The ARD Commerce Products section allows you to advertise various products or services which you want to make available for sale. There are two types of produts a "Simple" product which comes in only one format / option / size. An example might be a hardware tool like a hammer, or a technical item like a camera stand.

The other type of product is a "Variant" product which is one that has multiple options, for example a clothing item which comes in different colours and sizes. Setting up variant products is described further below at XXX.

Note by default the ARD Commerce shop is set to operate in 'Guest Checkout' mode, meaning visitors to your site will NOT need an account before purchasing an item. 

A few items to consider before adding your produts

• Stock Tracking - Do you want to record stock levels on products which will mean items will no longer be for sale when they reach a stock level of 0.
• Product Enquires - Do you want to allow product enquiries to be turned on. Enquiries can be filtered to go to specific emails pending on the product type enquired about
• Tax Rates - Various tax rates can be setup which allows you to assign specific rates to different products.
• Pages & Positions - Products need to be assigned to a webpage(s), so they can be found and you can determine the order on the pages where the product will be listed
• Price & Sale Price - A price needs to be set on a product before it can be purchased. Sale prices can be used however they must be explicitly turned on and off.

First Steps to adding a product

1. Add your product title - this is how to the product will be displayed as and what will appear in any order details containing this product
2. Visbility Status - A product can be set to be hidden on a page if you want to prevent it from being seen
3. Available for Purchase option - If a product is set to NOT be available for purchase it can still be displayed and enquiries can be taken about it but it will not be possible to add it to the checkout area
4. Featured Product - This setting is currently not supported.
5. Summary / Description Fields - These provide text description area for products. You can use the description box to insert video clips of a product in action.
6. Price - Setting a price is required to ensure a product can be purchased
7. VAT - Set the vat rate you wish to have applied to the particular product
8. RR Price & Cost Price - These are internal fields only visible to those with access to the commerce products section.
9. Sale On & Sale Price - This allows you to have an alternative price which can be turned on / off. In future there will be a timeperiod alongside sale prices so the sale price will only be active within a certain date/time period.
10. Save Details - Don't forget to Save the above information using the "Save" Button

The screenshot will show you the first set of items to be added when setting up a product. 

Additional Steps to adding your product

Once you have added the basic details for your product the following additional steps are recommended. These options are only available when the first set of information is save and addtional tabs become visible in the add/edit product dialog box.

1. Images - It is recommended to upload at least one high quality image demonstrating the product. If adding multiple images you can determine which image will act as the "preview image" which means it will be the image seen when a person is looking at a product list view which shows multiple products within a section. 
2. Page Allocation - Products need to be added to specific pages before they can be found by customers browsing the site. A product can be added to mulitple pages. 
3. Search Tags - This area is provided for the addition of SEO details for the products
4. Files - Additional resources for products can be uploaded, this can be a document, audio, or video file which would then be displayed on the product details page.
5. Related Products - If you want to associate products together you can use the 'related products' to select an additional product(s) which will appear on product details page showing their preview image(s)

Advanced Product Settings

The "Settings" tab allows you to set the following items for your product. 

1. Cart Restrictions - Allows you to control the minimum or maximum amount of this product customers can add to their checkout
2. Product Weight - This item is not currently supported - It is intended in future to have specific shipping charges depending on a product weight
3. Customer Message - This allows you to have a question displayed on a product page, which can be useful, if a product has a customizable aspect, like a t-shirt message, or product finish. The customer message is then included along with the order details.
4. Gallery Type - This allows you to overide the default image display and position of images on the product details page
5. Coupons - This lists the avaialble coupons which can be used with this product
6. Shippings - This lists the available shipping charges which can be applied to orders including this product.