Items Available only to Certified Customers

Company C supplies equipment and chemicals to labs. They only sell to customers who've been trained and certified to use their products. They also offer online training courses for people who want to get certified. The training is manufacturer-specific. Certification for Manufacturer A covers all their equipment and chemicals, but Manufacturer B needs separate certifications for its equipment and chemicals.

Layout

First, Company C needs to figure out 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?	Certified Customers (Manufacturer A), Certified Customers (Manufacturer B equipment), Certified Customers (Manufacturer B chemicals), Non-Certified Customers, and the general public.	Certified Customers (Manufacturer A), Certified Customers (Manufacturer B equipment), and Certified Customers (Manufacturer B chemicals). Non-Certified Customers might be All Users, but that depends on other answers.
On what basis will I assign a customer to one group or the other?	We're the only supplier of training for Manufacturer B. If a customer buys and completes the classroom-based equipment training, the instructor fills out a form that automatically updates their customer record to show they're certified. If they finish the online chemicals course, their customer record updates automatically too. The customer should be automatically added to the correct certified group based on the information in their customer record. Manufacturer A uses different suppliers for certifications, so customers who want to buy Manufacturer A products from us need to email Customer Support with proof of certification. If they buy the training from us, their customer record updates automatically when they finish the course. Certified Customers (Manufacturer B equipment) and Certified Customers (Manufacturer B chemicals) should be dynamic groups that use saved searches based on custom Certification fields in the customer record.	Certified Customers (Manufacturer A) should be a static customer group so Customer Support can manually add customers when they get proof of certification. But it makes more sense to have a dynamic group for customers who buy training from Company C, so they don't have to send in proof of completing a course. So, we'll have two groups: a static one for external certification and a dynamic one for internal certification.
Do I want any of my customers to be in more than one customer group?	Yes. We support three certifications—Manufacturer A, Manufacturer B (equipment), and Manufacturer B (chemicals). Customers can have one or more of these, so they should be in the group for whichever certifications they have.	We need to think about what items customers in more than one group can see.
What item segments do I need?	Manufacturer A Products, Manufacturer B Equipment, Manufacturer B Chemicals, Certification Courses.	Item segment to be created – Manufacturer A Products, Manufacturer B Equipment, Manufacturer B Chemicals, and Certification Courses
On what basis do I want to assign an item to one segment or another?	For equipment and chemicals, sort first by manufacturer, then by item type. For certification courses, go by item type.	Use mass updates to add items to item collections. For certification courses, there are only three courses, so you can add them manually.
Do the item segments correspond to the sections in my website navigation or are they different?	They're different. The website is organized by product type, like microscopes, graduated cylinders, and so on.	Since Company C doesn't use commerce categories and the navigation structure isn't the same as the item segments needed, it's best to use item collections for the item segments.
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?	Certified Customers (Manufacturer A external) – can buy Manufacturer A Products, Certification Courses. Can view all products. Certified Customers (Manufacturer A internal) – can buy Manufacturer A Products, Certification Courses. Can view all products. Certified Customers (Manufacturer B equipment) – can buy Manufacturer B Equipment, Certification Courses. Can view all products. Certified Customers (Manufacturer B chemicals) – can buy Manufacturer B Chemicals, Certification Courses. Can view all products. Non-Certified Customers – can buy Certification Courses and view all products. Let's dig deeper into what this group needs. Here are some more questions: Can customers with one certification see other certification courses? – Yes, they can. Can customers with a certification see the course they've already finished? – Yes, they can. Can anyone visiting the site see the certification courses? – We only sell to schools, universities, and similar organizations. Only their members can buy from us. They can buy products they're certified for and view all other products and certification courses. Other visitors can see our product catalog, including certification courses, but they can't see prices or buy anything. If they want to buy, they need to contact our Sales team to get their institution added to our customer list.	Certified Customers (Manufacturer A external) and Certified Customers (Manufacturer A internal) customer groups permitted to buy to Manufacturer A Products and Certification Courses. Permitted to view all products. Certified Customers (Manufacturer B equipment) group permitted to buy Manufacturer B Equipment and Certification Courses. Permitted to view all products. Certified Customers (Manufacturer B chemicals) permitted to buy Manufacturer B Chemicals and Certification Courses. Permitted to view all products. Recognized and Logged In Customers permitted to buy Certification Courses. Permitted to view all products. Anonymous Users permitted to view but not buy products. Also, they cannot see product prices.
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 item segments should be mapped to customer segments. If any items aren't in an item segment, it's because they haven't been classified yet, so they shouldn't be visible to anyone.	Unmapped items should be set to Hide Fully
Do all my customers fall into one or more customer groups or do I have some ‘leftover’ customers? What items, if any, do I want the leftover customers to see?	We don't sell to the general public. If someone who's not a registered customer visits our site, they shouldn't see any products for sale.	All certified customers will be in one or more groups. Non-certified customers who are recognized and logged in can see all products and buy certification courses. Anyone who's not logged in or recognized shouldn't see any products at all.

Implementation

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

• Three saved searches that return customers certified by Company C on Manufacturer A products, customers certified on Manufacturer B equipment, and customers certified on Manufacturer B chemicals respectively

• Customer Groups (dynamic based on the saved searches): Certified Customers (Manufacturer A internal), Certified Customers (Manufacturer B equipment), Certified Customers (Manufacturer B chemicals)

• Customer Group (static, to be updated by Customer Support): Certified Customers (Manufacturer A external)

• Item Collections: Manufacturer A Products, Manufacturer B Equipment, Manufacturer B Chemicals, Certification Courses

• Personalized Catalog View Setup:

  • Manufacturer A Products item collection set to Display Fully for Certified Customers (Manufacturer A internal) and Certified Customers (Manufacturer A external) customer groups

    Set to Disable Purchase for Recognized and Logged in Users

    Set to Disable Purchase and Hide Price for Anonymous Users

  • Manufacturer B Equipment item collection set to Display Fully for Certified Customers (Manufacturer B equipment) customer group

    Set to Disable Purchase for Recognized and Logged in Users

    Set to Disable Purchase and Hide Price for Anonymous Users

  • Manufacturer B Chemicals item collection set to Display Fully for Certified Customers (Manufacturer B chemicals) customer group

    Set to Disable Purchase for Recognized and Logged in Users

    Set to Disable Purchase and Hide Price for Anonymous Users

  • Certified Course item collection set to Display Fully for Recognized and Logged In Customers

    Set to Disable Purchase and Hide Price for Anonymous Users

  • Sets Unmapped Items segment to Hide Fully

Related Topics

• Personalized Catalog View Examples

General Notices