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Collections in Product Catalog are a flexible tool to group products to meet dynamic merchandising purposes on a storefront. Unlike categories, which provide a fixed, hierarchical structure, collections reflect flexible grouping of products for display on a storefront based on specific themes, promotions, or attributes. Collections enable you to aggregate products from multiple categories. You can further refine the curated list based on attributes.

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Key Features of Collections

  • Dynamic Grouping: After the rules for a collection are defined, you don’t need to refresh or re-run the collection to have an accurate list of products when the catalog is refreshed. When new products are added to the catalog or existing products are updated to match collection rules, they will appear in the collection automatically.
  • Attribute-based Rules: You can set up collections by defining rules based on product attributes , for example price range, brand, or availability. This allows for precise targeting and segmentation, helping you create custom displays that align with merchandising strategies.

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Collections vs Categories

While both collections and categories help organize products, they serve different purposes:
  • Categories provide a foundational, static structure for products, making it easier for users to navigate a catalog in a structured, hierarchical way. For example, Furniture > Living Room > Sofas.
  • Collections offer flexibility, allowing you to aggregate products from multiple categories into a single, curated list, perfect for promotional or thematic displays on a storefront. For example, a page on the storefront could showcase items from all categories made by a specific manufacturer, or a sale on sectional sofas.

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Attributes & Values

When creating a collection, the first step is selecting one or more categories that contain the products you want to include. This establishes the initial pool of products that the collection will draw from. After selecting categories, you can refine the included products with the Attributes & Values menu. This menu allows you to create the conditions and rules, which define the specific product attributes that a product must meet to be included in the collection. Each condition consists of the following:
  • A product attribute such as color, brand, or size.
  • A validation option, such as “is equal to” or “greater than.”
  • A value such as “red” for color or “medium” for size.
Product attributes and values are user-specified, but the validation options are fabric-generated. The following table lists the validation options: A rule is formed by combining multiple conditions. The relationships between conditions within a rule are governed by AND and OR operators so that you can create precise inclusion or exclusion rules. For example, a rule with conditions based on AND logic might require that a product be large and green and made in the USA. A rule with conditions that include OR logic might require that a product be large and green or blue. A collection can contain up to five rules, with each rule containing up to five conditions. Rules can only be joined together with an AND operator.

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Use Cases

A furniture store with a diverse range of products needs to drive sales by promoting specific types of sofas from its extensive Product Catalog. While the store’s catalog is organized by broad categories, such as Sofas, these general categories don’t effectively highlight certain products for promotional events. The store wants to feature only a select type of sofa within its broad Sofas category to align with current market trends and customer interests. The following use cases demonstrate two scenarios: one in which conditions are joined with the AND operator, and another in which conditions are joined with the OR operator.

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Scenario 1: Creating a targeted sofa collection with AND operators

In this scenario, the store wants to create a collection of sofas that meet all specified conditions, narrowing down the selection to a precise product type for a focused promotion. The goal is to quickly create a collection of sofas that are:
  • Sectional in style
  • Not powered
  • Not made of leather
  • Manufactured by Top Brand
  • Belonging to the Windham product line
Using a collection, the store can set up this sale within the Sofas category by applying a single rule with multiple conditions that precisely define the products to be included. Here’s how each condition helps narrow down the products in the category to create a tailored collection:
  • Condition 1
    • Product Attribute: Style
    • Validation Option: Is exact match
    • Value: Sectional
  • Condition 2
    • Product Attribute: Powered
    • Validation Option: Is equal to
    • Value: False
  • Condition 3
    • Product Attribute: Material
    • Validation Option: Does not contain
    • Value: Leather
  • Condition 4
    • Product Attribute: Brand
    • Validation Option: Includes
    • Value: Top Brand
  • Condition 5
    • Product Attribute: Line
    • Validation Option: Includes
    • Value: Windham
In this collection, AND logic is used across all conditions, ensuring that the included products are sectional sofas that are non-powered, non-leather, and exclusively from the Windham line by Top Brand.

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Scenario 2: Expanding a sofa collection with OR operators

In this scenario, the store wants to broaden the selection for a promotion by including sofas that meet at least one of several material options, allowing for greater flexibility. The goal is to create a collection of sofas that are:
  • Sectional in style
  • Made of leather
  • Made of microfiber
Here’s how each condition would be structured to create this broader collection:
  • Condition 1
    • Product Attribute: Style
    • Validation Option: Is exact match
    • Value: Sectional
  • Condition 2
    • Product Attribute: Material
    • Validation Option: Is equal to
    • Value: Leather
  • Condition 3
    • Product Attribute: Material
    • Validation Option: Is equal to
    • Value: Microfiber
In this collection, AND logic is used between Conditions 1 and 2, with OR logic joining Conditions 2 and 3, ensuring that the included products are sectional sofas that are either leather or microfiber.