Exclusive Items for VIP Customers

Company A is a wholesale business that sells home decor like wall art, cushions, and glassware. Company A's website uses commerce categories to structure its navigation menu, so users can browse items in the Wall Art, Cushions, and Glassware categories. Company A wants to start a VIP program that gives some customers exclusive access to premium items. Customers who join the VIP program need to sign a contract with Company A first.

Layout

First, Company A needs to decide how to segment their items and customers. Let's see how their answers to some key questions help to layout Personalized Catalog Views.

Question	Answer	Layout Input
What are the customer groups I need?	VIP customers and All Users.	Customer groups to be created – VIP Customers.
On what basis will I assign a customer to one group or the other?	The Sales Operation Manager will add customers to the VIP group after they sign a contract.	VIP Customers customer group is a static customer group.
Do I want any of my customers to be in more than one customer group?	All Users includes VIP customers.	None
What item segments do I need?	VIP Items is a group that includes items from all commerce categories. Everyone can see these items, but only VIP Customers can buy them. We're also launching a new line of items called Designer Carpets, which will be available only to VIP Customers at first, though we might open it up to everyone later.	Item segments needed – VIP Items and Designer Carpets.
On what basis do I want to assign an item to one segment or another?	The Marketing Manager will add all VIP items to the VIP Items segment and the Designer Carpets segment.	None
Do the item segments correspond to the sections in my website navigation or are they different?	VIP Items is different because it includes items from every section of my navigation menu. Designer Carpets is meant to be a top-level section in the navigation menu.	VIP Items isn't a Commerce Category—it's an item collection. Designer Carpets is a Commerce Category because it shows up in the navigation menu.
Which item segments should be visible and purchasable to my customer segments? Which item segments should be visible but not purchasable? Can all customer segments view item prices?	VIP customers can see and buy all items. Recognized and logged-in users can't see Designer Carpets. They can see VIP items, but they can't see prices or buy them. They can see and buy everything else. Anonymous users can't see Designer Carpets or VIP Items, but they can see and buy everything else.	The Website Visibility Level for VIP Items is: Display Fully for VIP Customers Disable Purchase and Hide Price for Recognized and Logged In Customers The Website Visibility Level for Designer Carpets is: Display Fully for VIP Customers
Who should be able to view any items that are not in item segments mapped to a customer segment? Should they be able to view the prices?	All users can see items that aren't mapped to VIP Customers.	The Website Visibility Level for Unmapped Items is: Display Fully

Question

Answer

Layout Input

What are the customer groups I need?

VIP customers and All Users.

Customer groups to be created – VIP Customers.

On what basis will I assign a customer to one group or the other?

The Sales Operation Manager will add customers to the VIP group after they sign a contract.

VIP Customers customer group is a static customer group.

Do I want any of my customers to be in more than one customer group?

All Users includes VIP customers.

None

What item segments do I need?

VIP Items is a group that includes items from all commerce categories. Everyone can see these items, but only VIP Customers can buy them.

We're also launching a new line of items called Designer Carpets, which will be available only to VIP Customers at first, though we might open it up to everyone later.

Item segments needed – VIP Items and Designer Carpets.

On what basis do I want to assign an item to one segment or another?

The Marketing Manager will add all VIP items to the VIP Items segment and the Designer Carpets segment.

None

Do the item segments correspond to the sections in my website navigation or are they different?

VIP Items is different because it includes items from every section of my navigation menu. Designer Carpets is meant to be a top-level section in the navigation menu.

VIP Items isn't a Commerce Category—it's an item collection.

Designer Carpets is a Commerce Category because it shows up in the navigation menu.

Which item segments should be visible and purchasable to my customer segments? Which item segments should be visible but not purchasable? Can all customer segments view item prices?

VIP customers can see and buy all items.

Recognized and logged-in users can't see Designer Carpets. They can see VIP items, but they can't see prices or buy them. They can see and buy everything else.

Anonymous users can't see Designer Carpets or VIP Items, but they can see and buy everything else.

The Website Visibility Level for VIP Items is:

Display Fully for VIP Customers
Disable Purchase and Hide Price for Recognized and Logged In Customers

The Website Visibility Level for Designer Carpets is:

Display Fully for VIP Customers

Who should be able to view any items that are not in item segments mapped to a customer segment? Should they be able to view the prices?

All users can see items that aren't mapped to VIP Customers.

The Website Visibility Level for Unmapped Items is:

Display Fully

Implementation

From the layout inputs, Company A creates the following in NetSuite:

Customer Group (static): VIP Customers
Item Collection: VIP Items
Commerce Category: Designer Carpets
Personalized Catalog View Setup:
- VIP Items set to Display Fully for VIP Customers
- VIP Items set to Disable Purchase and Hide Price for Recognized and Logged In Customers
- Designer Carpets set to Display Fully for VIP Customers
- Unmapped Items set to Display Fully for All Users

Note:

In this example, Designer Carpets doesn't have any subcategories. If it did, you'd select the subcategories separately. Only items included directly to the category are part of the item segment.

Right now, the Designer Carpets Commerce Category is exclusive to VIP users, so other users don't see it in the navigation menu at all. For more information, see Exclude Empty Commerce Categories.

Later, if Company A wants to make Designer Carpets visible and buyable for everyone, they can remove the mapping in the Customer Segments Manager. That makes all the items in it "unmapped" and visible to all users, and the Designer Carpets category will show up in the navigation menu for everyone.

Layout

Implementation

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