Using Catalogs in Web Site Management

You use the Catalogs modules in Commerce Server Business Desk to create and maintain your catalogs. You can use other Business Desk modules to promote your catalog products. For example, when your site is in production, you can run reports by using the Analysis modules to identify which products are not selling, and then use the Campaigns modules to create a discount campaign to sell more of these products.

Using Business Desk, you can:

• Import catalogs from other data sources. You can import catalogs in Extensible Markup Language (XML) or comma-separated values (CSV) format. For example, if you have catalogs in other databases, you can import them to the Commerce Server catalog database, and then use Business Desk to manage them.

  To convert a catalog to XML or CSV format, you can use your existing database management system to save the catalog in XML or CSV format, or a site developer can write a script to convert the catalog for you.

• Export catalogs. You can export your catalogs in XML format. You might want to export a catalog if, for example, you are selling products wholesale and you want to export your catalogs to retailers. Or, you might want to export a catalog to another application, for example, an inventory system or a pricing system.

  If you want Commerce Server to import or export catalogs on a scheduled basis, a site developer can add this functionality.

• Apply discounts to products. You can apply discounts to all products in a category or to certain products that meet specified criteria. For example, if Product.price > 20.00, you can specify that a discount of 10 percent is applied to the price of that product when users add it to their shopping baskets.

• Edit products in the catalog. You can change the product name, price, description, and other product properties as needed.

• Update product information in real time. You can update product information, such as the product price, and then immediately publish the changes to your Web site. For example, if users have added a product to their baskets, and your site is updated before they check out, Commerce Server applies the new price to the product in their baskets. If users have saved their baskets, and then return to them after you have updated the price, the new price is displayed to the users.

• Identify which products are selling. You can run Commerce Server reports to identify the top-selling products by units sold and by total sales, and you can identify the top-selling categories by units sold and by total sales. You can use the results of your analysis, for example, to discount products that are not selling well, or to promote accessories for products that are selling well. In addition, your site developer can customize your site to support related sells, such as up-sells and intelligent cross-sells.

• Search for products. You can find products by performing a property search or a free-text search.

The following figure provides an overview of the processes in the Product Catalog System that are involved in importing and exporting catalogs, updating the Catalogs database, and importing catalog data into the Data Warehouse for reporting purposes.

Copyright © 2005 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved.