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Building Complex Hierarchies and Nodes​

Creating and managing complex hierarchies allows you to organize products beyond simple category structures. For example, a product can exist in multiple hierarchies at the same time—such as being part of a "New Arrivals" hierarchy as well as a "Winter Collection" hierarchy—without duplicating data.

By using hierarchies effectively, you can group products by region, business model, customer segment, specific use cases, and more, making it easier to deliver personalized experiences. For example, you can create a node for your Best Sellers, to feature most popular products or run targeted promotional campaigns.

pxm hierarchy node structure example

Key Concepts​

  • Root Node: The top-most node in a hierarchy that all the hierarchy nodes stem from. It acts as the base structure, or the container, for all child nodes.
  • Parent Node: A node that contains one or more child nodes. This can applies at any level where child nodes exist.
  • Child Node: A node that is subordinate to a parent node and represents more specific product groupings.
  • Sibling Nodes: Nodes that share the same parent but represent different product groups (e.g., "Men's Clothing" and "Women's Clothing" under the parent node "Apparel").
Applied Examples
Use Case 1: Fashion RetailerA fashion retailer can use seasonal hierarchies to showcase products in a "Summer Collection" hierarchy, while also displaying the same products in a "Bestsellers" hierarchy. This allows the retailer to highlight products based on current marketing strategies without duplicating data or disrupting product structures.
Use Case 2: Video Game StoreA video game retailer could create a hierarchy for subscription-based games, organizing them by platform (e.g., Xbox, PlayStation) while simultaneously assigning these products to a "Top-Rated" hierarchy to emphasize high customer satisfaction.