Creating a product combination with components

Learn how to create a product combination with one or more components, including subscription components.

in Global Commerce, you can create bundled products or packages with multiple items using a product combination. A product combination is one or more sellable SKUs (components) combined as a single product that a shopper can purchase. It can consist of physical, digital, or subscription products and appears in a response as a single lineItem with the pricing details for that product combination. You can adjust the price and configuration of the bundled products to meet your pricing or product combination strategies.

If you are interested in using product combinations, contact your Customer Success Manager.

How it works

You can use Commerce API to sell product combinations and Global Commerce to return those combinations. A product combination appears as a lineItem under the lineItems object.

        "lineItems": { // Lists all products
    ...
            "lineItem": [ // Provides information on a product combination, including product details
      ...    
                    "components": { // If the product is a product combination, the components object lists all products included in the product combination.
                        "lineItem": [ // Provide product information on the components in the product combination.  
                          "uri": [ // Provide information on a component in the product combination.  
           ...
  

The first lineItem of a combination product will provide the product details that represent the Product Combination information. However, some details of the first component lineItem, such as lineItemState, lineItemStateDetails, downloads, digitalRights, subscriptionId, billingAgreementId, and subscriptionInfo, will be removed. The pricing details of the first component lineItem will remain unchanged, representing the amounts at the Product Combination level.

In the response, we display only the first lineItem in the components object and remove all others. The lineItem array contains a list of all component lineItems. The list of lineItems in the components object will be the same as the existing lineItem structure.

The product details inside the components lineItem (components -> lineItem array -> product) will have a new recurringSubscriptionInfo block to return subscription details.

You can use the lineItemId to update a product combination's quantity, remove a product combination, etc.

When creating a product combination in Global Commerce, it's possible to include a subscription as one of the components, allowing shoppers to view the bundle as a single product instead of multiple individual items. This feature allows you to adjust the pricing and positioning of the bundle to suit your needs. You can use the following resources to manage a product combination with subscriptions.

• You can get, update, or clear a cart with a product combination.

• You can manage a product combination as a lineItem in a cart. For example:

  • You can send POST /v1/shoppers/me/carts/active/line-items/{lineItemId}/?format=json&action=add&quantity=2 to change the quantity of the specified line item to 2.

  • You can send POST /v1/shoppers/me/carts/active/line-items/ and include the quantity in the request's body to change the quantity of the specified line item. to 2.

curl --location --request POST 'https://api.digitalriver.com/shoppers/v1/shoppers/me/carts/active/line-items/{lineItemId}?format=json*action=add&=quantity=2' \
--header 'authorization: Basic  ***\
...
--data-raw '{
  "quantity" : 2
}'

• You can get an order that contains a product combination by specifying the order's ID.

• You can get a specific product combination from a cart by using its lineItemId.

• You can update one or more product combinations to a cart by using lineItem.

• You can apply a payment method to a cart that contains a product combination. For example, you can send POST /v1/shoppers/me/carts/active/apply-payment-method to update the payment method.

• You can apply a shipping option to a cart that contains a product combination. For example, you can send POST /vi/shoppers/me/carts/active/apply-shipping-option?shippingOptionId={shippingOptionId} to update the shipping method.

• You can apply a shopper to a cart that contains a product combination.

• You can get a product combination by using the product's ID.

You can still add an individual product as a lineItem to a cart.

If you had previously enabled a product combination, you must now determine how to cancel/return a product combination. When you turn on the Cancel/Return Product Combination feature in Global Commerce, it will handle the cancellation of all unfulfilled components and the return of all fulfilled components of the product combination.

Create a product combination with subscription components

The following steps describe how to create a product combination:

• Step 1: Enable product combinations

• Step 2: Determine how to cancel/return a product combination

• Step 3: Configure site settings for subscription products

• Step 4: Ensure component products are deployed

• Step 5: Create a product combination with components

Step 1: Enable product combinations

Before you create a product combination (with components), you must enable product combinations at the company level.

Required role: Company Manager

To enable product combinations:

1. Sign in to Global Commerce.

2. Select Administration, select Company and then click Configure Company Settings. The Configure Company Settings page appears.

3. Click the General tab, scroll down to the Product Combination panel, and toggle the button to Enabled. See Product Combination in the Global Commerce Help for a description of the fields.

4. Click Save. See Product setup for more information.

Step 2: Determine how to cancel/return a product combination

At the site level, you can determine how Global Commerce handles the cancellation or return of all components in a product combination together. When you enable the Cancel/Return Product Combination feature in Global Commerce, it will handle the cancellation of all unfulfilled components and the return of all fulfilled components of the product combination together.

Prerequisite: You must enable product combinations before creating a product combination with components.

To enable the cancellation/return of a product combination together:

Required role: Content Manager or Digital River internal user

1. Select Administration, select Site, and then click Configure Site Settings. The Configure Site Settings page appears.

2. Click the Features tab, scroll to Cancel/Return Product Combination, and select Enabled or Disabled. Global Commerce will cancel unfulfilled items when enabled while setting fulfilled ones for return. See Cancel/Return Product Combination in the Global Commerce Help for a description of the fields.

3. Click Save.

The everything-or-nothing rule

When you enable the Cancel/Return Product Combination feature in Global Commerce, it tightly combines all the components within the product combination. So when a shopper orders the product combination, the components are shipped and fulfilled by line item. However, if they initiate a cancellation or return of the product combination, the entire product combination will be cancelled or returned. This is the everything-or-nothing rule. The exception to the everything-or-nothing rule is you don't need to cancel a trial product while handling product combination cancellation.

Step 3: Configure site settings for subscription products

You can configure site settings for subscription products in Global Commerce.

Required role: Content Manager or Digital River Internal user

1. Scroll down to the Subscriptions pod from the Features tab on the Configure Site Settings page.

2. Click the Features tab and scroll down to the Subscriptions pod.

3. Complete the fields and select the appropriate checkboxes. See Subscriptions in the Global Commerce Help for a description of the fields.

3. Click Save.

Step 4: Ensure component products are deployed

Deploy the component products before creating the product combination. See Deploy products for instructions.

Step 5: Create a product combination with components

Use this step to create a product combination with digital, physical, and subscription components in Global Commerce.

Required role: Content Manager

1. Sign in to Global Commerce.

2. Go to the Product Setup wizard and choose one of the following options:

   • Select Catalog, select Products, and then click Create Product.

   • Select Catalog, select Products, click Manage Product, and then click Create Product.

3. Choose the Product Combinations (with Components) template. See Product setup for more information.

4. Click Next.

5. Select the supported locales. See Supported locales for more information, including requirements for product combinations.

   1. Select the checkbox next to each locale you plan to support

   2. Select the Default option next to a locale that you want to use as the default. The system will use the default locale to display in your store if the shopper's locale is unknown.

   3. Select the Restrict Product Visibility and Purchasing to Locales Below checkbox if required. Note: When you select this checkbox, you only sell this product to the chosen locales. For product combinations, the supported locales must include those for the components with product visibility and purchasing restrictions. Likewise, the supported locales in the components must consist of the supported locales for the product combination if there are product visibility and purchasing restrictions in the product combination.

   4. Click Next.

6. Add the product to catalogs and categories. See Catalogs and categories for more information.

   1. Under Add Product to Catalogs, select the checkbox next to each catalog where you want the product to appear. Requirement: For product combinations, the catalog associations in the product combinations must include all of its components. For example, if you associate a product combination with catalogs A and B, you must associate all of the components in the product combination with both catalogs.

   2. Under Add Product to Categories, select the checkbox next to each category where you want your product to appear.

   3. Click Next.

7. Select the product options. See Product options for more information.

   1. If your company has created custom attribute families, select the checkbox next to each option you want to apply to the product. Note: If you create a subscription product, select the Subscription option. To create a Flex Term renewal for a subscription product, see Creating a Flex Term renewal for a subscription product.

   2. Select the fulfillment option for your product and click Next.

8. Configure the product settings. See Product settings for more information.

   1. To change the product settings for the default locale, click the default locale tab and complete the fields. If you click a different locale tab, click Yes when prompted to save your changes.

   2. Click the tab for a locale, select the Override default local settings checkbox, and complete the fields. If you click a different locale tab, click Yes when prompted to save your changes.

   3. Repeat step 2 above for each additional locale.

   4. Click Next.

9. Configure the components for a product combination. See Product components for more information. The system combines the billing for all the components into one order. However, the notifications for "shipping (physical)" and "subscription" will be sent on a line item level basis. When a line item is shipped, the system sends a notification to inform the shopper, and these notifications won't wait for the entire order to be shipped. Additionally, every single subscription is on a line item basis, and the subscription notifications are all sent on a line item level, just as they are now.

   1. Click Add.

   2. Complete the search fields and click Search .
   3. Choose one of the following options:

      • To select one or more products, select the checkbox next to each Product ID you want and then click Add Selected Items. Add at least one subscription to the product combination. You can include physical and digital subscription products. You can only combine subscriptions purchased from the same site. You cannot combine subscriptions from different sites owned by the same company.

      • To select all products in the list, select the checkbox next to Product ID, then click Add Selected Items.

      The products appear in the Product Components list.

   4. Click Next.

10. Assign a price to the product combination. The system will use the original component's product price if you don't assign a price on the Pricing step when creating a product combination with components. See Pricing for more information.

    1. To display the components associated with the product combination, click the Expand button next to the currency.

    2. For each component in the Pricing list, perform the following steps:

       1. Type the price of each component in the Price fields.

       2. (Optional.) Select the Allow Zero checkbox next to each component of a promotion or giveaway.

       3. Click Refresh to calculate the price of the product combination.

    3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 in the previous step for each additional currency.

    4. Click Finish. The Edit product page appears.

You acknowledge the Export Compliance Acknowledgment Statement by clicking "Finish" and adding a product combination through this interface. This statement appears at the bottom of the Pricing step.

If the Edit Product page shows any errors, you can correct the errors on the Edit Product page and save the changes.

11. Deploy the combination product. See Deploy products for instructions.