Facets

Facets group similar items and attributes together in the left sidebar of starter stores to target meaningful product results. The facets are displayed with the number of products that are contained in each facet, and are clickable to filter search results. As a Category Manager or Product Manager, you can use Management Center to manage individual facets within catalog entries or to manage facets within categories.

Feature Pack 5 or later Facet functionality is customizable, and can be ordered by item count, alphanumeric or a user-defined sequence. Settings for facets are controlled by the Management Center Attribute Dictionary.

The following screen capture shows the settings for facets:
Facetable properties

Faceted navigation

Customers can easily find products in the storefront by using faceted navigation. Facets group similar items and attributes together in the left sidebar to target meaningful product results. The groups and shared attributes are displayed with the number of products that are contained in each facet.

For example, if the customer types en into the search field:

Matching keywords are displayed, such as enzi and enzi espresso.
Matching categories are displayed, such as Kitchenware.
Matching brands are displayed, such as Enzi and Kitchen's Best.
Matching site content is displayed, such as Enzi EI-03 Tower Coffee Maker User Manual article.
Search history is displayed, if previous searches were performed in the store.

The breadcrumb trail maintains the current navigation structure as the customer navigates throughout the store. It contains the current navigation facets that are selected by the shopper, with the category always shown first.

Note: Clicking facets in the breadcrumb trail isolates the facet. That is, you can cancel facets in the storefront.

Facets and faceted navigation in starter stores

Facets enable customers to customize their browsing and search experience by controlling the amount of information that is presented to them. Selected facets display at the top of the filter pane and can be easily cleared for fine-grained control of product results. Products matching the facet criteria are displayed to the user in the main content area in real time.

Enabled facets are organized into collapsible sections, with the option to allow single or multiple facets selected. The filter pane scales to accommodate a potentially limitless number of facets, with additional facet categories that display a show more link beyond a set threshold.

The following screen capture shows faceted navigation in the Madisons starter store:
Screen capture for faceted navigation in the Madisons starter store

Screen capture for faceted navigation in the Madisons starter store

The following screen capture shows faceted navigation in the Aurora starter store:
Screen capture for faceted navigation in the Aurora starter store

Screen capture for faceted navigation in the Aurora starter store

Featured facets in the Aurora starter store

Featured products appear in the Aurora starter store to merchandise products for higher visibility.

Featured products are classified into the following facets:

Exclusive
Clearance

The following screen capture shows featured facets in the Aurora starter store:
Screen capture for featured facets in the Aurora starter store

Managing storefront facets

You can manage storefront facets at an attribute level and category level.

You can select which facets are displayed in the left sidebar of starter stores by marking an attribute as facetable in the attribute dictionary. You can then optionally select facetable properties for the attribute to further refine search results in the storefront. For more information, see Creating attributes in the attribute dictionary.
You can work with categories to change the sequence in which attributes appear in starter stores, and assign which attributes to display or hide in the storefront. For more information, see Managing faceted navigation attributes in categories.