This feature is available on paid plans only.
Products can be added via the Product Catalog at Network and Channel levels.
- When added in the Product Catalog at the Network level, the product is automatically linked at the Network level.
- When added in the Product Catalog at a Channel level, the product is automatically linked at that Channel level.
Setup#
Products can be added only after setting the marketplace provider to MAINCROSS under Hero dashboard > Network dashboard > Essential config.
Adding a product#
A new Network Level product can be added using this quick interface and then configured completely in a latter step.
When a product is first added, it is not published - ie it is not listed or discoverable on the marketplace, shopfront & search.
Managing existing products#
Take various actions on existing Network level products:
- Edit - Edit the product details, description, categories, tags, images, pricing etc
- Quick view - See some important details of the product
- Open product page - View the product page like an end user
- Duplicate - Duplicate the product
- Delete - Delete the product
Editing a product#
The editing module has multiple sections:
- Description
- Pricing
- Workflow
- Variants
- Classification
- Extras
- Metadata
- Save / Close
Description
This contains the core product definition - title, short description and detailed product description.
Upto 8 images can be uploaded per product.
Upto 8 hashtags can be added per product (anywhere in the text as desired). These are automatically extracted and become part of the product classification.
Pricing setup
This section allows for setting up the pricing for the product. 1st the pricing mechanism should be selected - fixed or pay-as-you-like (PAYL)
1. Fixed pricing
Country - Currency: Same as the base currency defined in the Payment Gateway (and under Payments setting). This may or may not be the presentation currency.
List price - This is the regular or original price of the product. It may be the MRP, SRP, MSRP, RRP, etc. This field is optional and is only meant for displaying the notional discount on the "original price. If this field is not present, no discount will be shown on the price field of the product.
Selling price - This is the actual selling price of the product, must be same or lower than the List price.
Discount coupon - A discount coupon (code) can be defined with the discount percentage. Upon application of the coupon code, the discount is applied on the Selling price.
Tax percentage - If taxes are collected separately, then the percentage applicable should be mentioned. It will be shown on the product page. Tax is calculated on the discounted Selling price.
As a general rule of thumb:
- If the product is a good, then taxes are included in Selling price.
- If the product is a service, then taxes are shown separately.
2. Pay-as-you-like
Suggested prices: A list of 3 to 5 suggested prices that the buyer will be asked to choose from. The buyer is free to select the lowest.
Default price: The price shown as the default when the product page is opened. This is an important psychological indication of which price the buyer wants.
Minimum quantity - At least how many units does the purchaser need to purchase? The default is 1. This can be set to be higher, if the purchases must purchase at least x units.
Maximum quantity - At most how many units is the purchaser allowed to purchase? The default is 20.
Unit label - The item will be measured in terms of this unit (e.g. nos, KG, boxes, dozens, pieces, kilowatt, days, classes, hours) - allowing complete flexibility in selling anything.
Workflow
Currently the following workflow is supported:
Any resource can be connected to the product to capture enquiries:
- If any product cannot be purchased, then an "Enquire about product" button on each product page will automatically appear, linked to this resource.
- If a product CAN be purchased, then the enquire button is NOT shown.
Any resource may be used as desired which serves the purpose of "product enquiry" - a Form Post, a Static Page with embedded form or contact block, the Contact destination, etc. (It might be absurd to link an Event Post to the Product Enquiry button)
- The full resource URL should be entered.
- The resource URL must be from the network, ie an external resource cannot be linked.
- This is an override setting. If nothing has been defined here, the default resource defined in the commerce settings will be used.
Variants
Upto 2 product variants can be defined in this section.
CAUTION ⚠️ - Please check the variants table carefully after saving any edits since ALL variant data will be reset since combinations will change.
Steps:
1. First add ALL the desired options and edit their values.
2. This will create a table with all the variants created, 1 per value. Each variant can be edited:
3. If there are multiple options, the combination of all the values of the options automatically produces all the variants:
CAUTION ⚠️ - Please check the variants table carefully after saving any edits since ALL variant data will be reset since combinations will change.
Classification
If the taxonomy and/or attributes have been setup in the Market schema, then they will appear in this section and can be selected / filled accordingly.
Extras
Override the default Seller - The default Seller is the Network Operator.
We use the term "Seller", which has deprecated the terms "vendor" and "merchant", to mean any entity which sells goods or services.
Ideally each seller should have their own channel.
However if there are multiple Sellers on the platform who have not been given their own Channel, and the Network Operator is representing them - then the product's seller name and details can be entered in these fields.
Manufacturer / Brand details - This is the entity which has manufactured or produced the product or the brand owner and may be responsible for the product quality, warranty, after-sales service etc.
GTIN - The Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) assigned by GS1 (https://www.gs1.org/) for this product may be entered in this field. It is not visible to customers. Do not invent a fake value. Don't make up, guess, or include values from similar products.
MPN - The Manufacturer Part Number (MPN) assigned by the manufacturer of this product. It is not visible to customers. Do not invent a fake value. Don't make up, guess, or include values from similar products.
Metadata
The system metadata fields cannot be edited.
The External SKU field is meant to cross reference the product defined on MC Commerce to an external system if required. This is only for internal reference and it is not visible to customers.
Save
Product is live: Allows the product to be listed & discovered on the marketplace, shopfront & search and allow product page to be opened.
A product may be saved without making it live. It is available in the Product catalog, but not via listing / search etc for members and visitors.
Save product details starts the process of cascaded updates across the system - product page, listing, search, API and pre-rendered caches etc. If the product has been embedded in any Post or Page, those are updated as well.
It may take upto 5 minutes for the updated product to reflect worldwide.
CAUTION ⚠️ - Do NOT keep changing product details and saving repeatedly at short delays. The cascading updates may go out of sync.
