Selection Codes and Product Codes are mandatory attributes that allow you to establish a hierarchy, or categorization system, for your items in Assortment. They can also be used to limit retailer access to specific items within the SPS Assortment portal.
Selection Code and Selection Code Description
Each item must be assigned a Selection Code. The Selection Code must be:
A 3-digit number (any value from 001-999).
Created and assigned by you that serves as an item category identifier; this is not assigned by a retailer.
The Selection Code Description describes the Selection Code and serves as a general category indicator.
Selection Code Description is limited to 80 characters.
In the above example, a furniture supplier might use the Selection Code '100' and associate it with the Selection Code Description 'Beds'. '101' is associated with 'Tables', and '102' with 'Couches'.
You will decide how to categorize your items and how many different Selection Codes you will create for your catalog of items. You can assign a single Selection Code to represent all items, or use multiple Selection Codes to categorize items as broadly or specifically as you prefer.
Regardless of how many Selection Codes you create, each item in your catalog must be represented by a Selection Code.
If your catalog includes multiple Selection Codes, you can grant retailers access only to the items associated with specific codes.
Product Code and Product Code Description
Product Code is an alpha-numeric code, often an existing vendor part number, used to identify the individual item. This might also be recognized as an internally created:
Part number
SKU number
Style number
Product Code is created by the supplier, not assigned by the retailer.
Product Code Description can be a short description of an item or the name of the product. Product Code Description must contain fewer than 80 characters.
NOTE: Some retailers might have different character limits for the Product Code Description. These will be noted within the Attribute Guide in the item import template.
In the above example, the furniture supplier has assigned unique Product Codes to each of the five items. These Product Codes are an existing Vendor Part Number for these items. The Product Code Descriptions are all fewer than 80 characters.
Best Practices for Selection Codes and Product Codes
Each Selection Code can only have one Selection Code Description.
Each Product Code can only have one Product Code Description.
Product Codes cannot be in multiple Selection Codes.
If the same Product Code is used in multiple Selection Codes, it will duplicate the item in the Assortment portal. This can lead to more difficult troubleshooting and catalog maintenance.
If this occurs, please reach out to assortment@spscommerce.com.
Enabling Retailer-Specific Access
With the creation of Selection Codes and Product Codes, you also have the ability to enable retailer-specific access to groups of items and to individual items within Assortment. Within the Assortment portal, you can turn on and off specific Selection Codes and Product Codes for specific trading partners.
Please visit the Trading Partner Settings Help Article to learn how to use Selection Codes and Product Codes to enable this access.
More Information
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