Types of Bundles & Product Groupings

What are Bundles?

A bundle is a distinct, purchasable product formed by grouping one or more other products that you intend to sell together as a single offering. Bundles make it easier for shoppers to discover and purchase multiple related items together, while also helping merchants increase average order value and streamline merchandising.

Bundles are built using components. Components are logical groupings that define how shoppers can select from a set of product options, which are products or sub-bundles available within each group. This structure allows merchants to create everything from simple, fixed sets of products to highly flexible and customizable configurations.

You can have:

• Fixed Bundles: These bundles contain a specific, pre-determined set of products with fixed quantities.
• Dynamic Bundles: These bundles offer flexibility, allowing shoppers to select their own options or variations from a defined set of choices within the bundle.
• Bundles of Bundles: These advanced bundles are composed of other pre-existing bundles. The parent bundle serves only as a logical container (cannot be added to cart directly) and should be used only for complex scenarios where simpler bundle options don't meet your requirements.

There are two different pricing options available:

• Fixed Pricing: Assign a specific price to the entire bundle.
• Cumulative Pricing: The bundle's price is the sum of the prices of the options selected by the shopper (in a dynamic bundle) or the products defined by the merchant (in a fixed bundle).

Use Cases

• Fixed Bundles: The "Home Office Essentials" Bundle: An office supply retailer offers a convenient, pre-determined package (desk lamp, mouse, notebook, pens) as a fixed product bundle for easy home office setup, simplifying purchase and potentially increasing order value.
• Dynamic Bundles: The "Build Your Own Latte" Bundle: A coffee shop lets customers create their ideal latte through a dynamic bundle. They select their preferred size, milk, blend, shots, syrups, and extras from a set of options. The price adjusts based on these choices, offering a flexible and tailored drink.
• Bundles of Bundles: The "Couch Configuration" Bundle: A furniture retailer offers couches in different sizes (2-Seater, 3-Seater, etc.), where each size has its own base price and the same customization options (fabric, color, leg style) but with different pricing based on size. The parent bundle lets shoppers first select a couch size, then configure the specific options for that size. Each size-specific bundle must be added to cart individually.

Terminology

• Component: A Component is a distinct group of one or more product options within a bundle. A bundle consists of one or more components.
• Component Min/Max: The number of products within a Component that can be selected by the shopper, defined through the min and max configuration.
• Option: A Component consists of one or more Options which are distinct products that are added to a component. These products could be a single product, another bundle (in the case of bundles of bundles), a parent product, or a child product. When adding a parent product to a component, all its child products (variations) automatically become available for selection, though you can configure specific child products to be excluded if needed.
• Option Default: A product can be set as default, allowing the merchant to define a pre-selected product for the shopper within a component.
• Option Quantity: Each product in a Component has a specific quantity that the shopper must purchase.
• Option Min/Max: Allows Shoppers to purchase their desired quantity of a product, by configuring the the min and max bounds within an option.

Advanced Applications for Bundles

Elastic Path's Bundle Builder is highly flexible, and can be used for a variety of complex use cases that may not be otherwise described as a bundle in business context. For example, bundles can be used to create product configurators for custom made products and solutions, or to present an assembly of products as part of a collection where shoppers can buy two, three, four or more components from the same product bundle.

Bundle Type	Applied Example
Fixed Bundle	A leather goods retailer sells a briefcase and tablet cover as a gift set, at a discounted rate that includes optional, free engraving. While bundle components cannot be customized, the product can still be personalized by the customer.
Dynamic Bundles	A professional association sells a discounted membership fee with the purchase of a certification exam, where total price of both is adjusted based on their selections.
Bundles of Bundles	A video game manufacturer sell a “Complete Gaming Setup” bundle that includes a console bundle, a video game bundle, and an accessory bundle. Each bundle within the "parent" bundle has its own price and components.
Collections	An outdoor gear store sells jackets that come with compatible shells, liners and pants. Shoppers can select one or more products from the collection as a single purchasable product, reducing the need to search for and add multiple items to their cart, and increasing average order value.
Assemblies or Configurators	A custom furniture brand offers 2, 3, and 4-seater sofas with over 100 fabrics and 5 leg material options. Instead of creating thousands of SKU variations (for products they may never sell), they use bundles as a custom configurator tool, allowing shoppers to build their ideal sofa.