(Enterprise)

Manage price rules

A pricing manager creates and manages the price rules that are used for storefront pricing.

• Price rules: An overview
  A price rule is a set of instructions you create to generate prices on the storefront. Each time a customer views a store page that displays prices, WebSphere Commerce follows the instructions in the price rule to set a price for each catalog entry. The price rule is also used during checkout so that the customer is charged the correct price, before taxes, discounts and shipping charges. Using price rules for the store is optional; however, price rules provide a flexible, feature-rich alternative to using static price lists.

• Price rule assignment and contracts
  For a price rule to display offer prices on store pages, we must assign the price rule to a contract. This requirement applies to all business models (B2B, B2C, and extended sites).

• Price equations and constants in price rules
  A price equation is a mathematical statement used in a price rule to calculate and output a price. For example, we can create a price equation that adds margins or distribution costs to prices in a price list. We can use the same price equation in more than one price rule so that the set of price rules is easier to maintain.

• Independent and dependent price rules
  A price rule can be either independent or dependent. An independent price rule contains a price list. A dependent price rule does not contain a price list. Dependent price rules cannot output prices, so we cannot use them as contract-level price rules.

• Options for managing pricing
  The Catalog Filter and Pricing tool in Management Center gives you a flexible, alternative way of managing pricing for the store. Before using this tool, you should be aware of the price management options available to you.

• Price rule building blocks: actions, conditions, and branches
  When you build a price rule using the Price Rule Builder, your building blocks are actions, conditions, and branches. These building blocks are represented as icons, or elements, in the palette. You select elements from the palette and place them in a precise order along a flow that represents the price rule.

• Scenarios for using price rules
  By reviewing different business scenarios for using price rules, we can learn more about price rule assignment strategies and how price rules are inherited.

• Best practices for price rules
  Review these best practices for creating price rules so we can learn ways to simplify price rule maintenance and reduce performance impacts.

• Creating and assigning price rules
  By creating price rules and assigning them to contracts, we can manage the prices customers are entitled to.

• Viewing where price lists, rules, equations, and constants are used
  You might need to check where a pricing object is used before changing it or deleting it. For example, before changing a price equation, we can see a list of price rules that use the price equation. If so, we can open the pricing object and click a tab labeled References. For price rules, this tab also shows a list of contracts to which the price rule is assigned. The References tab is available for these pricing objects: price lists, price rules, price equations, and price constants.

Related concepts
Catalog filtering
Catalog Filter and Pricing tool