The VTEX platform is structured in modules for each part of the store's operation. This article provides an overview and describes the main settings of the following modules:

• Catalog
• Prices
• Promotions
• Logistics

The VTEX modules II article describes the Payments, Orders, and Checkout modules.

Catalog is the VTEX module where merchants configure their products to make them available in the store. The catalog structure defines the customers' experience when navigating the product categories in the store. Check out the Catalog guide for an overview of the Catalog API for developers.

There are no prior settings to make before configuring the Catalog, but the following should be noted:

• Customer navigation on the site: You need to plan how you want to arrange your category tree and know in advance what browsing experience you want to offer to customers in the category hierarchy.
• Making products available to customers: To make a product available in the store, after the Catalog settings, you must add a price and shipping logistics to the SKU. Also, the store's CMS must be correctly configured.

The Catalog architecture has some key concepts: category, brand, product, SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) and specification. The image below shows the relation between these concepts:

The store catalog must be created following the steps below:

1. Create a category tree.
2. Add brands.
3. Add specifications.
4. Import produts.
5. Import SKUs.

The following table shows the store's main Catalog settings based on their creation order:

Topic	Configuration via VTEX Admin	Configuration via API
1. Category tree	Add a category	- Categories - Create Category
2. Brands	Add brands	- Brands - Create Brand
3.1. Product specifications	Add product specifications or fields	- Product specifications - Create Specification
3.2. SKU specifications	Add SKU specifications or fields	- SKU specifications - Create Specification
4. Products	Add products	- Products - Create Product with Category and Brand
5. SKUs	Complete the SKU fields	- SKUs - Create SKU

To learn how to import products from an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) or PIM (Product Information Manager) system to the VTEX platform, read the Backend integrations article.

Category tree

The category tree defines the Catalog's basic structure. The categories act as hierarchical levels for classifying products, which simplify the customer's search and keep the store's catalog organized.

We recommend creating a three-level hierarchy, including Departaments, Categories and Subcategorias. However, some stores may benefit from a two-level structure with Departments and Categories. This depends on the operation's complexity and the types of products offered.

Example: Department Women, Category Shirts and T-shirts, and Sub-category T-shirts.

Before importing the store catalog to VTEX, we recommend that you start working on the category tree by creating a table such as the one below. This allows you to better view the tree's organization and the display of specifications.

For more information on how to import back-office specifications, read the Backend integrations article.

Brands

Brands generally refer to the company that manufactures or resells the products. On VTEX, brands must be created independently, and when creating a product, it must be associated with a brand already listed in the store.

Specifications

Specifications are additional properties that can be added to the products and SKUs, such as size, color, voltage, or material. In other words, there are product specifications and SKU specifications.

In the VTEX Catalog, specifications are created as follows:

1. Specification groups: These are specification field groups. They must be linked to categories. Usually, only one group is created at the root level, and all the specification fields are associated with this group.
2. Specification fields: Fields with additional product and SKU information. They must be linked to categories and specification groups.
3. Specification values: Values you can choose to add to the specification fields.

The specifications follow the Catalog hierarchy, so when one of these groups is created in a Department or Category, it follows the levels below.

Products

Products is the level of catalog organization that is located in the hierarchy below Categories and above SKUs. As the product is above the SKU in the catalog hierarchy, we can understand it as a generic definition of the items sold in your store. A product must have at least one SKU associated with it.

SKUs

SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) is a product variation and represents the physical unit in stock that can be purchased by the customer. The SKU is the last level in the catalog organization, and in order to be active, the SKU must have an image and specifications.

The following table shows optional Catalog settings on VTEX:

Feature	Description	Learn more
Collections	A collection is a combination of two or more products that may or may not share specific characteristics. Collections can be created to associate products based on different criteria, such as commemorative dates, launches, or best-selling products.	Help Center - Collections - Concept definition - Creating Collections (Beta) Developer Portal - Create Collection - Get All Inactive Collections - Get All Collections - Get Collections by search terms - Import File Example - Add products to Collection by imported file
Attachments	An attachment is an optional and free product customization used to add information to a SKU.	Help Center - Adding an attachment - How to create a subscription attachment - What is an Attachment? Developer Portal - Catalog API - Attachment - Catalog API - SKU attachment
Assembly Options	Assembly Options are a type of attachment for complex cases, such as product customization, in which you can manage different combinations of products, quantity, additional items, costs, and inventory. Then, you will be able to display these options on the product page.	Developer Portal - Assembly Options - Assembly Option App
Services	Service with extra cost, offered optionally with a product. It is used to add an additional service to an SKU, such as gift wrapping, customization, or special warranty agreements.	Help Center - What is a Service? - Service Management - Services Import - Services Report - Services scheduling Developer Portal - Catalog API - SKU service - Catalog API - SKU service attachment - Catalog API - SKU service type - Catalog API - SKU service value
Kits	A kit is a set of SKUs sold together, i.e., an SKU consisting of one or more SKUs.	Help Center - What is a kit? - Kit registration Developer Portal - Catalog API - SKU Kit

Prices is the VTEX module for creating, editing, and storing price details for the store's SKUs. For a product to be sold, the customer needs to know the price of each item displayed in the store. The pricing module has features that allow you to use different pricing strategies in your business.

Before configuring the store's prices, you need to create a catalog with your products. The store catalog must contain categories, brands, products and SKUs already added and active. If the catalog was created via ntegration with an ERP system, you should check the information before proceeding.

It is important to familiarize yourself with the main terms related to the module. These terms are outlined in the table below:

Term	Definition
Prices	Information on the sales values of the store's SKUs.
Price tables	Set of SKU prices that can be applied to a given context, such as a trade policy. These tables contain the price information displayed on the store's storefront.
Cost price	Price paid by the store when purchasing the SKU.
Markup	The store's desired profit margin from selling the SKU.
Base price	Amount calculated by combining the cost price and the markup. This is the SKU's reference price for all price tables.
List price	Suggested selling price for an SKU. This price will be displayed on the product page as the From price, while the base price will be displayed as the To price.
Price rule	Changes the SKU price on a specific price table without changing the base price on other tables. To do so, you need to create a price rule and associate it with the desired table.
Fixed price	Price that overrides all other price settings in a price table.
Price rounding	A pricing strategy based on price rounding. This method aims to influence the consumer's purchasing decision by displaying prices in a more user-friendly and intuitive format.
Price variation limiter	Sets the maximum and minimum price variations for an item. This feature ensures that SKU prices are not changed to undesirable values.

For more information on pricing architecture, read the Pricing System Architecture article.

The Pricing module's architecture is structured based on three key concepts:

• Prices
• Price tables
• Contexts for applying price tables

Prices are the sales value information for your SKUs. These prices are stored in price tables, which can be applied to different contexts.

The image below illustrates the relationship between prices, the price table, and the context in which they will be applied:

You can create price tables for your SKUs in three ways:

• Via Admin VTEX
• Via spreadsheet
• Via API

Prices can be scheduled for special events, as described in the Scheduling prices article.

There is a difference between price tables created for trade policies and price tables created for other contexts.

Price tables not associated with trade policies can be used in contexts such as promotions and customer clusters. Tables created for trade policies can only be associated with the trade policy itself. Thus, the price table associated with a trade policy shows the SKU price specific to that policy and cannot be associated with other contexts.

The concepts of price table and trade policy are different. Trade policy is the context with which a price list is associated.

When setting up a trade policy, you must specify the currency that will be used in the store. Creating different trade policies associated with a different currency allows the store to display prices in different currencies to customers.

On VTEX, the merchant can create a set of rules to indicate if customers can have discounts applied to certain shopping contexts. Promotions is the VTEX module for creating, editing, and applying discounts to customers' shopping carts.

Before configuring your store's promotions, you must create a Catalog with your products and enter the prices of the store's SKUs.

In this context, it is important to be familiar with the main terms related to the module. These terms are outlined in the table below:

Term	Definition
Promotion	Discount given to customers, which can be linked to one or more products in the cart, to shipping or a gift.
Coupon	Promotional code consisting of a sequence of letters and numbers. Coupons are associated with promotions applied to the cart total amount. Thus, by entering a valid coupon at checkout, the customer can get discounts on the order total amount.
Campaign audience	Campaign audience is a feature that allows you to define the target audience or a promotion. It consists of setting up criteria to segment customers from which the VTEX platform automatically validates whether customers are eligible for a particular campaign audience and, consequently, for the associated campaign promotions.
Campaign promotion	A campaign promotion is always linked to a campaign audience, i.e., a specific target audience. This type of promotion will only be applied to the target audience of the campaign.

On VTEX, merchants can create rules that determine the application of discounts based on the purchase context. These rules take into account various parameters, including product lists, customer lists, postal code ranges, minimum value of items in the cart, and others.

Discounts can be of two main types:

• Nominal: Discount of the gross amount, such as $20.
• Percentage: Discount of a percentage value, such as 10% of the total amount of the cart.

There are six types of promotion, each related to a different scenario:

Promotion type	Definition
Regular Promotion	Promotion that allows the store to offer flexible discounts, combining multiple conditions, restrictions, and benefits.
Buy Together	Promotion used to give a discount on products added together in the cart. The discount can be applied to both products. There's also the option to only apply the discount if a specific quantity of one of the product is added to the cart.
More for Less	Promotion used to give a discount when the customer adds multiple units of the same product to the cart.
Progressive Discount	Promotion used when you want to offer a percentage discount for a specific number of products in the cart.
Buy One Get One	Promotion used to provide free shipping or a giveaway when a specific product is purchased.
Campaign Promotion	A campaign promotion is always linked to a campaign audience, i.e., a specific target audience.

For all promotions, you can define their duration, restrictions, and limitations on usage. Promotions can also be scheduled for special events, as described in the Scheduling features for special events article.

For more information on how promotions can be applied, read the Promotion examples article.

You can create discount coupons through the VTEX Admin ou via API. A coupon must be linked to at least one promotion to be applicable.

There is a maximum number of active coupons. We strongly recommend reusing coupons, as a large number of coupons can compromise the performance of the Promotions module.

Creating campaign promotions campaign audience to set the promotion's target audience. You can then choose eligible customer segments for the promotion. These segments act as a trigger based on criteria defined by the merchant.

Once the campaign audience has been created, it needs to be linked to a Regular Promotion, thus creating a campaign promotion. This type of promotion encompasses all the possibilities available in the Regular Promotion and a few more options:

• Specific target audience.
• Free shipping for all available shipping options.
• Promotional price table.
• Giveaways delivered by sellers.

You can highlight a promotion on the product page (PDP). To do so, follow the steps below:

1. Create a promotion of any type, except for the Buy Together promotion.
2. Activate the Promotion is highlighted field in the promotion form.
3. Save the promotion.
4. In the Legacy CMS, enter the promotion display control in the template: <vtex.cmc:discountHightLight/>.

Ensure that you sync your promotion timeline with the delivery dates on your banners and digital assets to ensure perfect coordination. To do so, you should check the dates on both promotions and banners. This strategic alignment ensures that promotional campaigns are supported by relevant visual materials, maximizing their impact and effectiveness.

On VTEX, the Logistics module is responsible for the store's logistics and order fulfillment. It includes planning, transportation, storage, and shipping orders to customers.

To configure the logistics settings, you must have completed the following steps:

• Creating catalog: As the order fulfillment is related to storing items, the store's products and SKUs must be listed in the Catalog.
• Configuring trade policies: Trade policies shape the customer experience on a store's website. They encompass sales conditions for each audience, the products offered, pricing, promotions, and shipping methods.

Besides, if the business model includes international stores and cross-border sales, you should first consider the store's architectural model.

The set of essential logistics settings for a VTEX store is called Shipping Strategy and consists of three main concepts: shipping policy, warehouse, and loading dock.

• Shipping policy: set of rules that define the order's shipping options and conditions.
• Loading dock: distribution location for the items to be sold.
• Warehouse: physical storage space for the products to be sold.

The image below shows how these concepts relate to each other when selling a product:

The following table shows the store's main logistics settings on VTEX:

We recommend configuring the shipping policy first, followed by the loading dock, and then the warehouse.

Topic	Configuration via VTEX Admin	Configuration via API
Shipping policy	Shipping Policy	Create shipping policy
Loading dock	Managing Loading Docks	Create/update dock
Warehouse	Managing Warehouses	Create/update warehouse
Inventory	Inventory Management	Update inventory by SKU and warehouse

Shipping policy

Shipping policy is a set of rules that define the shipping options and conditions that will be displayed to customers at checkout. These conditions include carriers, delivery times, shipping costs, etc. The shipping policy is linked to the warehouse by the loading dock.

The carrier delivering the order is defined via the shipping policy. First, carriers are added to the shipping rate template, then the shipping rate template is associated when a shipping policy is created.

Loading dock

The loading dock is where items are distributed and shipped from and is the intermediate step between the warehouse and the carriers. The loading dock integrates the warehouse, trade policy, and shipping policy. Some use cases are:

• Different distribution centers for a single warehouse.
• Loading dock as a distribution center.
• Loading dock and warehouse correspond to the same physical space.

For certain products, you may not need a physical distribution center. Even so, configuring the loading dock is essential for the proper functioning of the VTEX platform's operations.

Warehouse

The logistics route starts with the warehouse. It corresponds to the physical storage space for the products the store sells. Once the items sold are picked from the warehouse, they are sent to the loading dock.

Store inventory corresponds to the stored items available for sale. Warehouse is the identification of the physical location of storage location, while inventory is the set of SKUs in stock that are available for sale.

On VTEX, the store must manage inventory updates after selling items. Thus, after a sale, the merchant ensures proper control of the remaining items and invoice operations with ERP. Information on inventory import via the back office can be found in the Backend integrations article.

In the VTEX Admin, under Catalog > Inventory > Inventory Management, existe you can configure the Lead time, an optional setting that allows you to assign a shipping time at SKU level. Configuring the lead time means adding a period of time to the order shipping calculation which is strategic in some contexts.

The main use cases, include products from external suppliers, dropshipping scenarios, and the sale of custom items. Having the option to configure the lead time means having more flexibility to set deadlines for handling and shipping products by third parties.

The VTEX platform considers the following settings to calculate the order shipping time:

• Lead time: Configurable amount of time for an SKU in stock. This configuration is optional and is set to zero days by default.
• Warehouse time: time it takes for an SKU to move from a warehouse to a loading dock. This configuration is required, but you can set the time to zero.
• Loading dock time: time it takes for an SKU to leave the dock and be shipped to the customer. This configuration is required, but you can set the time to zero.
• Shipping policy: groups together the shipping rules and conditions displayed to customers at checkout, including carriers, shipping costs, carrier business hours, delivery windows, and delivery capacity.

The shipping simulator allows merchants to simulate and analyze the delivery options available for an order in a given location. The simulation checks the viability and shipping conditions of the order, such as item availability, shipping methods, costs, and shipping time.

To serve different business models, the VTEX platform offers many optional settings, as shown in the table below:

Feature	Description
Pickup points	Pickup points are physical locations set up by the store for customers to pick up their orders. Setting up pickup points is interesting for omnichannel operations, especially when there are many physical stores, as each can be used as a pickup option for customers, increasing the flexibility of your logistics network.
Holidays	Holidays is a feature that allows the store to set up days that are not valid for shipping, which will be considered when calculating the order's shipping time.
Reservation	Reservation is a solution that prevents the same item from being sold more than once. When the customer only adds the product to the cart, this does not generate a reservation; your priority over the item only occurs once the order has been placed.
Delivery capacity	Delivery capacity is the limit of shipments that can be made by the store in a given period. Being able to delimit the number of items or orders that can be shipped in each shipping window means having more control over order handling and increasing the chances of fulfilling the delivery agreement made with the customer at checkout.
Geolocation	Geolocation involves adding delivery locations based on the latitude and longitude of addresses. This feature is often used for addresses in rural and industrial areas, which are divided into lots or risk areas, and when it's necessary to remove certain delivery locations within a region.

For more information on logistics concepts on VTEX, read the Logistics Glossary article. For developer content on the Logistics API, read the Fulfillment and Logistics article.