If you need to go deeper, the purpose of the next chapters is not to redo the PIM documentation but to explain where to find the information and, above all, to point out PIM features/properties to be taken into consideration in a context of developing an eCommerce App.

• A product model is used to enrich products' common properties.

• A product can be:

  • A structure that represents a ”simple” product with no variation (no parent)
  • A structure that represents the last level of a product variation (with a product model as parent).

• The structure of a product with variation (Product models+Product) is defined in the family variant.

• A product inherits the attributes defined in its product models.

• A product varies along a variation axis which is one of the product attributes which can be of type:

  • Simple select
  • Simple reference data
  • Reference entity single link (EE only)
  • Measurement
  • Boolean (Yes/No)

• A “published” product is only used by some of our customers who need to organize their PIM work by having 2 versions of the product:
  • A version in draft mode
  • A "published" version ready to be exported

• A family is a set of attributes for product
• The family properties define:
  • Which attribute is the product label
  • Which attribute is the main picture

• A family variant defines the structure of products with variants (Product model(s) + Products) and gives you this information:
  • Number of variation levels
  • Attribute(s) defined as an axis of variation
  • Distribution of attributes by variation level

• Some attributes are just a link to a specific PIM data structure (Simple and multi select, Asset collection, Reference entity single and multiple links, Metric)
• Some attributes can be "scopable" (attribute content dedicated to a specific "channel") and/or "localizable" (attribute content dedicated to a specific PIM "locale")

• Options for simple and multi select attributes can be translated in any enabled locale in the PIM.

• Attribute groups are for Akeneo PIM internal purposes only (To organize product attributes and to set permissions for Akeneo PIM EE contributors)

• An Akeneo PIM category is just a label (no associated structure or rich information).
• A category label can be translate in any enable locale in the PIM.
• A product or a product model can be associated to one or more categories.
• You can have different category trees in Akeneo PIM.

• Akeneo PIM have different type of association (Cross-sell, up-sell, substitution, pack…) but a customer can also build “custom” association types.
• A product “association” can be at product level and/or at product model level.
• New: since the 5.0, we have quantity for association. Please consult this dedicated documentation.

• A channel (scope) defines a selection of products and information to export for a specific destination (like eCommerce).

It works like a filter on the product catalog and has the following properties:

• It is linked to a category tree (and only one!)
• It has one or more enabled locales
• It has one or several currencies
• It has a dedicated completeness
• It has its own measurement conversions.

• A locale allow to translate some product information
• Only some specific product attributes can be declared as "localizable" (different content for this attribute compared to PIM enabled locales).
• There is no default locale in the PIM.

• A currency is applied to "Price" attribute type.

• A measurement family is used to gather the units concerning the same product measurement.
• A measurement attribute is based on a measurement family.

• A reference entity has its own attributes (in its properties).
• A reference entity defines also a set of attributes for its reference entities records

• A Reference entity record may be related to one or several products

• A reference entity attribute can be localizable or scopable
• You can have a reference entity record link to another reference entity record through a "reference entity single or multiple link" attribute...

• Options for simple and multi select Reference entity attributes can be translated in any enabled locale in the PIM.

• An asset can represent an image, a video or a file (i.e PDF)
• An asset is a structure with asset attributes like label, description, file or URL…
• An asset is associated to a product or a product model through an “asset collection attribute”.
• An “asset collection attribute“ can be localizable (Different assets for different locales) and/or scopable (Different assets for different destination channel)

• An asset attribute can be localizable and/or scopable.
• A media link asset attribute is an attribute that handle URL (external media from a CDN for example).
• A media link asset attribute can have a "prefix" and a "suffix" to complete the media link asset attribute value and composed the final URL.
• A media file asset attribute is an attribute that handle binaries hosted by Akeneo PIM.
• A media file or media link attribute have a “type” in its properties to defined the if it is an image, a video, a file...

• Options for simple and multi select asset attributes can be translated in any enabled locale in the PIM.

• An asset family is a set of attributes for assets
• The asset family properties define:
  • Which asset attribute is the main media attribute.
  • Which attribute is the main picture.