Best Practices for Managing Hierarchies and Nodes

Managing hierarchies and nodes effectively is key to building scalable, dynamic product catalogs in Elastic Path PXM. By following best practices, businesses can ensure their product structures remain adaptable, easy to navigate, and aligned with customer needs.

• Start with a Plan: Map out your hierarchy strategy before implementation, considering how your customers will interact with your products and what dimensions matter most (e.g., regions, categories, or features).
• Keep Nodes Flexible: Create hierarchies that can adapt to changes in product offerings, promotions, or customer segments without needing to rebuild the entire structure.
• Use Multiple Hierarchies: Leverage multiple hierarchies to serve different business goals. For example, you can create one hierarchy for product categories and another for geographic availability, ensuring flexibility and reduced data duplication.
• Curate Products Strategically: Use product curation within nodes to prioritize featured products, seasonal highlights, or high-margin items, creating a tailored shopping experience.

Use Case 1: Window and Door Manufacturer	A door and window manufacturer may have a hierarchy based on product type (e.g., doors, windows) and another hierarchy based on features (e.g., glass type, frame material). Each hierarchy uses nodes to represent specific product features. For example, one node may represent "Tempered Glass" under the glass features hierarchy, while another node represents "Oak Frame" under the material hierarchy.
Use Case 2: Global Video Game Retailer	A global video game retailer might have separate hierarchies for different geographical regions (e.g., North America, Europe) and platforms (e.g., PlayStation, Xbox). The North America hierarchy might include nodes for regional product releases, while the platform hierarchy groups products by gaming console, making it easy to organize game libraries for each region and console.