What is a Virtual Catalog?
For the latest version of Commerce Server 2007 Help, see the Microsoft Web site.
You build virtual catalogs from one or more base catalogs. Virtual catalogs let you preserve your original base catalogs. You can use virtual catalogs to aggregate multiple base catalogs into a single catalog, and change the pricing and currency. For example, you can use a virtual catalog to create a spring sale catalog, or to display prices in a different currency such as euros.
If you add a product to a base catalog, the product may also appear in the associated virtual catalog, depending on the inclusion rules. Products in a virtual catalog are represented only one time in the database, regardless of how many virtual catalogs they appear in. Virtual catalogs can have their own category hierarchy, which makes them a flexible way to organize your products for different audiences.
Virtual catalogs support price rules. That is, you can specify whether the price for the category or product is the same or different as the price in the base catalog. For example, AdventureWorks.com sells a line of camping gear. The Adventure Works Company could include all their products in a single base catalog with retail pricing. However, they might also want to sell their camping equipment to their distributors at wholesale prices. In order to sell their equipment at wholesale prices to their distributors, they can create a virtual catalog based on the original base catalog. The virtual catalog can include special wholesale pricing rules that apply to the products in the base catalog. They could also create other virtual catalogs with retail pricing for their different sets of customers.
The following are the primary uses for virtual catalogs:
Aggregate multiple catalogs and customize views for targeting specific customers
You can combine catalogs and products to appear as a single catalog to the customer. For example, you may want to create a manufacturer-specific catalog. You can add products from several base catalogs, selecting only the products from a specific manufacturer. You can then offer views of the virtual catalog to different types of shoppers. For example, a large retailer can aggregate all their vendor catalogs into one virtual catalog, and then offer views for Home, Business, Government, and Educational classes of shoppers.
Price products in multiple currencies
You can display prices in multiple currencies. For example, you can create a virtual catalog that accesses both euros and U.S. dollars.
Provide special pricing for specified groups of customers and views for different customer types
You can focus on a specific subset of products. For example, you could create a spring catalog or a summer catalog. You can then offer views of these catalogs to your different types of customers such as "big-spenders" or "budget-conscious spenders. The smaller catalogs make it easier for customers to find items on sale.
Publish to external marketplaces
You can obtain catalogs from several small vendors and then aggregate them into a virtual catalog. You can then create views on the virtual catalog, which you present to different sales channels.
See Also
Other Resources
How to Create a Virtual Catalog
Managing Tasks Common to All Business Management Applications