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A key concept in Drupal Commerce is the Product Display vs Product model used to separate physical products from their display on the website. Depending on your point of view, this makes perfect sense or is a conceptual or practical nightmare. However you feel about it, understanding the reasoning behind the concept is essential when it comes to planning and implementing a Drupal Commerce project. http://nyccamp.org/sessions/drupal-commerce-product-vs-display-conundrum-and-how-explain-it-customer
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DRUPAL COMMERCE THE PRODUCT VS DISPLAY CONUNDRUM
(AND HOW TO EXPLAIN IT TO A CUSTOMER)
Richard Jones, Technical Director, i-KOS
NYC Camp July 2012
HELLO!
• Richard Jones
• CTO i-KOS
• London-based Drupal agency specialising in Commerce
• @richardjones
QUICK INTRODUCTION TO DRUPAL COMMERCE
• Built for Drupal 7
• "Small-core" philosophy
• 1.0 launch at DrupalCon London 2011
A COMMERCE FRAMEWORK
More than just a shopping cart
BASIC FEATURES
• Shopping cart
• Checkout
• Customer profiles
• Multiple product types
• Rules based pricing
• Payment API
• VAT and tax
Drupal Commerce Reported Installs
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
May
201
1
Jun
2011
Jul 2
011
Aug
2011
Sep
2011
Oct
201
1
Nov
201
1
Dec
201
1
Jan 2
012
Feb
2012
Mar
201
2
Apr 2
012
May
201
2
June
201
2
July
2012
WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT POTENTIAL FOR CONFUSION
SO WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?
• Drupal Commerce has product entities and product display nodes
• Probably the single most important concept to get your head around
• Either really obvious or really confusing
WHY IS IT THIS WAY?
• Products often have multiple variations
• Size, colour etc
• You need to know which one of the variations the customer wants
• You need don't want to display multiples of similar things
THE UPSIDES
• Single product display can represent multiple products
• Fine control of variables for each variant
• Stock and pricing
• Alternative displays for different contexts
THE DOWNSIDES
• If your products are simple you have to create 2 objects to create 1 product
• If your products are complex you could end up with thousands of variants
• Admin user experience
ELIMINATE THE DOWNSIDES
• Two main problems to solve
• Duplication of effort when it seems a waste of time
• Manual creation of hundred of variations
PLANNING YOUR PRODUCT STRUCTURE
• Consider when the product display is used and when the product is used
• Anything product variant specific goes in the product (eg colour, image)
• Anything generic about the product goes in the display (eg marketing description)
PLANNING YOUR PRODUCT STRUCTURE
• Anything you need in the following scenarios should go in the product
• Confirmation email
• Order tracking
EXAMPLE STRUCTURE
PLANNING YOUR PRODUCT STRUCTURE
• Can also have multiple product types
• Where products have different descriptive elements
• Or you need separation for logic
PLACING YOUR TAXONOMY
• If you need to have search or navigation based on taxonomy apply the taxonomy to the product displays
• You could have alternate taxonomy for admin
ENOUGH PLANNING...Let's see the implementation
BULK PRODUCT CREATION
• With the product display system number of variants can multiply quickly
• A product with 5 sizes, 3 colours and 2 fits gives you 30 products for 1 product display
• Bulk product creation set them all up
• Then delete the ones you don't need
IMPROVING THE OWNER EXPERIENCE
• A store admin doesn't want to hear that they have to do something twice no matter how well you explain it
• Use inline edit module
EXPLAINING AND TRAINING
• Getting this message across is the key to acceptance of commerce
TERMINOLOGY
• Find the terminology that fits with the client product range
• Consensus seems to be
• Product display = Product
• Product entity = Variant
ANOTHER SIMPLE RULE
• Products (variants) are for the back end
• Product displays are for the front end
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Some scenarios
WAYS TO USE MULTIPLE DISPLAYS
• You can group products together in any way you like
• Different product displays for different contexts
• Promotional landing pages are a good example
LANDING PAGES
• Use an alternative product display for promotional landing pages
• You can change layout in other ways (display suite)
• Best use of alternative product display when you want to group different products
SALES AND PROMOS
• Alternative product display scenario
• Normal display shows all products (variants)
• Sale version shows only a subset
MULTIPLE PRODUCT TYPES
• Products (variants) have different data requirements
• Also different rules
• Eg books - need a way to identify different VAT condition
RULES BASED PRICING
• Sales and promos
• Use alternative product types for promo price rules
SUMMING UP
DRUPAL COMMERCE IS A FRAMEWORK
• Just like Drupal there is a great deal of power under the hood
• Just like Drupal some UX work will help!
QUESTIONS?
Richard Jones, Technical Director, i-KOS
NYC Camp July 2012