Product Setup

Use the Product Setup step to select the template for your product. You can create a single product, a product with variations, or a product combination (with components). Your choice here determines the available settings and defaults that appear in the Product Setup wizard.

Note: Contact your Store Operations team for assistance when creating your product template. They can set it up for you. (The product template feature is only available to Digital River Internal Users) An internal Digital River user of Global Commerce. Internal users have access to features or settings that clients do not. These features or settings could really affect commerce on the store or is complicated to set up or manage..

Your product template should contain the default settings required by your company when you first create a product.

Example: The product template selects a specific fulfillment method by default.

Each enabled product setting has specific attributes that define that product.

Example: The Download setting has many attributes that you can configure for a download product. The product template only shows the attributes you can use.

Your product template should only display the default locales and platform options for your company. This speeds up the product creation process in the Product Setup wizard by only loading the data for your default locales and platform options.

Best Practices: Talk to your Store Operations team about how you can use the locale settings in the product template to improve the efficiency of the Product Editor.

Choosing a product template

The following table describes the basic product templates.

Product Template	Description
Individual Product	Use this template if your product does not have versions or variations. You cannot sell an individual product in different versions or variations in your store. Individual products are usually a single item, but they can be many items sold as a single product (such as a collection or box set). Individual products are very common. Note: After you create an individual product, you can later change the product to be a product with variations just by adding variations to the product. For more information, see Individual product versus a product with variations.
Multiple Product (with Variations)	Use this template if your product has variations. There are times when a product with variations makes more sense for the store, product line, or business. Variations are different versions of the base product such as different versions for operating systems, size, or capacity that a shopper can purchase from your store. Example: Your products come in different colors, sizes, or versions. In this instance, it would be easier and less time consuming to maintain one product with variations than to maintain a handful of individual products that are nearly the same. If you think your store may benefit from streamlining your catalog in this way, contact your Store Operations team. You create the base product first in the Product Setup wizard (this includes supported locales, delivery types, store images, and so on). The base product contains the common attributes and settings for all variations. If you chose not to define some of the attributes, then those attributes will not be available when you create a variation. Tip: Define as many attributes as you can in the base product before you create a variation. When you create a variation, the system copies the base attributes to the variation. You need to change the attributes and settings to make that variation unique. Each variation contains attributes and settings that are unique to that variation. Example: If two variations of a base product require the same product images, add those images to the base product before creating your variations. For more information, see Individual product versus a product with variations.
Product Combination (with Components)	Use this template if you sell your product in combination. A product combination allows you to sell multiple individual products as a unit. A product combination provides the following benefits: Allows the client to avoid channel conflict issues on price. Allows shoppers to purchase a product combination that consists of multiple individual products. Ensures the prices of the individual products that make up the product combination do not appear until after the Thank You page. Prerequisite: You must enable Product Combination before you can select this option. See How to enable product combinations for more information.

Product Template

Description

Individual Product

Use this template if your product does not have versions or variations.

You cannot sell an individual product in different versions or variations in your store. Individual products are usually a single item, but they can be many items sold as a single product (such as a collection or box set).

Individual products are very common.

Note: After you create an individual product, you can later change the product to be a product with variations just by adding variations to the product.

For more information, see Individual product versus a product with variations.

Multiple Product (with Variations)

Use this template if your product has variations.

There are times when a product with variations makes more sense for the store, product line, or business. Variations are different versions of the base product such as different versions for operating systems, size, or capacity that a shopper can purchase from your store.

Example: Your products come in different colors, sizes, or versions. In this instance, it would be easier and less time consuming to maintain one product with variations than to maintain a handful of individual products that are nearly the same. If you think your store may benefit from streamlining your catalog in this way, contact your Store Operations team.

You create the base product first in the Product Setup wizard (this includes supported locales, delivery types, store images, and so on). The base product contains the common attributes and settings for all variations. If you chose not to define some of the attributes, then those attributes will not be available when you create a variation.

Tip: Define as many attributes as you can in the base product before you create a variation.

When you create a variation, the system copies the base attributes to the variation. You need to change the attributes and settings to make that variation unique. Each variation contains attributes and settings that are unique to that variation.

Example: If two variations of a base product require the same product images, add those images to the base product before creating your variations.

For more information, see Individual product versus a product with variations.

Product Combination (with Components)

Use this template if you sell your product in combination. A product combination allows you to sell multiple individual products as a unit. A product combination provides the following benefits:

Allows the client to avoid channel conflict issues on price.
Allows shoppers to purchase a product combination that consists of multiple individual products.
Ensures the prices of the individual products that make up the product combination do not appear until after the Thank You page.

Prerequisite: You must enable Product Combination before you can select this option. See How to enable product combinations for more information.

Individual product versus a product with variations

The following items determine how a product appears in your store:

The type of template (individual or multiple) used to create the product
The settings used to define the product

For more information, see Individual Product and Multiple Products (with Variations).

Subscription products

A subscription is a product that a shopper renews on a recurring basis, such as every week, month, or year.

Example: If you configure the subscription to renew every year, the system charges the shopper and the shopper continues to have access to (and may receive updates for) that product every year.

See Subscription for more information.

Combining renewals

You can set up your subscription products so that a shopper with multiple subscriptions can combine their subscriptions (for billing, email notifications, and fulfillment). The subscriptions must meet certain criteria and expire within a specific number of days of each other. When you combine the renewals, they are also eligible for bundle offers and tiered pricing on the renewals.

Note: If you want to use the combined subscriptions feature in your store, contact your Store Operations team. They can work with you to ensure that this feature works as expected.

Conditions for combined subscriptions

The following list outlines the conditions you must meet before you can combine a subscription with another subscription:

You must set up and allow at least one of the subscriptions to be combined with other subscriptions. (The setting to enable combinations is in the product settings.)
All orders for the subscriptions must belong to the same shopper.
All orders for the subscriptions must use the same payment method.
If the subscriptions are physical products, you must ship all orders for the subscriptions to the same address and use the same shipping method.
You can only combine subscriptions purchased from the same site. You cannot combine subscriptions from different sites owned by the same company.

How to combine subscriptions

You can only combine subscriptions when they meet the following conditions:

The expiration date must be the same for two or more subscriptions.
The billing and shipping information must be the same for the subscriptions.
You must enable User Autorenew Subscription Combined Renewal notification for the site even if you do not enable combined subscriptions for the product.
You must enable the products to be combined, and you must specify the expiration dates within a specified number of days on the product setup.
The billing and shipping information is the same for all subscriptions.
You must enable the User Autorenew Subscription Combined Renewal notification for the site.
A shopper can visit www.findmyorder.com or call Customer Service and choose to combine one or more subscriptions before their expiration date.

As long as the subscriptions meet the criteria listed above, the system combines the notifications, billing, and shipping for those subscriptions.

Subscription landing page

Use the subscription landing page to provide your shoppers with a one-stop location to view and manage their subscriptions.

Note: Anyone who has subscription products can use the landing page to provide their shoppers with a way to manage or view their subscription. If your store uses single sign-on (SSO), some additional integration work will be required to configure the landing page to accommodate your SSO integration.

The landing page allows your customers to:

Manually renew a subscription
Upgrade their subscription product
Increase or decrease the quantity on a subscription
Update the billing information
Update the shipping address
Stop automatic renewal for a subscription
Cancel a subscription

How shoppers access the landing page

Shoppers access the landing page from a link in an email generated and sent by Global Commerce. You can configure the link to take the shopper to a specific task on the landing page.

Example: The link goes to the billing information section of the landing page where the shopper can update their billing information.

If you want subscription notifications sent by Global Commerce to include links to the subscription landing page, contact your Account Team. You will need to update the default text for your subscription emails, and you may need to update your Site Design.
If you want to include links to the landing page in your email, you need to create the link to the landing page. See Creating links to the subscription landing page for more information.

When a shopper clicks a link to the landing page, the shopper enters information based on how you set up your store. Once the shopper enters the information, the system redirects the shopper to the page where the shopper can perform the task.

If your store uses anonymous shopping: When a shopper goes to the landing page, they must enter their order number and password. (They create their password during checkout.)
If your store requires shoppers to create an account: When a shopper goes to the landing page, they have to enter their email address and password.
If your store uses single sign on (SSO): When a shopper goes to the landing page, the shopper has to enter the required login credentials for your system. The shopper does not have to sign in twice when they click a landing page link.

Creating links to the subscription landing page

You can create a link to the subscriptions landing page where shoppers can view and manage their subscriptions.

The following table describes the parameters in a subscription landing page link.

Parameter	Value	Required
Store domain	This is your store's domain or virtual domain. Most stores use "store.digitalriver.com" as their domain. However, some stores use a virtual domain. Use the same domain for all links you create to the landing page. Make sure you append `/store?` to the store domain. Example: The text in bold italics is a variable. If you are using the Digital River domain, specify `store.digitalriver.com`. Otherwise, specify your domain name. http://store.digitalriver.com/store?	Yes
Site ID	Shows the unique ID for a site. The value for the SiteID parameter in the store's URL identifies the site ID. You also select the site ID from the Site field when working in Global Commerce. Example: The text in bold italics is a variable. If you are using the Digital River site ID, specify `drsubano`. Otherwise, specify your site ID. SiteID=drsubano	Yes If you do not include the site ID, the link will not work.
Action	This parameter tells the link to open the subscription landing page. Example: &Action=DisplaySelfServiceSubscription LandingPage Once the shopper logs in to the landing page, they are directed to the page that corresponds with the `FutureAction` parameter.	Yes This value is the same in all links, regardless of what you are creating the link to do.
Subscription ID	This field shows the customer's subscription ID. Example: The text in bold italics is a variable. Specify the shopper's subscription ID. &subscriptionId=12345689	No, but recommended. If the shopper has multiple subscriptions and you do not include them in the link, the shopper must select the subscription they want.
Future action	The action you want the shopper to perform once they log in to the landing page, such as manually renewing their subscription. Example: The text in bold italics is a variable. Specify the future action you want the shopper to perform when they sign in to the landing page. &futureAction=DisplaySelfServiceSubscription ConfirmationActionPage See Future action for a description of the futureAction values.	Yes
Accept action	The action that occurs when the user accepts a change to their subscription. This action is only required if you specify the `futureAction` value that requires this action. Example: The text in bold italics is a variable. Specify the accept action you want the shopper to accept. &acceptAction=StopAutoRenew See Future action for a description of the futureAction values.	Yes Only required for four actions, not required for all.

Sample link

The following example shows how to use the parameters in a landing page link.

Example:

http://store.digitalriver.com/store?SiteID=drsubano
&Action=DisplaySelfServiceSubscriptionLandingPage&subscriptionID=12345689
&futureAction=DisplaySelfServiceSubscriptionConfirmationActionPage
&acceptAction=StopAutoRenew

You can copy the example and then change the parameters as needed to define your own link.

Note: Do not include any spaces in the URL. If you copy the example, remove any breaks or spaces.

Future action

The following table describes values for the futureAction parameter. Each value is associated with a specific shopper's task. A few of these parameters require the acceptAction parameter.

Task	`futureAction` Value	Requires `acceptAction`?
View the subscription history	`DisplaySelfServiceSubscription HistoryListPage`	No
Manually renew their subscription	`AddItemToRequisitionForManual Renewal`	No
Edit their payment information	`DisplayAddEditPaymentPage`	No
Edit their shipping address	`DisplayAddEditAddressPage`	No
Upgrade their subscription	`DisplaySelfServiceSubscription UpgradePage`	No
Increase the subscription quantity	`DisplaySelfServiceSubscription UpdateQuantityPage`	Yes IncreaseSubscriptionQuantity
Decrease the subscription quantity	`DisplaySelfServiceSubscription UpdateQuantityPage`	Yes DecreaseSubscriptionQuantity
Stop automatic renewal	`DisplaySelfServiceSubscription ConfirmationActionPage`	Yes StopAutoRenew
Cancel the subscription	`DisplaySelfServiceSubscription ConfirmationActionPage`	Yes CancelSubscription

Subscription reports

There are several reports in two areas of Global Commerce that you can run to get information on your subscription orders and customers. You can run a subscription report to see the subscription information.

Note: There are many other reports you can use to view general information on your orders, shoppers, and so on. This topic only focuses on those reports that show subscription-specific information.

Import and export products

The product template affects the settings and options you see when you create or edit products in Global Commerce. Similarly, the Import and Export Product Spreadsheet Template affects the settings and options you see when you create or edit products using the Import and Export spreadsheets.

Best Practices: Any configuration changes you apply to the product template, you must also apply to the Product Import and Export spreadsheet template. (See Configuring the Product Import and Export spreadsheet.) This ensures the fields in the user interface (UI) match the fields that appear in the spreadsheet. This also reduces confusion and possible configuration errors when you create or edit products using both methods.

To learn more about using Import and Export Products, see Importing and exporting products.