Product Groups represent a mechanism for grouping related products so that they often appear as one products, even though they represent multiple SKUs. There are two types of product groups in Online:

• Multiple Choice product groups combine stock products that commonly ordered together for ease of ordering. For example, a retail customer serving specialty teas might periodically place an order for tea labels to replace their stock. If they commonly order many different types of tea labels in the same order, grouping all of the tea labels products together will make placing the order even easier.
• Single Choice product groups combine stock products together so they seem like one product to a customer. For example, if a customer serving specialty teas only orders one label in any given order, grouping all of the label products together gives the user a drop-down of items to choose from.

During the ordering process, Multiple Choice and Single Choice product choice groups use different Product Entry forms, but are otherwise treated identically in the rest of the program.

When an item that is in a multiple choice product group is selected, all of the items in that group are displayed on screen as illustrated in the following example:

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Though all items in the product choice group are displayed, the one the user clicked on should be the first one in the list, with all others arranged alphabetically by name. The [Add to Cart] button and [Buy Now] buttons should add all non-zero items to the cart in one event.

When an item that is in a single choice product group is selected, a product entry form is displayed that allows any item in that group can be chosen from a drop-down. The details for the selected item are displayed beneath the drop-down, as illustrated in the following example (Step Stake, A Frame 24“ is the selected item):

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All items in the product choice group should be listed alphabetically in the drop-down, though the one the user clicked on should be the selected item.

When searching for a product, the product results are filtered (during display if not before) so that only the first item in any product choice group is displayed. If multiple items from the product choice group match the search, the text “and similar products” is displayed next to the search results.

When an item in a product choice group is clicked on, the appropriate product choice group pricing form should be displayed containing the entire collection of items in the choice group.

Inside the shopping cart, the product choice group is ignored and each item is displayed independently.

Similarly, when editing an item in a shopping cart, the individual item's product entry form is used and not the group item. This is the only time that the choice group's entry form is not used for an item in a choice group.

The Product Choice Group setup screen is accessed in Settings by clicking View Product Choice Groups or within the Product Setup by clicking “Manage Choice Groups”.

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A screen will pop-up that allows the user to add and delete Choice Groups as well as designate whether they are Single Choice or Multiple Choice product groups.

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If a Choice Group that is being used by items is deleted, the user is prompted to confirm that they want to delete it with “This Choice is being used by (X) items. If you delete it, those items will no longer be in a choice group. Are you sure you want to delete it?” If the answer is yes, null the corresponding field and delete the choice group. If the choice group is NOT being used by any items, delete the choice group without prompting the user.

Items are associated with a choice group on the General tab of item setup.

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The choice group defaults to None (which is saved as NULL) and can be changed back to None at any time. The Add/Manage Choice Groups opens the setup screen for Choice Groups.

Rules for Product Choice Group Items

• In order to be used in a product choice group, an item must meet the following criteria:
• It must be a stock product.
• It may have no size, or a fixed size. It may not have a size list or allow user-entered sizes.