note: If you syndicate product bundles and retail sets, remember to select the checkbox preserve product bundle, retail set and variation assignments, to be able to edit or change the created bundles or retail sets from the Master Channel.

Feature Knowledge

Bundles

Consumer channels can have an unlimited number of product bundles. A product bundle represents a group of products that is offered to consumers with its own ID and price. The bundled products might be product bundles themselves (to build bundles of bundles).

Retail Sets

A retail set represents a group of related products. A retail set has similar characteristics as a usual product bundle, as a name, a description, and one or more category assignments. Depending on the storefront implementation, a retail set can be ordered with a single click, or the grouped products are to be ordered individually.

Example

To make sure that everything works correctly, please stick to the instructions.

First download and unzip the file BundlesAndRetailSets.zip example file.

Caution: Remember where you stored the unzipped files, because you need the exact location when you want to import the files.

Switch to the Consumer Channel and do the following steps:

Note: To learn how to create and manage products, read the following article:

Planet of Plants- Basic Knowledge

Import the files in descending order:

1. CatalogProductBundles.xml
2. CatalogRetailBundles.xml
3. BundleProducts.xml

Switch to the catalogs and select the checkbox Show in Menu in both catalogs to display them in the storefront.

Note: If the catalog is not displayed in the storefront invalidate the page cache and clear the cookies and cache of your browser.

First take a look in the backoffice of your Planet of Plants Consumer Channel. There are one product retail set, one product bundle and three products. The products are part of the bundle respectively of the retail set.

Figure 57: Product Retail Set

Figure 58: Product Bundle

Now take a look at the bundle and the retails set in the storefront. Look at the differences between the two objects. The bundle represents a group of products that is offered with an overall price. However the retail set combines products to be presented together on the same storefront page, as a group of products.

Undo

It is important to undo the changes you made with the example files, because other examples may use the same names. So please make sure to delete all remains of the current example to avoid problems with other examples.

To roll back the changes you made with the example files please do the following steps:

1. Delete the products
2. Delete the catalogs

Or

Reimport catalog and product with the import mode DELETE.

Figure 59: Import mode DELETE

After this, delete all import files from the channel for a better overview.

Dynamic product assignment

Content

• Requirements
• Feature Knowledge
• Enable the search service in the backoffice
• Create and configure the Search Service in the backoffice
• Create a new Search Index
• Example
• Undo

There are many possible ways to assign products to catalogs, either manually via labeling, via batch mode or dynamic product assignment. If you only have a small amount of products in your shop, the manual way or the use of labels would be the better choice, because of the relatively high implementation effort. Otherwise, if you have a huge amount of products you want to assign to different catalogs, dynamic product assignment would save you much time. The popular Solr search platform is used for dynamic product assignment.

Dynamic product assignment replaces the implicit product binding feature of Enfinity Suite 6.4.

Requirements

Before you can start, make sure:

• Solr cartridge is installed
• Apache Solr is installed
• Apache Service is running

Check http://localhost:8080/Solr/ to make sure your Apache Solr is configured right.

Feature Knowledge

To learn more about Solr and Dynamic product assignment read the following documents:

Intershop 7 Apache Solr Cartridge Integration
Apache Solr Homepage
Intershop 7.0 Administration and Configuration Guide
Intershop 7.0 Administration and Configuration Guide: Chapter 3: System Management
Readme for Intershop 7 Apache Solr Cartridge 2.0

Enable the search service in the backoffice

Before you can use the Solr search engine in your channel you need to enable the Search Index Services in the Central Administration backoffice.

Use the following login data:

• Name: admin
• Password: !InterShop00!
• Organization: Operations

Switch to the Sales Organization tab and select the organization where you want to enable the Solr Search Service. Choose Planet of Plants. Click on the Services Tab.

Figure 60: System Management Console (SMC)

There should be a service group named Search Index Services available. Click on it to see the single services this group provides.

Note: If the service group mentioned above isn’t available make sure the Solr cartridge is installed an enabled.

Figure 61: Planet of Plants Search Index Services in SMC

Select the service SFProductSearch and enable it by clicking the Enable button.

Create and configure the Search Service in the backoffice

Before you can use the Solr search service, which is responsible for the dynamic product assignment in Intershop 7, you need to create a service which uses the Solr search engine.

Log in to your sales organization Planet of Plants with the following login data:

• Name: admin
• Password: !InterShop00!
• Organization: Operations

The service can be created in to different spots:

• In the Master Repository
• Directly in the Consumer Channel

Note: When you create the search service in the Master Channel it is possible to share it to the different Consumer Channels.

Caution: Service sharing is only possible from Master Channel to Consumer/Partner Channels, although the option shared and active is available in all channels.

Figure 62: The way of service sharing

Switch to the Planet of Plants - Consumer Channel. Choose the Services tab, select SFProductSearch.solr and click Next.

Figure 63: Service creation in backoffice

Enter the following data:

• Name: SearchService
• ID: SearchService

Select the checkboxes Active and Available and click Next. Skip the second step, you can configure the search service later on. In the third step choose Shared and Active and click the Finish button to save.

Note: The option Shared and Active isn’t only responsible for sharing services from channel to channel, it’s also responsible for sharing the service to the channel application.

Figure 64: Configuration setting skip

Now you need to configure your recently created service, click on the name SearchService. Switch to the Configuration tab and follow the displayed link to configure the service.

Figure 65: Solr service configuration

In the configuration windows enter the following data:

• Solr Server URL: http://localhost:8080
• Solr Server Context Path: /Solr
• List of Solr Cluster Node URLs: http://localhost:8080

Save your changes to the configuration with a click on the Apply button.

Make sure the service is shared to your application.

Switch to the Applications tab and click on B2C Web Shop. Look for the Services tab and click on it. The recently created service should be listed here, if it is not the dynamic product assignment won’t work right.

Figure 66: Services tab

Create a new Search Index

Click on the Mass Data Tasks tab and select the menu point Search Indexes. Create a new search index based on the newly created service. Click on the button New.

Figure 67: Creation of a new Search Index

Enter the following data:

• Name: NewSearchIndex
• Type: SFProductSearch.solr
• Locale: English

Don’t forget to check the box online.

Save your changes with the Apply button. After clicking the Apply button, the search index is need to be build either by clicking the Rebuild Index button or the Build button. Wait for the batch process to be completed.

Figure 68: Attention message

Now take a look at your newly created index (Mass Data Tasks → Search Indexes), some new tabs are available to work with.

Switch to the Indexed Attributes tab and create a new attribute.

Figure 69: New attribute in search index

Enter the following data:

• Display Name: Dynamic Binding
• Attribute ID: Dynamic Binding

Leave the default settings for the other options.

Don’t forget to click Apply to save your changes.

Now rebuild the search index.

Note: The name and ID of your indexed attribute must be the same as the product attribute. Otherwise the dynamic assignment won’t work right.

Example

Download and unzip the DynamicProductBinding.zip example file.

Caution: Remember where you stored the unzipped files, because you need the exact location when you want to import the files.

Import the files in descending order:

1. ProductsWithAttributes.xml
2. CatalogDynamicBinding.xml

Take a look at the two imported products. Note that they both have a custom attribute called Dynamic Binding but both with a different value. Afterwards take a look at the imported catalog, here you should see the recently created attribute Dynamic Binding. So all product with the attribute Dynamic Binding with the value 0 will be assigned to the catalog dynamically.

Figure 70: Catalog with dynamic product binding enabled

Note: Choosing the dynamic assignment for a catalog makes it impossible to add products manually.

If Assign Product dynamically is not selected in the catalog, just select it. You maybe need to enter the filter condition also if there is no attribute selected. Just select the Dynamic Binding attribute from the dropdown menu and enter the value 0.

To assign the products dynamically you need to run a schedule in the System Management Console (SMC).

So, now log in to the SMC and look for the Schedules tab. Choose the point Scheduling.

Note: If you don’t have the permissions to log in to the SMC ask the administrator to do it.

Figure 71: SMC Schedules

Select the domain SLDSystem and apply your choice.

Switch to page 2 and run the job Update Product Assignments. If the scheduled Job is done, switch back to your sales organization Planet of Plants.

Take a look at the Catalog Dynamic Binding Catalog in the backoffice. Here you should find one of your two products.

Figure 72: Dynamically assigned product

In order to display the products in the storefront, a rebuild of the search index will be necessary.

Undo

It is important to undo the changes you made with the example files, because other examples may use the same names. So please make sure to delete all remains of the current example to avoid problems with other examples.

To roll back the changes you made with the example files please do the following steps:

1. Delete the products
2. Delete the catalogs

Or

Reimport catalog and product with the import mode DELETE.

Figure 73: Import mode DELETE

After this, delete all import files from the channel for a better overview.

Product Sharing versus Product Syndication

Content

• Feature Knowledge
• Product Sharing
• Product Syndication
• Examples
• Sharing and Syndication of Product Variations
• Undo Sharing
• Undo Syndication
• Sharing and Syndication of Product links
• Sharing Bundles and Retails Sets

Intershop 7 provides two mechanisms for distributing products across channels. These are product sharing and product syndication.

Product Sharing

With product sharing, sales or partner organizations can distribute large numbers of master products to sales channels. The products are not copied to the target channels but remain in the parent organization's master repository.

Note: Intershop recommends using product sharing for distributing large numbers of products, assuming only little changes to the data in the channels.

Product Syndication

With product syndication, sales channels can derive master products from parent sales or partner organizations. The master products are actually copied to the channel repositories.

Note: Intershop recommends using product syndication for distributing products across channels if the product data is expected to be changed in the channels.

Each organization can set up a master repository for products. Via product sharing or syndication processes, products can flow down the demand chain: from the master repositories to the channel repositories, then to the master and channel repositories of partner organizations, from there to the repositories of an indirect reseller, and so on.

Figure 74: The way products can be shared or syndicated

Caution: Product sharing and product syndication cannot be used in parallel in the same channel. If sharing is enabled for a channel, products cannot be syndicated to this channel. If, in turn, products are syndicated to a channel, products cannot be shared with this channel.

Note: Shared product variations, bundles and retail sets cannot be modified.

Feature Knowledge

To learn more about Sharing and Syndication read the following documents:

Intershop 7 Managing Master Catalogs and Content : Introduction → Product Syndication and Product Sharing (Pages 28 ff.)
Intershop 7 Managing Master Catalogs and Content : Mass Data Management → Product Sharing Management: Concepts – Product Sharing vs. Product Syndication (Pages 61 ff.)
Intershop 7 Managing Master Catalogs and Content : Mass Data Management → Product Sharing Management: Concepts – Product Sharing Management Concepts (Pages 62 ff.)
Intershop 7 Managing Master Catalogs and Content : Mass Data Management → Product Sharing Management: Concepts – Product Syndication Management Concepts (Pages 200 ff.)

Product Sharing

Figure 75: Dynamically assigned product

Hint: You will find the Outbound Product Sharing option under the tab “Master Catalogs”.

The sharing process is done in three steps:

1. Create sharing group
   Create and label a sharing group. Add a description which products get shared within this group.
2. Assign products
   Assign the products you want to share to the newly created sharing group. You can assign products either via search or browse.
3. Assign channel
   Assign the sharing group to channels you want to fill with products.

Shorter way

Assign a channel to share, click on the channel and select all products. Now all products will be shared, even if you create new products. They will be shared automatically.

Product Syndication

Figure 76: Product syndication

Hint: You will find the Product Syndication option under the tab “Catalogs”.

Syndication is always defined inside the channel which you want to fill with products.

Keep in mind:

• Product tables grow with the number of channels and may slow down your system
• The syndication process produces a lot of redundant data
• If you change a product attribute inside a channel it isn’t changed within the other channels

The syndication process is done in three steps:

1. Define mapping rules
   Decide which attributes you want to synchronize within the new channel. Don’t forget to mark the checkboxes with preserve attributes. These checkboxes are for example important for adding the products in the correct catalog, to copy the product pictures into the repository or to use already defined links, bundles, retails set and variations.

   Note: If you want to keep the product structure from the Master Channel, you first have to share the catalogs, if not already done.
   After that you need to check the checkbox preserve explicit category assignments. The products now will be assigned to the same categories like the Master Channel.

2. Select products for syndication
   After defining the rules you have to find the products you want to syndicate. You can either browse the products or search them.

   Note: When the products you want to syndicate don’t belong to any catalog use the search option.

3. Synchronization
   After choosing the products you only have to synchronize your channel with the master repository. If someone changes attributes of the products in the master channel it is necessary synchronize the products again to apply the changes to all other channels.

Examples

Download and unzip the SharingAndSyndication.zip example file.

Caution: Remember where you stored the unzipped files, because you need the exact location when you want to import the files.

Sharing and Syndication of Product Variations

Import the following file in the Master Channel:

• VariationProducts.xml

Now share the products and take a look at the result in the Consumer Channel.

As you can see you aren’t able to edit the variation master, all buttons in the Variations tab are greyed out. This means you can’t add further variations products to the master or change or add variation attributes.

Figure 77: Sharing of product variations

Note: But however you can change the other attributes like the price and so on.

Undo Sharing

To undo the sharing process switch to the Master Channel and select the menu point Outbound Product Sharing in the tab Master Catalogs. Now just delete the Planet of Plants Consumer Channel from the channel sharing list.

Now switch to the Planet of Plants Consumer Channel and syndicate the products.

As you see all variation product options are fully editable. That because the products were copied to the Consumer Channel.

Undo Syndication

To undo the syndication-process just delete all syndicated products from the Consumer Channel.

Sharing and Syndication of Product links

Import the following file in the Master Channel:

• ProductLinks.xml

Now share the products and take a look at the result in the Consumer Channel.

The linked products are usable, but you can’t edit or delete them. But it is possible to add more links.

Undo Sharing

To undo the sharing process switch to the Master Channel and select sharing in the master catalog. Now just delete the Planet of Plants Consumer Channel from the channel sharing list.

Now switch to the Planet of Plants Consumer Channel and syndicate the products. Don’t forget to select the checkbox Preserve product bundle, retail set and variation assignments in the mapping rules.

Take a look at the links, as you see the links are fully editable.

Undo Syndication

To undo the syndication-process just delete all syndicated products from the Consumer Channel.

Sharing Bundles and Retails Sets

Import the following file in the Master Channel:

• BundleAndRetailSetProducts.xml

Now share the products and take a look at the result in the Consumer Channel. The bundles and retail sets are usable, but you can’t delete or edit them.

Undo Sharing

To undo the sharing process switch to the Master Channel and select sharing in the master catalog. Now just delete the Planet of Plants Consumer Channel from the channel sharing list.

Now switch to the Planet of Plants Consumer Channel and syndicate the products. Don’t forget to select the checkbox Preserve product links in the mapping rules.

Take a look at the products, as you see the bundles and retail sets are fully editable.

Undo Syndication

To undo the syndication-process just delete all syndicated products from the Consumer Channel.

Labels

Content

• Feature Knowledge
• Example
• Create a Label
• Assign label to products
• Undo

Labels provide a convenient means to group objects, in order to perform certain operations on these objects. Objects to which labels can be assigned include:

• Products
• Catalogs and categories
• Pages, components and other content assets

Labels facilitate the execution of recurring operations, or operations that need to be applied to a large set of objects. For example, while using labels you can add or update custom attributes on products, catalogs or categories, or export content components. Note that in the context of products, using labels is similar to editing products in batch mode. However, labels provide more flexibility, as they make it possible to group objects together that cannot be identified by a single search query. Moreover, label assignments are persistent, hence can be re-used as often as necessary.

Feature Knowledge

To learn more about Labels read the following documents:

Intershop 7 Managing Master Catalogs and Content : Content Management → Managing Master Page Labels (Pages 138 ff.)
Intershop 7 Managing Master Catalogs and Content : Mass Data Management → Label Management (Pages 208 ff.)

Example

To make sure that everything works correctly, please stick to the instructions.

First download and unzip the file Label.zip example file.

Caution: Remember where you stored the unzipped files, because you need the exact location when you want to import the files.

Switch to the Consumer Channel and do the following steps:

Note: To learn how to create and manage products, read the following article:

Planet of Plants- Basic Knowledge

Import the file:

1. ProductsForLabel.xml

Create a Label

Go to the tab Mass Data Tasks and select the menu point Labels. Now click on the button New to create a new label.

Figure 78: Label creation

Enter the following data:

• Name:Plant
• ID:LabelPlant
• Description:This is a new label.

With a click on Apply the Items tab will become available to you. Here you can see that there are currently no items assigned to the label.

Assign label to products

To assign some products to the newly created label go to the tab Catalogs and choose the point Products. Now click on Edit All and assign the label to the two products.

Figure 79: Label distribution

Note: It is not necessary to create the label first. In step 2 of the Assign Label Process it is possible to add some new labels also.

Now go back to the Labels section in your back office (Mass data tasks → Labels) and select your label by clicking on it. In the Items tab you now can select the products related to the label and you can choose an action for them by clicking the Select Action button.

Figure 80: Label action

Note: According to which type of items are assigned to the label, the executable actions may differ.

Undo

It is important to undo the changes you made with the example files, because other examples may use the same names. So please make sure to delete all remains of the current example to avoid problems with other examples.

To roll back the changes you made with the example files please do the following steps:

1. Delete the products
2. Delete the label

Or

Reimport catalog and product with the import mode DELETE.

Figure 81: Import mode DELETE

After this, delete all import files from the channel for a better overview.

Payment and Shipping

Content

• Payment Methods
• Enable Payment Method for Consumers
• Shipping Methods
• Shipping Configuration Management
• Freight Classes
• Destination Regions
• Shipping Rules
• Example
• Import of Shipping Methods, Freight Classes and Destination Regions
• Place an order

Payment Methods

• Credit card via phone/fax
• Cash on delivery
• Direct debit transfer
• Invoice
• Personal check

In addition, Intershop 7 features two "helper" payment methods:

Simple credit card

A fallback method for order management purposes only, used with orders whose original payment method is no longer available.

Credit card

A demo method intended to be used as a template for implementing new payment methods. With respect to order management, it illustrates the generally available payment processing transactions.

Note: Additional payment methods can be provided through dedicated payment provider cartridges. The central system administrator makes the new payment methods available to your sales organization, which, in turn, has to propagate them to the channel.

To be able to enable payment methods for your channel be sure that the following steps have been done before:

1. Log into the Central Administration backoffice (Operations) and select your sales organization. Select the tab Payment and enable all payment methods you want to use in your storefront.
2. Log on to your sales organization and enable the payment options for your Consumer Channel. In the Master Channel select your Planet of Plants Consumer Channel (in the Channels tab) and enable payment methods.

   
   Figure 82: Enabling payment methods

   Otherwise you will not see the payment options inside of your channel

3. Now switch to your Consumer Channel. Take a look at the tab Orders and the menu point Payment Methods, here you can edit different options.

Figure 83: Available payment methods in consumer channel

Figure 84: Payment method Cash_on_Delivery detail page

Read more about it here:

Managing Sales Channels – Order Management → Payment Methods (Pages 275 ff.)
Intershop 7 Managing Sales Channels: Method Management → Payment Method Management (Pages 298 ff.)

Enable Payment Method for Consumers

To make a payment method usable for the consumers of your channel you need to switch to the Payment Methods tab of your Consumer Channel.
Click on the payment methods BPS_Invoice and check the Default box. Apply your changes.

Figure 85: Determine default payment method

Click on the tab applications and enable the payment method for the B2C Web Shop. Also save your changes with a click on Apply.

Figure 86: Enabling payment method for application

In the payment tab you can add a fee for the chosen payment method. Leave the default settings.

Now take a look at the Consumer Groups tab, here you make the payment method available for the consumers. Check the radio button in the middle to make the payment method available to All Consumers of the channel. Don’t forget to save you changes.

Figure 87: Make payment method available to consumers

If you have done all steps right the payment method Invoice should now be default and available for all consumers of your B2C Web Shop.

Shipping Methods

Intershop 7 provides a simple, yet powerful interface to create shipping configurations that can combine shipping methods, freight classes and destination regions. For each channel, you can define an individual set of shipping configurations, which are then available in the corresponding channel storefront.

The shop manager can create, edit and manage shipping methods, including the corresponding shipping charges, validity periods and sequence numbers to control the display order in the storefront.

Shipping Configuration Management

An administrator of a consumer channel can set up one or more channel specific shipping methods. For each shipping method, a shipping cost amount can be defined. Furthermore, shipping can be defined as free if the order amount exceeds a specific threshold. Shipping methods can be enabled or disabled.

During the order process, consumers can select one of the enabled shipping methods. The actual shipping costs are calculated based on the selected shipping method and configured shipping rules.

For more information head to:

Managing Sales Channels – Order Management → Shipping Configuration (Pages 273 ff.)

Freight Classes

The shop manager can create, edit and manage freight classes and associated eligible shipping methods and destination regions. Freight classes are intended to be associated with products.

For more information head to:

Managing Sales Channels – Order Management → – Managing Freight Classes: DBD (Pages 288 ff.)

Destination Regions

The shop manager can create, edit and manage destination regions, which can be used for setting up available shipping methods, shipping charges and shipping restrictions.

To be able to place an order in your web shop, shipping methods, freight classes and destination regions are necessary.

Note: Shipping methods, freight classes and destination regions can’t be shared. They are created channel specific only.

Shipping Rules

The shop manager can create, edit and manage shipping rules to manage exceptions to the defined shipping configurations, for example, to restrict specific shipping methods to certain destination regions or to exclude individual products from being shipped to certain destination regions.

Example

First download and unzip the file PaymentAndShipping.zip example file.

Caution: Remember where you stored the unzipped files, because you need the exact location when you want to import the files.

Import of Shipping Methods, Freight Classes and Destination Regions

Note: You will find the Import & Export option for the shipping configuration under Orders → Shipping Configuration → Import & Export.

To make the shipping usable for you channel import the following files in descending order:

1. ShippingMethods.xml
2. DestinationRegions.xml
3. FreightClasses.xml

Now take a look in the Shipping Configuration tab. Your channel is now ready for ordering.

Place an order

Before you can place an order you need something that you can order.

Import the following files in descending order:

1. CatalogPottedPlants.xml
2. Products.xml

Take a look at the imported catalog Potted Plants. Edit the properties and mark the Show in Menu checkbox. Save you changes with Apply.

Now the catalog should be shown in the storefront. If it is not displayed then clear the page cache.

Switch to the storefront. (Applications → Storefront)

Figure 88: Storefront browsing link

Log in with a consumer of your channel. Use the following login data:

• Email:one@test.intershop.com
• Password:!InterShop00!

Browse through the catalog Potted Plants and add at least one product to your order basket.

Figure 89: Basket view

Take a look at your basket and click the Proceed to Checkout button.

Now choose a country and enter the needed information. In the next step you can choose which shipping method you prefer. Select one and continue checkout. In step 3 select a payment method. Click through the next steps to finish your order.

Congratulation! You have placed your first order in Planet of Plants.