Set Up Advanced Merchandising

Advanced merchandising allows retailers finite control of specific recommendations. Advanced Merchandising rules override the KOTH/Uber engine, merchandising rules, and boosting functionality.

To enable Recommend+Advanced Merchandising, first gather the following information:

  • Site name(s) and ID(s)
  • Is the client already instrumented for Recommend?
    • If they are, they don't need any extra instrumentation.
    • If they are not instrumented, they need the Algonomy Core Integration.
  • If the client has electronics, are they a CNET DataSource Customer?

DataSource Information (Electronics clients ONLY)

To leverage DataSource, the client must provide DataSource Identifiers for each product as an attribute (CDS_Id) in their feed or use the automated mapping service.

Do they sell electronics? If not, nothing else needs to be done.

If they are an electronics client, will you they using DataSource? If no, nothing else needs to be done.

If they are using DataSource, will they be providing the CDS_Id in the feed? If yes, nothing else needs to be done. If not, then the client needs to request the CNET content mapping service. CSEs set this up using site configs.

Choose RROC roles for the client accounts

There are two roles that give users permission to use Advanced Merchandising:

  • Advanced Merchandising Editor: User can edit and create Advanced Merchandising rules.
  • Advanced Merchandising Publisher: User can edit, create, publish, and delete Advanced Merchandising rules.

Once the user have been assigned these roles, they'll be able to start entering rules.

Set up site configurations for Advanced Merchandising

On the RR Site Configurations page, the Uses Advanced Merchandising checkbox must be selected to enable Advanced Merchandising on the site.

  1. Go to Admin > Site Configurations RR.

  2. Navigate down to the section for Advanced Merchandising and check the Uses Advanced Merchandising box.

    3. Enabling Advanced Merchandising starts the model builds and other processes that must run behind the scenes to support Advanced Merchandising. It takes 4-6 hours before Advanced Merchandising rules appear on the site.

    If you uncheck this site config, the site immediately stops using Advanced Merchandising. Disabling this site config:

    • stops showing Advanced Merchandising recs on the site

    • stops rules evaluation for the site

    • halts Advanced Merchandising model builds for the site

    These changes go into effect right away, so this single site config is the on/off switch for Advanced Merchandising.

  1. Check the Uses CNET Datasource box to give the client access to Datasource. You'll also need to select a DataSource Market from the dropdown. The CDS_Id should be passed in the feed as an attribute.

  2. If the client is using CNET DataSource and is not sending the CDS_Id in their feed, they need to use the automatic mapping service. These site configurations are grouped in the other site configurations section.

    • cnet content mapping category ids: Comma separated list of external category IDs provided by the merchant for the products that RichRelevance needs to assign CDS IDs to. You can enter an unlimited number of values. Example: 4476, 4478.

    • cnet content pn attribute name: Attribute name provided by the merchant. Enter a single name. Example: MODEL_NO.

    • cnet content upc attribute name: UPC attribute name provided by the merchant. Enter a single name. Example: PRIMARY_BARCODE.

Create rules

  1. In the dashboard, click Recommend > Advanced Merchandising.

  1. Add your rules and enable them for production.

What happens next?

After a site has been enabled for Advanced Merchandising, a process runs the Rule Evaluation job every 4 hours. This process picks all the “In Production” rules and evaluates against the catalog to produce recommendations. After creating recommendations, a model job for Advanced Merchandising Strategy is kicked off. You'll see the recommendations generated by the rules you created in approximately 4-6 hours.