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Kibo Commerce Conceptual Guide: Catalog, Product, and Site Architecture

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1. Strategic Overview

This guide provides a comprehensive conceptual overview of the entire Kibo Commerce catalog architecture, from the foundational structure of Catalogs and Sites to the detailed organization of Categories and Products. A complete understanding of how these interconnected layers function is the most important step in managing a successful, scalable e-commerce operation on the platform. This architecture governs how your product universe is stored, how sales channels are defined, how products are organized for discovery, and how each item is defined with precision.

• Concept Definition: The Kibo Commerce catalog is a hierarchical system where Catalogs act as containers for product information, Sites serve as the transactional endpoints where products are sold, Categories organize those products for navigation, and Products are the detailed records of the items themselves.
• Business Context: This integrated structure allows a business to manage a diverse, multi-channel retail operation from a single platform. It enables the creation of user-friendly shopping experiences, automates merchandizing with rules-based logic, and manages complex product variations with accuracy, directly impacting everything from international expansion and operational efficiency to customer conversion rates.
• Scope Statement: This document covers the complete catalog architecture: Master Catalogs, Child Catalogs, Sites, the three types of Categories (Static, Dynamic Precomputed, Dynamic Realtime), Product Types, Product Attributes (Options, Properties, Extras), and all associated configurable settings. It explicitly excludes pricing and price list configurations, which are covered in a separate guide.

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2. Core Concepts Explained: From Global Structure to Granular Detail

The Kibo Commerce platform organizes your business in a clear, top-down hierarchy. It begins with the foundational layer of Catalogs and Sites, which defines the overall structure. Within that structure, the merchandizing layer of Categories and Products is used to organize and define the specific items you sell.

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2.1 The Foundational Layer: Catalogs and Sites

The Master Catalog: Your Central Product Database

A Master Catalog is the definitive, centralized repository for every product you intend to sell across any channel. Think of it as your primary Product Information Management (PIM) system built directly into the platform. Its core purpose is to ensure that there is one—and only one—master record for each product, preventing data inconsistencies across your business. Every product, with its universal attributes like SKU, weight, and default description, must be created in a Master Catalog first.

• Business Application Example:
  • Industry: Global Electronics Manufacturer
  • Scenario: A company sells hundreds of electronic components globally. By creating a single “Global Master Catalog,” they ensure that the core technical specifications for a specific microchip are identical whether it’s being viewed by a distributor in North America or an engineer in Europe. This prevents costly errors stemming from inconsistent product data.

The Child Catalog: Your Curated Storefront Assortment

A Child Catalog (referred to simply as a “Catalog” in the admin interface) is a subset of products inherited from a Master Catalog, curated for a specific purpose. Its primary function is to allow you to override the master product data without altering the original record. This inheritance model is the key to efficiently managing different brands, regions, or stores.

• Business Application Example:
  • Industry: Fashion & Apparel Retailer
  • Scenario: A retailer has a Master Catalog with their entire clothing line. They create a “Canadian Retail” Child Catalog. Within this catalog, they override product descriptions to include both English and French and adjust prices to Canadian dollars. For the winter season, they create a “Holiday Sale” discount that applies only to this Canadian catalog, leaving their US and European operations unaffected.

The Site: Your Transactional Channel

If a Catalog defines what products are for sale, a Site defines where and how they are sold. A Site is any transactional endpoint in your business. The architectural rule is simple but powerful: a Site must be linked to one and only one Catalog, but a single Catalog can power many Sites. Notably, a “Site” is an abstract concept that extends beyond a website and can represent a B2B portal, a physical store, or even a marketplace like Amazon.

• Business Application Example:
  • Industry: B2B Industrial Distributor
  • Scenario: A distributor has a “North American Products” Child Catalog. They link this single catalog to three different Sites: their public e-commerce website, a physical warehouse for pickups, and a dedicated portal for their largest client. All three Sites sell from the same product assortment, but the transactional rules (like payment gateways) are configured independently for each.

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2.2 The Merchandizing Layer: Categories and Products

Categories: Structuring the Shopper Journey

Categories are the primary tool for organizing products into logical groups, which in turn powers your site’s navigation and helps shoppers find what they’re looking for. Kibo Commerce offers three distinct types of categories:

• Type 1: Static Categories: A merchandiser manually and individually assigns products to the category. This provides maximum control and is ideal for building the permanent navigational hierarchy of your site (e.g., “Apparel” > “Tops” > “T-Shirts”) or creating carefully curated collections like a “Holiday Gift Guide.”
• Type 2: Dynamic Precomputed Categories: This category type uses a logical expression (e.g., properties.brand eq ‘Sony’) to automatically populate itself with products. The system evaluates this rule when the catalog is indexed (an offline process), meaning the category loads very quickly for shoppers. It’s perfect for brand pages or feature-based collections.
• Type 3: Dynamic Realtime Categories: This is the most flexible type, evaluating its rule “on-the-fly” when a shopper visits the page. Its unique capability is that the expression can evaluate a product’s final, discounted sale price, making it ideal for time-sensitive pages like “Clearance Under $50.”

Product Types: Creating Consistent Product Blueprints

A Product Type is a template that defines the structure, attributes, and available settings for a specific group of products. Every product in your catalog must be assigned to a single Product Type. This ensures consistency and makes catalog-wide updates simple and error-free. While a default “Base Product Type” exists, it is a best practice to create custom Product Types (e.g., “Apparel,” “Electronics”) for different kinds of products.

• Business Application Example:
  • Industry: Footwear Retailer
  • Scenario: The retailer creates a “Shoe” Product Type. They add attributes like Size, Color, Width, and Material to this template. Now, every time a new shoe is added to the catalog, it automatically inherits these fields, ensuring no essential information is missed.

Product Attributes: The Building Blocks of Product Data

Product Attributes are the individual data points that describe a product. Kibo Commerce makes a key distinction between three types:

• Type 1: Options: These are attributes a shopper can select to configure a product, like Size or Color. The most important characteristic is that each unique combination of selected values generates a new product variation with a unique SKU. This is essential for accurate, variant-level inventory tracking.
• Type 2: Properties: These are inherent, non-configurable details about a product, like Brand or Material. Shoppers can see them and use them for filtering, but they cannot change them. Properties do not generate new SKUs.
• Type 3: Extras: These are optional add-on products or services a shopper can add during purchase, typically for an additional cost. They are a key tool for upselling and can include services like Gift Wrapping or other products like an Extended Warranty.

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3. Functional Components & Configuration Deep Dive

This section details every configurable attribute for the entire catalog architecture, from the highest-level structures down to individual products.

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3.1 Master Catalog Configuration

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3.2 Child Catalog (Catalog) Configuration

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3.3 Site Configuration

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3.4 Category Attribute Configuration

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3.5 Product Configuration

General Settings

Status & Scheduling (Child Catalog Level)

Inventory

Shipping

Categories (Child Catalog Level)

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

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4. Key Capabilities and Business Applications

This section details the practical value of the complete catalog architecture by exploring its core capabilities. Capability: Centralized Product Information Management (PIM)

• Functional Explanation: The Master Catalog acts as a single, authoritative source for all core product data. Any update made to a product in the Master Catalog can be automatically inherited by all its Child Catalogs, ensuring consistency and dramatically reducing manual effort.
• Business Application Example:
  • Industry: Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) Brand
  • Scenario: A CPG brand updates the nutritional information for a food product in the Master Catalog once. This change is instantly reflected on their B2C website, B2B portal, and mobile app feed, ensuring regulatory compliance everywhere.

Capability: Multi-Storefront and Regional Expansion

• Functional Explanation: The Child Catalog and Site structure is purpose-built to enable rapid expansion. A new Child Catalog can be created to inherit the base product set, with specific overrides for local language, currency, and assortment. A new Site is then created and pointed to this catalog to launch a fully localized experience.
• Business Application Example:
  • Industry: DTC Apparel Brand
  • Scenario: A US brand expands to the UK by creating a “UK Market” Child Catalog, overriding prices to GBP and descriptions to UK English. They launch a new “UK Storefront” Site linked to this catalog, accelerating their time-to-market.

Capability: True Omnichannel Operations

• Functional Explanation: By abstracting the concept of a “Site” to be any transactional endpoint (web, physical store, call center), Kibo Commerce enables centralized order processing, inventory visibility, and customer management across all channels.
• Business Application Example:
  • Industry: Enterprise Electronics Retailer
  • Scenario: A customer buys a laptop online (Site 1) and chooses to pick it up in-store (Site 2). The order is seamlessly routed to the store for fulfillment, inventory is updated in real-time, and the customer has a smooth, unified experience.

Capability: Precise, Variant-Level Inventory Management

• Functional Explanation: By correctly using the “Option” attribute type, businesses generate unique SKUs for every sellable variation of a product. This allows the inventory system to track stock levels for each specific variant, preventing overselling.
• Business Application Example:
  • Industry: Footwear Retailer
  • Scenario: A retailer defines “Size” and “Color” as Options for a sneaker. They can accurately display “Out of Stock” for a “Size 9 / Red” sneaker while still selling the “Size 10 / Blue” version, resulting in reliable fulfillment.

Capability: Automated, Rules-Based Merchandizing

• Functional Explanation: Dynamic Categories allow merchandisers to create product collections that manage themselves based on logical rules. This automates the creation of pages for brands, new arrivals, and sales, freeing up merchandisers for more strategic tasks.
• Business Application Example:
  • Industry: B2B Industrial Distributor
  • Scenario: A distributor’s “What’s New” page is a Dynamic Category that automatically includes any product added in the last 30 days. The page is always current with zero manual effort.

Capability: Increased Average Order Value via Upselling

• Functional Explanation: The “Extra” attribute type provides a native mechanism for offering add-on products and services directly on the product detail page, helping to increase the total value of the customer’s cart.
• Business Application Example:
  • Industry: Enterprise Electronics Retailer
  • Scenario: On a digital camera’s product page, the retailer configures two “Extras”: a 2-Year Extended Warranty and a discounted Camera Bag. The customer adds both, increasing the transaction value by 20%.

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5. Platform Integration Map

The complete catalog system is the heart of the commerce experience, with deep integrations across the platform.

• Upstream Dependencies:
  • Catalogs: A Master Catalog must exist before any products can be created. Categories are managed within a specific Child Catalog.
• Downstream Impacts:
  • Inventory: Product variations (generated by Options) are the fundamental basis for all inventory tracking.
  • Pricing & Discounts: Price Lists and Promotions are configured to target specific products or entire categories.
  • Search: Product properties are a primary driver for the faceted search and filtering experience on the storefront.
  • Order Management: Every order is associated with a Site and contains specific product SKUs that are passed to the order system for fulfillment.
  • Content Management: Website content, such as landing pages, is managed within a storefront Site and can feature specific products or categories.
• Synergistic Features:
  • SEO: Product-level SEO fields work directly with the storefront rendering engine to create search-engine-optimized pages.
  • Customer Segments: Segments can be used to control which Price Lists apply to a user, and this logic is executed within the context of the Site they are visiting.

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6. Real-World Example: International Launch of a New Product Line

Let’s walk through a complete end-to-end scenario of a company launching a new, configurable product line in a new international market.

• The Business: “Urban Office,” a successful US-based DTC furniture brand, decides to launch its new, highly configurable “Flex” office chair in the German market.
• Step 1: Define the Product Blueprint (Master Catalog) First, in their existing “Global Master Catalog,” the catalog manager creates a new Product Type called “Office Seating.” They define its attributes:
  • Options: Frame Color (Black, White), Fabric Color (Gray, Navy). These will create unique SKUs.
  • Properties: Weight Capacity (Text), Material (Text). These are for information and filtering.
  • Extras: Extended 5-Year Warranty (a service).
• Step 2: Create the Master Product Still in the Master Catalog, the manager creates the “Flex” product, assigns it the “Office Seating” Product Type, and fills in the universal, non-localized data: product code, weight, dimensions, and default English descriptions. The system generates the 4 unique SKUs based on the Options (e.g., FLEX-BLK-GRY, FLEX-WHT-NAVY).
• Step 3: Create the Localized Child Catalog To manage the German launch, the team creates a new Child Catalog named “German Store Catalog.” It inherits from the “Global Master Catalog.” Inside this new catalog, they:
  1. Localize Content: Select the “Flex” chair and override the Product Title and Long Description with professionally translated German text.
  2. Set Local Price: Override the product’s price, setting it in Euros.
• Step 4: Merchandise the Product in the New Catalog Within the “German Store Catalog,” the merchandizing team creates categories to help customers find the new chair:
  1. Static Category: They manually assign the “Flex” chair to their existing Buromobel > Sitzmobel > Ergonomische Stuhle (Office Furniture > Seating > Ergonomic Chairs) category.
  2. Dynamic Category: They create a new Dynamic Precomputed Category called “Neuheiten” (New Arrivals) with a rule to include all products added in the last 60 days. The “Flex” chair is automatically added.
• Step 5: Launch the German Site Finally, the team creates a new Site called “Urban Office DE Storefront.” During setup, they:
  1. Link it to the “German Store Catalog.”
  2. Set the Country Code to DE and the Locale Code to de-DE.
  3. Configure Site-specific settings like German payment gateways (e.g., Giropay) and local tax rules.
• The Outcome: The new German website (urbanoffice.de) is launched. When customers visit, they see a fully localized experience. They find the “Flex” chair via the German navigation or the “New Arrivals” page. The product page displays German descriptions and prices in Euros. Customers can use dropdowns to select frame and fabric colors, and the correct variant SKU is added to their cart for accurate inventory and fulfillment, all managed from the same central Kibo Commerce instance as the original US store.

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7. Related Conceptual Guides

For foundational knowledge and upstream & downstream impact, refer to:

• Pricing
  • Foundational Knowledge: This Catalog guide is a prerequisite for Pricing. All products must first be defined in the Master Catalog before a Price List can be created to override their base price. Price Lists are created within the context of a Master Catalog.
  • Downstream Impacts: The catalog structure directly controls pricing. Child Catalogs can have their own base prices, and Price Lists are layered on top of that structure to target specific customer segments or sites.
  • Complementary Strategies: The Catalog defines what is for sale, while the Price List defines at what price and to whom it is sold. An “Exclusive” Price List can be used with a Child Catalog to create a highly curated and price-controlled portal for B2B customers.
• Search and Merchandizing
  • Foundational Knowledge: This Catalog guide is foundational for Search. The “Properties” you define on your products (e.g., Brand, Color, Material) are the raw data that the search engine indexes to create the faceted navigation (filters) shoppers use.
  • Downstream Impacts: The quality and completeness of your product properties directly determine the effectiveness of your site’s search and filtering capabilities. Well-structured categories also form the basis for shopper navigation.
  • Complementary Strategies: The Catalog provides the raw materials (products and attributes), while Search and Merchandizing provide the tools to display them intelligently. A well-defined catalog enables a powerful merchandizing strategy, leading to better product discovery and higher conversion rates.
• Promotions
  • Foundational Knowledge: This Catalog guide is a prerequisite for Promotions. All products and categories must be defined in the catalog before a discount can be created to target them.
  • Downstream Impacts: The way you organize products into Static and Dynamic Precomputed Categories directly impacts your ability to create efficient, targeted promotions. Discounts can be applied to an entire category at once.
  • Complementary Strategies: The Child Catalog structure allows for localized promotions (e.g., a “Canadian-only” sale). Furthermore, Dynamic Realtime Categories (which can read discounted prices) work with promotions to automatically create a “Live Sale” page showing all items currently on promotion, with no manual effort.