In everyday language, we would probably make no distinction between article and product when buying a jar of jam in the supermarket or jeans in the boutique. Everyone would know what is meant. In OctoPIM, however, the difference is enormous: the product is the basis of an article, but cannot be exported as a "finished good".
An example from the application
Our example store Mode Piment sells fashion for men and women via its online store, including shirts. The shirt in OctoPIM can represent a lot: a family, a catalog or a product. In Mode Piment's online store, first of all shirts are a category that is split into casual shirts, business shirts and special occasion shirts. In PIM, a family is a group of products with similar function that fulfill a similar market need. They can be used as a "template" because they represent a classification in which characteristics of a product are managed.
In PIM, all shirts share a base family with the following attributes:
- Item name (text attribute)
- Item number (number attribute)
- Description (text attribute)
- Size (size attribute)
- Collar width (size attribute)
- Cuff width (size attribute)
- Main color(s) (text attribute)
- Design (text attribute)
- Material (list selection)
- Care instructions (list selection)
The more concrete families inherit all attributes from the base family. In addition, there are:
1.) Shirts Business & Casual
- easy iron (select yes/no)
2.) Shirts for special occasion
- Embroidery (selection yes/no)
A product can now be created from these two families.
We create a product from a (concrete) family, in this case shirts for the special occasion. We fill in the attributes as an example:
- Item name: Silk shirt Red Nights
- Item number: - (Remains empty for the time being, because it is assigned only for a finished article)
- Description: Luxurious comfort meets breathtaking elegance and color intensity.
- Size: XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL
- Collar size: 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45/46, 47/48
- Cuff width: 22, 23, 24, 25, 26
- Main color(s): Dark red, light red
- Design: blanc, stripes
- Material: Already available in the list selection:
- 100% cotton
- 100% linen
- 100% merino
- 100% silk (x = selection made here)
- Care instructions: Available in the list selection:
- Hand wash (x)
- Dry cleaning (x)
- Delicate wash 30°C
- Ironing no
- Ironing * (x)
- Ironing **
- Ironing ***
- Drying no (x)
- Drying yes
- Embroidery (selection yes/no): Yes
Our product is ready!
Now it also becomes clear what the difference between product and article is. The product Silk Shirt Red Nights still includes all variants, that is: all sizes, colors and designs. In contrast, the article concretely describes the thing that can be touched in reality, which is once again illustrated in the following example:
- Artikelname: Silk shirt Red Nights
- Artikelnummer: SKU2324
- Beschreibung: Luxeriöser Tragekomfort trifft auf atemberaubende Eleganz und Farbintensität.
- Größe: M
- Kragenweite: 40
- Manschettenweite: 23
- Hauptfarbe(n): Dark red
- Design: blanc
- Material: 100% Seide
- Pflegehinweise: Handwäsche, Reinigung, Bügeln *, Trocknen nein
- Stickerei: Ja
Article vs. Product - a seemingly small but very important difference in the PIM universe!