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Managing products

Use the Product page to create, manage, and view the products for your store, as well as items related to your products.

By default, the Products list only shows those products associated with a catalog and at least one category. However, you can use the Search and Filters tab to change the products that appear in the Products list. See How to search and filter the Products list for more information.

You can organize products by Category A category is a collection of grouped products within a catalog. You can organize products by catalog to help shoppers navigate your store or site and locate products. within one or more catalogs. To learn more about catalogs and categories, see Catalogs and categories.

Products taskbar

Button	Description
Create Product	Allows you to create a product using the Product Setup wizard. See Creating an individual product for more information.
Import and Export Products	Allows you to create new products or modify existing products using a spreadsheet. See Importing and exporting products for more information.
View Products to Deploy	Allows you to view all undeployed products and the last five deployed changes to your products. See Deploy Products for more information.
Manage Catalogs	Allows you to manage catalogs. See Managing catalogs for more information.

Products attributes

Attribute	Description
Internal Product Name	The name used to identify the product in reports, offers, and other places within Global Commerce. Shoppers will not see this name in your store.
Product ID	This field shows the product's ID used internally by the Digital River system.
SKU	Provide the stock keeping unit (SKU). A SKU is a unique identifier to track and manage inventory. It is a code or number assigned to a specific product or item in a store or warehouse. SKUs distinguish between different products, variations, or versions and are often used in inventory management systems to facilitate product tracking, ordering, and restocking.
Status	The status of the product. The possible statuses are as follows: Design/Deployed Design Deployed Retired
Catalog	The name used to identify the catalog within Global Commerce. Shoppers will not see this name in your store.
Locale	Select a locale from the list. The locale determines the country and language. A locale represents a language, country, and currency. A code identifies the locale. For example, the United States English is en_US. Locales are not limited to a single country or language. A country can have more than one locale, and some countries share locales. For example, Canada has two locales because it has two official languages: English and French.
Varying Attribute(s)	Select the product's variation attributes from the list. The varying attribute values appear under Search Results. Select the checkbox for each varying attribute you want to include in your search. To filter your results, enter a varying attribute value in the search field. Prerequisite: To enable the Varying Attribute(s) list, complete the fields under Search and Filters, and click Search . This action populates the Varying Attribute(s) list based on the products that appear in the search results.
Add one more attribute	Click this link to add another varying attribute and select the product's variation attribute from the list. This link appears after you select an initial varying attribute.
Preview	A test version of your site and the product in a new window. You can preview your products to see how they will appear in your store. If you have products with variations, you can choose the variation you want to preview in your store. See the following topics for more information: How to preview your store How to preview your product
Copy	Allows you to copy the current product. See How to copy products for more information.
Export	Allows you to import or export products, digital rights, and prices. See How to export a product from the Products page for more information.
Configure Digital Rights	Use the Digital Rights settings to enable and manage the serial numbers and unlock codes. You can use codes to control access to software and other digital products. You can set up serial numbers and unlock codes on a product-by-product basis. You can also define how to enforce digital rights when a shopper purchases the product from your site. See the following topics for more information: Digital Rights How to configure serial numbers How to configure unlock codes
Edit Pricing	Allows you to edit the product pricing. See Edit Product Pricing for more information.
Retire	Allows you to retire the product. See How to retire products for more information.
View History	Allows you to view the change history for a selected product. See Viewing a product's history for more information.
ID	This field shows the product's ID used internally by the Digital River system.
Internal Product Name	The name used to identify the product or product variation in reports, offers, and other places within Global Commerce. Shoppers will not see this name in your store.
Varying Attributes	The product's variation attributes.
Status	The status of the product. See Product status for more information.
SKU	Provide the stock keeping unit (SKU). A SKU is a unique identifier to track and manage inventory. It is a code or number assigned to a specific product or item in a store or warehouse. SKUs distinguish between different products, variations, or versions and are often used in inventory management systems to facilitate product tracking, ordering, and restocking.

Product History attributes

The following table describes the product history attributes.

Attribute	Description
From Date	The beginning of the search date range.
To Date	The end of the search date range.
Change Type	A brief description of the change applied to the product. Some of the possible change type values are as follows: Copied—Indicates a user copied the current product from another product. When a user copies an existing product, the Product History page shows the product ID and name of the original product on which the new product is based. Revert—Indicates a user reverted the product to a previous version (and indicates the previous version). For more about reverting a product, see How to revert changes to products. Save or Save (Including Live Change)—Indicates you or another user saved a change to the product. Save indicates you must deploy the product before shoppers can see the change in your store. Save (Live Change) indicates the system automatically applied the change to your store, and you do not need to deploy the product. You can click the plus (+) sign next to a save event to see additional information for that event. One or more of the following columns appear with every save event: Locale—Indicates the locales where the change occurred. Area—Indicates the general area in the editor the change occurred. Example: If you change the name, the area lists "Storefront Settings" as the area where you can find the name. Field—Displays the changed field. Tip: You can use this field name and the content displayed in the Area column to locate the attribute in Global Commerce. Old Value—Displays the old value. If a value is not present, no content appears in this column. New Value—Displays the new value. Note: Save does not always mean the item changed. If you view the item and click the Save button without applying any changes, the system logs that change. Status Changed to Deployed—Indicates the state of the product changed to the Live state. The changes now appear in your store. Status Changed to Design—Indicates the status of the product changed to the Design state. Status Changed to New—Indicates the status of the product changes to the New state when you create a product. Took Ownership—Indicates that the right to edit a product belongs to a new user. The name of the new user appears in the Modified By column. Ownership means that this user was the last person to edit the product, and no other user can edit the product until they take ownership of the product. Ownership prevents two users from editing the product at the same time. Variation Added—A user added a variation to the product. The variation ID, as well as the varying attributes, also appear in the Change Type column. Variation Deleted—A user deleted product variation. The variation ID, as well as the varying attributes, also appear in the Change Type column.
Product Variation ID	Displays the product ID or variation ID for the product. If the product is an individual product, only the product ID appears. If the product is a base product, (Base) appears after the ID. If the product is a variation, the name of the variation and the varying attributes (in parentheses) appears after the ID.
Modified By	The name of the person or application who last modified the product.
Modified On	The date and time when the product was last modified.

How to search and filter the Products list

By default, the products table only shows products assigned to a catalog and at least one category. You can change which products appear in the products table by using the Search and Filters pane.

You can use the Search tool and the Search and Filters tab on the Products page to search for products.

1. Select Catalog, select Products, and then click Manage Products. The Products page appears.

2. Complete the search fields under the Search tab and then click Search to locate the specific products. The results appear in the Products list.

3. Optional. To filter products by varying attributes:

   1. Select the product's variation attributes from the list. The varying attribute values appear under Search Results.
   2. Select the checkbox for each varying attribute you want to include in your search.
   3. To filter your results, enter a varying attribute value in the search field.

How to sort the Products list

1. Select Catalog, select Products, and click Manage Products. The Products page appears.

2. Choose one of the following options:

   • To sort the Products list, click any underlined attribute in the Products list's column header. Sortable columns display an up or down arrow when clicked and the values appear in ascending or descending order.
   • To reverse sort the Products list, click the underlined attribute in the column header again.

   Tip: Most table lists in Global Commerce allow you to sort the list by clicking the column headers.

How to copy a product

You can copy one or more products, including variations for the product. After you copy the product, you can modify the copied product to create new products in your catalog.

When you create a copy of a product, the system copies most of the product attributes to the new product. If you copy multiple products with variations, the system only copies the base product attributes to the new product. It does not copy the variation attributes.

The following list describes the settings that the system automatically copies by default:

• Basic Product Settings—These settings are common to every product, regardless of type and fulfillment method.

  • Internal Product Name—Preceded with the words "copy of" so that you can easily identify your copied products.
  • Site Product Name—Preceded with the words "copy of" so that you can easily identify your copied products.
  • SKU—Preceded with the words "copy of" so that you can easily identify your copied products.
  • Short Description—A brief description of the features, benefits, and so on for the product.
  • Long Description—A complete description of the features, benefits, and so on for the product. By default, the Long Description appears on the Product Detail page when shoppers view a product.
  • Keywords—A list of words that shoppers can use to search for the product.
  • Thumbnail Image—An image of the product that appears when the shopper views the product on a listing page, such as when the shopper searches for the product or view the contents of a category.
  • Product Image—Product images appear when the shopper views the Product Detail page in your store. You can add up to five product images.
• Locales (both default and supported locales) and localized product content

• Catalog assignment

  Note: The system does not copy the category assignment. You must assign the copied product to a category before deploying the product.

• Settings for the following options and attributes:

  • Deferred Payment Override
  • Download
  • Preorder
  • Product Lifecycle—Including date settings for any variations and locales.
  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Software
  • Subscription
  • Volume License Pricing

1. Search for the product you want to copy. See How to search and filter the Products list for instructions.

2. Choose one of the following options:

   • To copy the one or more products from the Products page:

     1. Select the checkbox for one or more products from the Products list.

     2. Click Copy. The Copy dialog appears.

        Note that the number next to Copy increments based on the number of products you selected for copying from the Products list. The Copy dialog appears.

   • To copy a product from the Edit Product page.

     1. Click the internalProductName under the Internal Product Name column. The Edit Product page appears.
     2. From the Edit Product page, click Copy. The Copy Product dialog appears.

3. Select the options you want to copy to the product.

   • Categories
   • Pricing

   • Digital Rights Settings—But not the actual serial numbers and unlock codes used for digital rights.

     Note: Serial numbers and unlock codes will not be copied.

   • Physical Fulfillment Part Numbers

4. Click Copy. One of the following events will occur.

   • When you create a single copy, a message appears indicating the product was successfully copied, and you remain on the Edit Product page:

     

   • When you create multiple copies, a message appears indicating the product was successfully copied when the Products page appears.

     

     Click the link for the new product on the Products page. The Edit Page for the new product appears.

5. Apply the required changes to the new product's settings and then click Save. The Products page appears. See Product Options and Product Setup for information on how to define product settings.
6. Deploy the product if you want it to appear on your site. See Deploy Products for more information.

How to configure serial numbers

1. Search for the product you want whose serial numbers you want to configure. See How to search and filter the Products list for instructions.
2. Select a product from the Products list and then click Configure Digital Rights. The Configure Digital Rights Management window appears and shows the Serial Numbers tab by default.
3. Select the Enable Serial Numbers checkbox.

4. Complete the fields that appear on the tab.

5. Click Apply. Now you are ready to import or export the serial numbers you want to use. See Importing and exporting digital rights for more information.

How to configure unlock codes

1. Search for the product you want whose unlock codes you want to configure. See How to search and filter the Products list for instructions.
2. Select a product from the Products list and then click Configure Digital Rights. The Configure Digital Rights Management window appears and shows the Serial Numbers tab by default.
3. Click the Unlock Codes tab.
4. Select the Enable Unlock Codes checkbox.

5. Complete the fields that appear on the tab.

6. Click Apply. Now you are ready to import or export the unlock codes you want to use. See Importing and exporting digital rights for more information.

How to edit a product from the Products page

You can edit a product from the Products page.

1. Search for the product you want to edit. See How to search and filter the Products list for instructions.
2. Click an internalProductName under Internal Product Name where internalProductName is the name of the product. The Edit Product page appears. See How to edit a product for more information.

Product status

As you work with products, the status of the product will change. You need to understand what the statuses mean and how they work.

The product status is the condition of the product. The status indicates whether the product has been recently changed, deployed, or retired from your catalog.

The status of a product can affect what you can change. So you may have to change the status in order to change the product settings.

In some cases, the status can affect how you locate or find the product. You can use the search field in Global Commerce to filter your search results by status.

Product status attributes

Status	Definition
Design	The current product setup (also called version in the interface). When you first create a product, it is in the Design state. You can put products in the Design state after you deploy the product by changing specific settings. You can only change some product settings when the product is in the Design state. This means that you have to make a minor change to the product (to put it in the Design state) and then change the setting that was previously unavailable because the product was in the Deployed state.
Deployed	The current product setup is the same product setup that is available for sale in your store. You cannot change some product settings when the product is in the Deployed state. If a setting or attribute is disabled, you can make a minor change to the product to put the product in the Design state. You can modify the product in the Design state and then redeploy the product to your store. See Deploy Products for more information.
Deployed: Expired	A product with variations had a different start or end dates for the variations and/or locales. This status indicates that all the variations or locales have ended. This status only appears when you use the Product Lifecycle setting. See Product Lifecycle for more information.
Retired	Shoppers cannot see or purchase the product in your store. You must retire the product using either the Product Editor or the Import and Export tool for this status to appear. See How to retire products for more information.

How to view a product's status

1. Select Catalog, select Products, and click Manage Products. The Products page appears.
2. Search for the product you want to view. See How to search and filter the Products list for instructions.

3. Click the internal product name for the product under the Internal Product Name field. The Edit Product page appears.

   The status appears in parenthesis () at the end of the Edit Product field.

How to view a product's version

As you work with products, the version of the product will change. Understanding how versioning works helps you manage your products over time.

The version number for a product changes each time you make or save changes to the product settings or options. These changes can include pricing, product options like Subscription or Software settings, locales, Storefront Settings, and so on. Changing some settings will not create a new version of the product.

You can create a link that adds a product to the shopping cart or sends the shopper to a specific product page. When you create the link, you must make sure that link points to the currently deployed product version in your store. When you created the link for a previous version, it may not behave as you expect and may cause problems when a shopper places an order for the product or tries to use the link. That means when you change a product and deploy those changes, you must update the links you created to ensure the link points to the latest version.

1. Search for the product you want to view. See How to search and filter the Products list for instructions.

2. Click the internal product name for the product under the Internal Product Name field. The Edit Product page appears.

   The product version appears in the Version field.