{"id":17864,"date":"2018-02-15T10:49:01","date_gmt":"2018-02-15T18:49:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oroinc.com\/b2b-ecommerce\/?p=17864"},"modified":"2018-02-20T01:40:23","modified_gmt":"2018-02-20T09:40:23","slug":"training-thursday-how-and-why-you-should-manage-product-visibility-in-orocommerce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oroinc.com\/b2b-ecommerce\/blog\/training-thursday-how-and-why-you-should-manage-product-visibility-in-orocommerce\/","title":{"rendered":"How and Why You Should Manage Product Visibility in OroCommerce"},"content":{"rendered":"

Negotiating the selling terms and product offer by customer is a major differentiator <\/span>between B2C and B2B<\/span><\/a> eCommerce. They are key to the B2B model and are powerful drivers of customer satisfaction. Yet personalization is more than customer-specific price lists and payment conditions. It\u2019s about providing customers with the access to the products and information they need without overwhelming them with non-essential data. Today\u2019s Training Thursday will show you how to manage <\/span>product visibility in your storefront<\/span> to deliver a personalized customer experience while improving your bottom line. <\/span><\/p>\n

Why Manage <\/span>Product Visibility in B2B eCommerce<\/span><\/h2>\n

Why would anyone want to<\/span> restrict products in B2B eCommerce<\/span>? It seems counter-intuitive. Wouldn\u2019t you want to showcase as many products as possible to as many sets of eyes as you can find? Not necessarily. There are many instances where you want to restrict product visibility on your webstore to actually increase sales. Here are a few examples.<\/span><\/p>\n

You manufacture or sell tailor-made, branded goods <\/b><\/p>\n

Restricted product visibility is an approach to consider if you sell branded, custom products (e.g. labeled work uniforms). If you set up a separate, customer-specific product category with the relevant products already labeled with the logos or other customization and then restrict access to all the other visitors, you kill two birds with one stone. The customer\u2019s view of the website is not cluttered with items they don\u2019t purchase and other visitors don\u2019t see these custom-made items. The user experience is improved for visitors and repeat customers. <\/span><\/p>\n

You serve customers across a wide range of industries and niches<\/b><\/p>\n

Restricting the visibility of goods and product categories available on the storefront to targeted groups makes sense if your customers come from diverse industries and verticals. This way customer segments only view products in which you know they are interested. Staying with the work uniform example, restrict the visibility of medical apparel such as scrubs to the health industry and display waiter and bistro aprons to those in the food-service industry. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You don\u2019t ship all products to all locations<\/b><\/p>\n

If you sell on a global basis, you are already aware of the challenges of shipping certain products to specific locations. You may have products that you prefer to sell only domestically. Showcasing domestic items to international customers doesn\u2019t improve the buying experience. Instead, restrict the visibility of products by location availability. Domestic customers find the products they need and international customers aren\u2019t shown products that are not available to them. <\/span><\/p>\n

You want to target specific customer segments with promotions<\/b><\/p>\n

No two customers you serve are alike. You may have customers that buy high volume or purchase frequently, others that purchase less frequently, and prospects that are still kicking the tires. You need to approach each segment differently. You may want to offer the high-volume customer a loyalty reward and the prospect an incentive to place their very first order. You can use product visibility options to display special offers to relevant customer segments only while hiding them from other segments. For example, make the bonus or limited edition products visible solely to VIP customers or let certain segments see new arrivals first. Prospects can be offered special pricing on their first order. Product visibility is one more tool OroCommerce provides to support effective marketing initiatives.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now that you see how product visibility can be used, let\u2019s look at how to configure visibility and <\/span>restrict products in OroCommerce<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Visibility Settings for Products and Product Categories in OroCommerce<\/span><\/h2>\n

You can be very granular when configuring the visibility level of every <\/span>product category you create<\/span><\/a> in OroCommerce. Based on the settings you choose, OroCommerce will either display the category on the storefront or hide the category from specific customers and customer groups. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Setting up visibility configuration for a product category in the master catalog within OroCommerce<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Need help on building product categories in the master catalog? Watch the <\/span>How to Create a Product Category<\/b><\/a> video tutorial for detailed information.<\/span><\/p>\n

OroCommerce gives you the ability to customize your storefront in almost unlimited ways. You can build <\/span>personalized web catalogs<\/span><\/a>,<\/span> tiered prices<\/span><\/a>, and provide <\/span>flexible checkout<\/span><\/a> options. You manage how and when product categories and individual products are displayed in your webstore. This gives you the flexibility to show specific items to individual <\/span>customers<\/span><\/a> only and hide product categories from other <\/span>customer groups<\/span><\/a> or <\/span>websites<\/span><\/a>. Use the product visibility settings to customize how products are displayed. You can set visibility on the category, system, and the individual product levels. Learn more about <\/span>visibility settings<\/span><\/a> in the User Guide. <\/span><\/p>\n

All categories are visible by default. To access and adjust the visibility settings, click <\/span>System, Configuration, expand Commerce,<\/b> click <\/span>Visibility<\/b>, and uncheck the <\/span>Use Default<\/b> box. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Adjusting the default product visibility settings in OroCommerce.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

To kickstart learning about this function, watch the <\/span>How to Manage Product and Category Visibility<\/b><\/a> video tutorial. By watching, you\u2019ll learn about:<\/span><\/p>\n