Different iXpole customers will be selling different products & services to their customers. While clubs also sell sponsorship products, event organisers will most probably limit their sales to VIP Hospitality services. It is obvious that in both cases the object of the sale will have different characteristics.
After reading this article you will understand why there are different Product Categories pre-defined in iXpole and which characteristics are linked to these Categories
Let's dive into it
iXpole distinguishes 5 Product Categories, but 2 of them have the same characteristics:
1. Ticket Products
Following two Product Categories contain Products that -when sold- give rise to the creation of Tickets in iXpole
- Seats
A Seat is a very specific Product. A Seat will be part of a Venue Plan. Seats will be characterised by their location-related data in the Venue: Stand, Section, Row, Seat number
- Parking
A Parking is very similar to a Seat with that difference that there are no Stands in the Parking hierarchy
To understand how to properly work with Seats and Venues you should learn more about Venues
2. Catalog Products
The Category in which you put all Products that do not fall under categories 1, 3 and 4.
The Catalog will be used any type of Product, from sponsoring over visibility, to upsell and merchandising.
Catalog Products can have different characteristics that need to be configured in iXpole: Pricing, BOM, Stock, Variations, On Demand
3. Incentives
'Incentives' is a very specific Product Category.
Incentives are 'conditional product'. When they are sold, their value is not considered in the total invoicing value of the Sale.
The value of an Incentive is only invoiced when the system is explicitly instructed to do so (when a certain condition is met).
Incentives are a very useful tool in the sports sector, where sponsor contracts sometimes include bonuses. E.g.
- If you promote...
- If you achieve this stage in this competition...
- If you qualify for European games...
...then we will pay an extra x€ in sponsoring
The Incentives allow you to include the Products in the master Sale. But the invoicing of these products will only happen when the system is explicitly instructed to do so. I.e. when the milestone has been achieved.
The configuration, and use, of Incentives is a specific process.
4. Hospitality Products
The main purpose of this specific Product Category is to group certain Products related to Hospitality is such a way that the value of all these Products are categorised under 'Hospitality' in certain reports.
This Product Category therefore stores Products that are proposed as part of Hospitality services:
- The Products that compose a Hospitality BOM are stored under this Category
- Any Upsell Products linked to Hospitality services are linked under this Category
Hospitality Subscriptions, Hospitality Formulas and Hospitality Packages are not really Products. They are configured elsewhere in the system.