IA Modules eCommerce Documentation

Personalizations

This module allows you to allow shoppers to personalize items. You can offer them choices from a list or a free form text field and capture that information. We'll call those info types b/c you are just collecting information. You can also show them options that , when selected, will add additional items (inv/non-inv/service) to their cart along with the item they are primarily buying.

If you sell items that come in variations, define the lists for the parent. the child variation items will inherit these.
If some child varaiations have additional options that are not shared by all variations, then you can also add lists to just those child variations. Upon choosing such a variation, the shopper will see the page reload, and see the parent's options along with the child's options too.

Lists can be one of these three types:

1. You could use a text field type to collect text they want embroidered on a t-shirt.

2. You could use a select list to restrict choices for some option list to a fixed list you define...like a choice of pleat types for some pants that you won't charge extra for, you just want to know which pleat type they want.

3. Sometimes you will charge for work. using the pleat type example, maybe you view that as extra work. you want to charge a amount for that and you want to properly account for it in QB so you can report on it later. In that case you might make several service items to represent each pleat and carry a price associated with that work. You would use an item type list and choose items to add to the list. The shopper , upon choosing an option and adding to cart, would see the pant item plus the pleat service as another item in their cart too.

There are three aspects to get this working.

1. Personalizations Wizard where you make lists and add options to them.
2. Item manager personalizations tab where you assign lists to items
3. ProductDetail xsl which will see the data and do something with it, like lay it out on the page.

Limitations

There is no limit to the number of lists you you can make. there is no limit to the number of options you can add to each list. There is no limit to the number of lists you can assign to a item.

Item type options in item type lists MUST be made 'for sale' via the item manager of submission to cart WILL FAIL.

Time Saving Features

To help you, there is a list option copy function. use this if you have a few lists that are long, mostly the same, and with minor option differences. Make a master list with the common options. Make additional lists. when editing one of those lists, you can click the copy options link under the 'master list' to populate the list you are currently editing with the 'master lists' values.

Option Auto-sort - sorting of options will, by default, use the display value and sort a-z style.

When you work with item type lists and add a item option, it will reload the form setting the some of the items key values in the list options to save you some time, but also allow you to override any of those settings...like images and displayed text.

Design

From a design perspective, you will need your ProductDetail.xsl XSL to do consider and layout your lists. If you are a new customer, you may want to start out with one of the versions posted in the template library. if you are an existing customer with work already done to your ProductDetail.xsl , you may want a designer to merge in personalization list logic into your template.

What's coming ...

There will be a wizard to allow adding multiple lists to multiple items in one click. it should be posted and available by March 31 2008.

There will be a grouping behavior so you can associate certain options as related to another.

There will be a required option so you can designate some options as being required.

More refined and full featured sample templates to get you closer to the mark before a designer has to go and tweak it to be jsut right for you

New set of templates that will use AJAX Java scripting to gather option lists without the need for a page reload. This would only come up for items that have variations. When there are variations, we must reload the page to check if the child variation does in fact have any options of its own. The AJAX way will let the shopper toggle options and just see the options area reload, not the whole page.