Category-based browsing by using WebSphere Commerce Search

WebSphere Commerce Search can be used to enhance the storefront by using Category-based browsing flows that customers can use to browse products.

The following methods can be used in the storefront to encourage category-based browsing:

Product sequencing within a sales category

The Category Manager or Product Manager can determine the best way to display, price, and sell products in the online store, including assigning or changing product sequences within categories. Customers can browse sales categories and see products based on the order you choose, based on the display sequence of the category. To sequence products within a sales category, see Sequencing categories.

Expanded category navigation

Customers can search the store catalog either by using expanded category navigation also called deep product navigation, or without expanded category navigation also called shallow product navigation.

Expanded category navigation displays all of the products that belong to the immediate category and its subcategories. The facets on the left sidebar belong to the entire set of products in the current category and subcategories. When expanded category navigation is enabled, the scoping of products by filtering through subcategories is not necessary. Customers can locate products from the larger product set. That is, products are displayed in a category even if the products are not assigned to the current category, as they belong to its subcategories. Customers can filter by Brand or Price at the higher levels. Facets on the left sidebar belong to only those products from the search. The ordering of the facet values in the storefront is by count. The category sequence values from the Catalogs tool are ignored.

To enable expanded category navigation, select the Expanded category navigation store function under the Catalog tab in the Store Management tool. See Selecting store functions. For extended sites, enable expanded category navigation at the extended site store level.

The Aurora starter store does not include expanded category navigation on subcategory pages by default. To enable expanded category navigation on subcategory pages, add the Facet Navigation and Catalog Entry List widgets to the subcategory page using the Commerce Composer tool. See Subcategory page.

Deep search sequencing

Deep search sequencing involves sequencing products across the category and all of its subcategories. The category sequence of its parent category and some of its ancestors is considered when the global sequence is generated for each product at indexing time. That is, an internally generated sequence number is generated for each product. The number is based on the product sequence within a given category, the category's sequence, and optionally the sequence of the category's parent categories. Sorting is used against this sequence number to determine the display order of the search result. Category browsing is sorted by sequence, while keyword searches use search rules to determine the order of the search result. Be aware of the following factors when deep search sequencing is enabled:

• When the search result is returned with a duplicate product across multiple categories, only the product from the category with the first display sequence is returned.

• Changes to category sequences require a full reindexing of the category index and catalog entry index.

• Only positive sequence numbers are supported by default.

To enable deep search sequencing, see Sorting products using deep search sequencing.

Sequencing and unpublishing categories and products

We can work with sequencing and unpublishing in WebSphere Commerce Search to ensure that categories and products are displayed or hidden to best suit the catalog data and business needs.

Shallow category unpublishing

Shallow category unpublishing is enabled by default in WebSphere Commerce. It allows business users to hide selected sales categories in the storefront so that shoppers cannot browse to them. However, products from an unpublished category are still searchable from the storefront and can be accessed from the search results. Be aware of the following factors when shallow category unpublishing is enabled:

• Unpublished categories are language-specific. That is, unpublished categories are not displayed in the storefront category list in only the specific language.

• Published subcategories in an unpublished parent category can still be reached using their SEO URL.

• Unpublished categories are not displayed in the category facet.

• If duplicate category names are displayed in the category facet and cause the full navigation path to be displayed, and any of the parent categories are unpublished, then the published subcategory is still displayed.

• Categories that do not contain translated text fall back to the site's default language.

  We can disable the category language fallback. Set the DisplayEntryWithNoName and DisplayGroupWithNoName flags to false in the Search EAR's component configuration file (wc-component.xml). Then, fully rebuild the search index. See Search properties in the component configuration file (wc-component.xml).

• Unpublishing a category results in all linked references to the category to be unpublished.

Deep category unpublishing

Business users can quickly hide categories, subcategories, and the products within them using the Catalogs tool. For example, if the category contains out-of-season merchandise. The deep category unpublishing feature allows WebSphere Commerce Search to avoid indexing or displaying products that are hidden from shoppers.

After enabling deep category unpublish, business users who use the Catalogs tool can clear the Display to customer check box for all categories and products that they want to hide. See Hiding categories. Be aware of the following factors when deep category unpublish is enabled:

• Unpublished categories are not language-specific. That is, unpublished categories are not displayed in the storefront category list in all languages.

• Changing the category published flag requires a full reindexing of the catalog entry index.

• Published subcategories in an unpublished parent category can still be reached using their SEO URL.

• Unpublished categories and all their subcategories are not displayed in the category facet.

• Catalog entries are unpublished for all languages when marked as unpublished in any supported language.

• Published and unpublished catalog entries are all indexed and filtered at run time.

  We can enable WebSphere Commerce Search to index only published catalog entries so that unpublished products are not automatically suggested in the search field. Set the IndexPublishedOnly and EnableDeepCategoryUnpublish flags to true in the WC EAR's component configuration file (wc-component.xml). See Search properties in the component configuration file (wc-component.xml).

  We can enable only products from published categories to be displayed in search results. Set the DisplayPublishedOnly flag to true in the Search EAR's component configuration file (wc-component.xml).

• Categories that do not contain translated text fall back to the site's default language.

  We can disable the category language fallback. Set the DisplayEntryWithNoName and DisplayGroupWithNoName flags to false in the Search EAR's component configuration file (wc-component.xml). Then, fully rebuild the search index.

Related tasks
Hiding categories and products using deep category unpublish
Sorting products using deep search sequencing