Customer Categories

Customer categories allow you to control which products specific customers can see. This is particularly useful for B2B scenarios where different customers or customer segments should have access to different product catalogs.

Overview

Customers can have two types of category restrictions:

Property	Type	Description
`assortmentIncludeProductCategoryIds`	List<string>	Categories the customer can see
`assortmentExcludeProductCategoryIds`	List<string>	Categories the customer cannot see

When a customer searches for products:

If they have include categories, only products in those categories are shown
Exclude categories are always filtered out, regardless of include settings

How It Works

Product Search with CustomerId
        │
        ▼
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Load Customer                                                 │
│  ├── AssortmentIncludeProductCategoryIds: ["electronics"]     │
│  └── AssortmentExcludeProductCategoryIds: ["restricted"]      │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
        │
        ▼
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Apply Category Filter                                         │
│  ├── Include: Only show products in "electronics" category    │
│  └── Exclude: Hide products in "restricted" category          │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
        │
        ▼
    Filtered Results

Customer Configuration

Business Customer

{
  "customerId": "acme-corp",
  "customerType": "business",
  "name": "ACME Corporation",
  "assortmentIncludeProductCategoryIds": [
    "industrial-equipment",
    "safety-gear"
  ],
  "assortmentExcludeProductCategoryIds": [
    "consumer-products"
  ]
}

Private Customer

{
  "customerId": "john-doe",
  "customerType": "private",
  "name": "John Doe",
  "assortmentIncludeProductCategoryIds": ["vip-products"],
  "assortmentExcludeProductCategoryIds": []
}

API Operations

Set Customer Categories

PATCH /api/BusinessCustomers/PatchBusinessCustomer
Content-Type: application/json
 
{
  "customerId": "acme-corp",
  "assortmentIncludeCategoryIds": ["industrial-equipment", "safety-gear"],
  "assortmentExcludeCategoryIds": ["consumer-products"]
}

Or for private customers:

PATCH /api/PrivateCustomers/PatchPrivateCustomer
Content-Type: application/json
 
{
  "customerId": "john-doe",
  "assortmentIncludeCategoryIds": ["vip-products"],
  "assortmentExcludeCategoryIds": []
}

The customerId must be included in the request body, not as a URL parameter.

Remove Category Restrictions

Send an empty array to remove restrictions:

PATCH /api/BusinessCustomers/PatchBusinessCustomer
Content-Type: application/json
 
{
  "customerId": "acme-corp",
  "assortmentIncludeCategoryIds": [],
  "assortmentExcludeCategoryIds": []
}

Sending null does not update the property. To remove categories, you must send an empty array [].

Search Behavior

With Include Categories

When a customer has assortmentIncludeProductCategoryIds:

POST /api/Products/Search
{
  "customerId": "acme-corp",
  "query": "equipment"
}

The search automatically filters to show only products in the customer's allowed categories.

Ignoring Customer Assortment

To bypass customer category restrictions (e.g., for admin views):

POST /api/Products/Search
{
  "customerId": "acme-corp",
  "ignoreCustomerAssortment": true,
  "query": "equipment"
}

User-Specified Categories

If the user specifies categories in the search request:

Scenario	Behavior
User provides categories, customer has include	User's categories are used
User provides no categories, customer has include	Customer's include categories are applied
Customer has exclude categories	Always applied (cannot be overridden)

How Filtering Works

When a product search includes a customerId:

The customer is loaded from the database
If the search request has no category filter AND the customer has include categories:
- The customer's include categories become the search filter
If the customer has exclude categories:
- These are always applied (cannot be overridden by the search request)

This ensures customers only see products they're authorized to view.

Use Cases

B2B Customer Tiers

Different customers see different product ranges:

Bronze Tier Customer:

{
  "assortmentIncludeProductCategoryIds": ["basic-products"]
}

Gold Tier Customer:

{
  "assortmentIncludeProductCategoryIds": [
    "basic-products",
    "premium-products",
    "exclusive-products"
  ]
}

Industry-Specific Catalogs

Customers in different industries see relevant products:

Healthcare Customer:

{
  "assortmentIncludeProductCategoryIds": [
    "medical-equipment",
    "sanitization",
    "safety-gear"
  ]
}

Manufacturing Customer:

{
  "assortmentIncludeProductCategoryIds": [
    "industrial-machinery",
    "raw-materials",
    "safety-gear"
  ]
}

Restricted Products

Hide certain products from specific customers:

Standard Customer:

{
  "assortmentExcludeProductCategoryIds": [
    "restricted",
    "hazardous",
    "licensed-only"
  ]
}

Combining with Other Assortment Controls

Customer categories work alongside other assortment mechanisms:

Control	Relationship
Store/Market IDs	Applied first (AND logic)
Assortment Codes	Applied separately (AND logic)
Customer Categories	Applied on search (AND logic)
IsActive/Dates	Applied on search (AND logic)

Example: A product must:

Be in the customer's allowed categories
AND be in the current store's assortment
AND have matching assortment codes (if customer is restricted)
AND be active with valid dates

Best Practices

Category Granularity

Design categories with customer restrictions in mind:

Create clear separation between restricted and unrestricted categories
Use parent categories for broad restrictions
Use child categories for fine-grained control

Testing Customer Views

To test what a customer sees:

Create a test search request with the customer's ID
Compare results with and without ignoreCustomerAssortment
Verify expected products are visible/hidden

Bulk Customer Updates

When updating many customers with the same restrictions, consider:

Creating a customer group with default category settings
Using API bulk operations
Importing category assignments via data integration

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Solution
Customer sees no products	Include categories don't match any products	Verify category IDs exist and products have them
Customer sees restricted products	Exclude categories not set	Add categories to `assortmentExcludeCategoryIds`
Categories not applying	`ignoreCustomerAssortment` is true	Remove flag from search request
Wrong customer type	Looking up business vs private	Verify customer type and use correct service
Categories not updating	Sent null instead of empty array	Use `[]` to clear, `null` preserves existing

Customer Categories

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