Catalog Integration for E-commerce: Single and Bundle Products

Merchant Integration Methods for Complex Catalog Structures

Our client faced significant challenges in integrating various merchant catalog structures into a wholesome system. This case study explores the tricky parts of the process and showcases the smart solutions we came up with to tackle these issues.

Pre-integration landscape

There were merchants who wished to be onboarded to a new Delivery service. However, some of their product bundles didn’t fit the service’s data structure. This meant the merchants could not sell their goods and lost a great portion of income.

The only solution was to add all the data in product description that would make a mess and cause difficulties for both merchants and customers:

🍔 Creating menus by hand was slow and often led to mistakes, making it tough to keep menus updated everywhere. This caused catalog structures to be inconsistent, confusing both merchants and customers.

🍕 Merchants had to manually enter orders from a cashier portal into their systems. This slow method led to errors and sometimes missed orders, resulting in lost sales and unhappy customers.

🍝 Merchants found it hard to update item availability across platforms, which led to out-of-stock orders. This frustrated customers and created extra work for merchants who had to handle cancellations or replacements.

Overall, manual processes often led to order mistakes. Items could be missed when transferring orders to the merchant’s system, resulting in incomplete orders. This upset customers and damaged the merchant’s reputation and customer loyalty.

The client needed a custom integration solution to solve these problems and improve operations for both merchants and customers.

Main challenge: Bridging structural gaps

Three-tier vs. five-tier catalogs

Many merchants use a straightforward three-level structure for their catalogs: Product – Product option – Option value:

It’s an easy way to show how products, their customizable parts, and the choices for each part connect. This structure was simple to integrate because the client’s app already uses a three-tier catalog structure.

However, many merchants, who are a part of Americana Restaurants, used a more complex five-level structure, with intricate combinations and nested modifiers.

Nested modifiers are a complex feature in menu structures, particularly in the food and beverage industry. They represent a hierarchical system of customization options for menu items.

Here’s a breakdown:

Basic modifiers: These are simple customization options for a menu item. For example, choosing the size of a pizza or adding extra cheese to a burger.
Nested modifiers: These are modifiers within modifiers, creating a multi-level structure of choices. They allow for more intricate customization of menu items and create bundle products as combo-boxes like “burger + drink + salad”.

Let’s consider a combo meal at a fast-food restaurant:

In this structure, the choices for patty type and bun type are nested under the burger option, while bread type and filling are nested under the sandwich option. Similarly, size is nested under fries, and dressing under salad.

Nested modifiers allow for highly customizable orders but can also create challenges in menu management and order processing systems. They require sophisticated software to handle the complex relationships between different options and ensure that all possible combinations are accounted for in pricing and inventory management.

Setronica’s solution: Merchant-specific integrations

Setronica faced a complex challenge: how to bridge the gap between these different catalog structures. The key was to find a way to map these varied structures effectively, ensuring smooth data flow in both directions.

To address this, Setronica developed a range of smart, merchant-specific integrations. Let’s look at these solutions in detail:

1. Intelligent combo item processing

We created a clever algorithm that looks at each item in a merchant’s catalog:

It checks all the add-ons (we call them modifiers) linked to each item.
For combo meals where different parts have the same modifiers, it shows these as side-by-side options. This makes it easy for customers to choose.
If different parts of a combo have unique modifiers, the system creates separate items for each. This keeps things clear and simple for the customer.

For the example, below, the integration created two different products to present a burger as a single product and as a part of a combo.

Here is a list of product options for a single product:

And here is a list of product options for a combo product:

This approach is great because it keeps the customer interface clean and easy to use, while still handling all the complex behind-the-scenes stuff in the merchant’s original menu.

2. Point of sale (POS) adaptations

Some merchants, especially larger ones, have unique needs. They might have different menus for different locations or types of stores. Setronica’s system handles this by:

Combining separate menus from different locations into one big menu for the whole business.
Keeping track of which items are available at each location.
Showing customers the right products based on where they are and which store is closest to them.

This means customers always see an accurate menu, no matter where they are or which branch they’re ordering from.

3. Pizza size variations

Pizzas can be tricky because the toppings might be the same, but prices change based on size. Setronica’s solution is simple but effective:

It splits pizzas into different products based on size.
It calculates the right price for each size.

This makes it easy for customers to choose exactly what they want, and for merchants to manage their menu accurately.

Integration API: A flexible solution for all

Recognizing that some merchants or their tech partners might want more control, Setronica also offers an Integration API:

Accepts menu data in a standard format (JSON).
Matches the default structure, making it easy to use.
Can be used directly by merchants or their integration partners.
Enables smooth, real-time data exchange.

This API opens up integration capabilities to a wider audience, allowing for even more flexibility and customization.

Results & conclusion

The integration project showcases the complexity of modern e-commerce systems and the need for flexible, intelligent solutions.

Merchant-specific integrations consistently outperform the Integration API, showing the benefits of tailored solutions.
Both integration types maintain high successful submission rates, ensuring smooth operations for merchants.
Lower cancellation rates indicate ongoing improvements in order accuracy and customer experience.
The Integration API offers flexibility for merchants who prefer direct control over their integrations.

Setronica is dedicated to offering reliable and efficient integration solutions that meet our clients’ needs. We keep improving our systems to achieve even better performance and customer satisfaction. Contact Setronica via the form below to find a solution that works for you.

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