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Dynamic Pricing
Dynamic Pricing
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HINT: A video training of the Dynamic Pricing module in Version 2.20 or later is available. The Dynamic Pricing training portion begins at 7:59.

Interested in learning more about the Dynamic Pricing Savings Display on the PDP? Watch the Improvind the Shopping Experience with New Features Webinar (April 2021). Note that you will need to register to receive the on-demand recording.

Note

IMPORTANT: There are two methods for configuring Dynamic Pricing – our Legacy Dynamic Pricing and this Dynamic Pricing detailed below which utilizes the same back end as the legacy version, but makes configuration easier with a new interface. You need to decide which one you are going to use to set up dynamic pricing for a given product and CHOOSE ONE METHOD. Using both methods on a given product can cause issues with pricing setup.

Note

IMPORTANT: Do not enable the Dynamic Pricing v2 plugin/functionality in versions prior to 2.21. A bug was found that where if you edit a product that does not have dynamic pricing added to it, the base window is getting automatically created, which could result in dates that are available showing as unavailable. Aspenware has gone ahead and disabled this plugin from all test and production stores on this version. We have also fixed any products that might have already been impacted by this issue to prevent future issues. (Expected to be fixed in 2.21) The legacy dynamic pricing admin tool can be used for two specific pricing tasks that have not yet been ported to the newer dynamic pricing admin. For all other dynamic pricing setups and management, use the dynamic pricing tool available in the product editor view, rather than the legacy dynamic pricing plugin.

Setup Checklist

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Set-up Checklist
Set-up Checklist
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1. POS Tasks

1. Follow the POS standard product setup requirements from Configuration: PRoduct Shell.

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  • If you are selling these products onsite, you’ll want to set up pricing for these products so that you can leverage whatever demand based pricing your POS makes available for on-site sales (i.e. Pricing Seasons in RTP|One)

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2. Aspenware Commerce Tasks

  • 1. Configure Core product

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    1. Add “Start Date” attribute with

    2. Text Prompt: [Date] [Dynamic]

    3. Control Type: Set to Date picker

    4. Is required: Selected

  • Generate attribute combinations and check to make sure the attribute combination table is perfect before beginning pricing activities

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  • If utilizing the Large calendar view, add “[Pricing Calendar]” Text prompt to required attributes

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  • 2. Add product classification(s)

    1. ‘Is Dynamically Priced’

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    2. 'Is consecutive multi-day' if using inventory pools and the product has multi-day options

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    3. ‘Show pricing Calendar view’ if using the pricing calendar display

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Note

IMPORTANT: Non-consecutive date selection products cannot have dynamic pricing.

  • 3. Additional commonly utilized setup

    1. Setup inventory pools if adding inventory to products

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    2. Add reloadable media

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    3. Setup cutoff days/time if preventing purchase x days or hours prior to start

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  • 4. Install Dynamic Pricing v2 plugin

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Language String and Settings -

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Settings

  • 'catalogsettings.dynamicpricingcalendar.pricingcountmessagethreshold' - on the pricing calendar, the remaining quantity left at the pricing tier will be shown if the quantity left is below this defined threshold.

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  • catalogsettings.dynamicpricingcalendar.inventorymessagethreshold - on the pricing calendar, the remaining inventory left in the POS will be shown if the inventory left is below this defined threshold.

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  • seasonsettings.enddate is set to the season end date

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  • seasonsettings.startdate is a date in the past

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Language Strings

  • Configure string for for Savings Display on PDP

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Dynamic Pricing Module Configuration

  • Go to Catalog > Products > Search for product

  • Scroll to Dynamic Pricing section

1. Create Days To Arrival Windows

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  • Select +DAYS TO ARRIVAL and complete the Name and Days Start Fields.

  • Click Save.

2. Configure Time Period Groups and Time Periods

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  • Select + CREATE A TIME PERIOD GROUP.

  • Enter the group name (e.g. 21-22 Winter Season).

  • Click SAVE TIME PERIOD GROUP.

  • Assign a Time Period Group (TPG) to the product.

    1. Select + ASSIGN A TIME PERIOD GROUP

    2. Locate and select the TPG select.

    3. Click SAVE.

  • Create a Time Period

    1. Enter a descriptive name (e.g. 21-22 Weekends/Holidays)

    2. Order is assigned automatically.

    3. Select an existing TIME PERIOD GROUP.

    4. Enter a start date and end date for the period.

    5. Click on the DAY OF THE WEEK to apply to the schedule or CLICK ON SPECIFIC DATE IN CALENDAR to add that date.

    6. Select + CREATE TIME PERIOD

3. Define Levels

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  • Select+ LEVEL to add a level.

  • Populate the Description with a helpful descriptor, such as ‘15% discount’ or ‘lowest price’, which will be helpful when you are pricing products.

  • Click SAVE.

4. Assign Pricing

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  • Click on the Pricing Calendar tab to begin applying pricing to the product.

  • Use filters to select different variant combinations, in combination with time periods.

  • Once you have selected your time period, click SET PRICES.

  • The SET PRICES window appears, in a collapsed state, displaying Variant combinations you are pricing.

  • If multiple time periods were selected, you will be required to select a single Time Period to define pricing for. Once the time period is selected, the variants will be selectable.

  • Expand the Base tab by clicking the down arrow, and assign a price. For the BASE only, do not define levels.

  • SAVE.

  • To Price the remaining variant combinations, simply expand each window, and SAVE after assigning prices and any desired Price Levels and Quantities. SAVE after setting each window, then collapse it and expand the next.

  • Click CLOSE when you have finished pricing all the selected Variants.

  • Priced Products display in the calendar, which will also indicate if Tiers have been defined.

  • Use the REVIEW PRICING Tool to help organize pricing of complex products, as well as view sales.

5. Add Dynamic Pricing Savings Display to PDP

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  • Go to Configuration > Local Plugins > Dynamic Pricing (not v2)> Configure

    • Uncheck “Hide Original Price” to display the base price as “crossed off” on the PDP.

    • Check“Hide Original Price” if you do not wish display the base price as “crossed off” on the PDP.

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  1. Follow the standard product setup requirements from Configuration: Product Shell.

    1. If you are selling these products onsite, you’ll want to set up pricing for these products so that you can leverage whatever demand-based pricing your POS makes available for on-site sales (i.e. Pricing Seasons in RTP|One)

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2. Add Product Classification(s)

  1. Go to Aspenware Commerce > Product Classifications and click Add assignment.

  2. Select the product you created above.

  3. It is required to assign the ‘Is Dynamically Priced’ product classification.

  4. If you’d like to show the large pricing calendar view, scroll to ‘Show pricing calendar view’ and click Assign checkbox.

  5. Optionally if the product has inventory controls and is a multi-day product, you’ll want to allow consecutive multi-day selections. If this is not necessary for your product, skip to the next step.

  6. If you’d like to require consecutive multi-day selection, scroll to ‘Is Consecutive Multi-Day Product’ and click Assign checkbox.

  7. Click Add.

Note

IMPORTANT: Non-consecutive date selection products cannot have dynamic pricing.

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  • Optional Product Setup

    1. The following steps are optional but are commonly used for dynamically priced products.

      1. Set up inventory pools for the product. See Inventory Configuration for instructions.

      2. Add reloadable media for the product. See Pass Media Reload Configuration for instructions.

      3. Set up [Cutoff Days] and/or [Cutoff Time] in specification attributes if you'd like to limit the availability of products within a certain number of days/hours from purchase.

4. Verify Plugin Dynamic Pricing v2 plugin is installed, enabled, and configured

  • Go to Configuration > Local Plugins, search Group ‘Aspenware,’ and verify Dynamic Pricing v2 is installed and enabled.

  • To enable, Edit the plugin, click on “Is enabled

  • Save

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Settings for this Feature

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If you are adding the Dynamic Pricing Savings Display to the PDP, you have the ability to show and hide the amount remaining beneath the savings display (see example below) using the following language string. By default, this language string is configured and will display.

  • Go to Configuration > Languages > Edit

  • Scroll to the bottom and add the language string Resource Name shown in the table below

  • Add the text you would like displayed beneath the price on the PDP in the Value field making sure to keep the {CountRemaining} token which will display the inventory # remaining (in the above example {CountRemaining} = 614

  • Select Add new record.

Resource Name

Value

Location

Example (click to enlarge)

unity.dynamicpricing.inventoryremaining

Default: Only {CountRemaining} left on this date

Note: To eliminate any messaging about remaining inventory, simply leave this language string blank.

Shopping Cart

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To Dynamically Price a product, go to the Product Editor screen (Catalog > Products > Search for product), scroll down to the bottom of the Product Editor screen, and expand the Dynamic Pricing section.

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2. Create Days to Arrival Windows

  • Click +DAYS TO ARRIVAL and populate the Name and Days Start Fields. Days Start is the number of days from the arrival date when the pricing window will apply. For example, if setting up an ‘outside of 48 hours’ window, set this to 2 and it will apply two days out from the arrival date if there isn’t a more specific (closer to arrival date) level set that applies to the reservation date. 

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Warning

WARNING: Do not create “Base” Arrival Window

When adding Arrival windows never create an arrival window as “Base”. When an Arrival Window is created with the name of “Base” it will put the product in a corrupted state as the system will not auto-generate the Base Window as it is meant to be created.

Always make the first creation of an Arrival Window a useable Arrival window, doing this will allow for the system to auto-generate base for the optimal configuration of the product.

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  • Save

3. Configure Time Period Groups and Time Periods

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After the product has initially been set up, there are three options available when you click the TIME PERIODS OR GROUPS BUTTON

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  • Create a Time Period Group. If a TIme Period Group has already been created for which this product will utilize the same rules, skip this step, and simply assign an existing Time Period Group.

    1. Select + CREATE A TIME PERIOD GROUP, this will be used as a grouping for related Time Periods for example, 21-22 WINTER SEASON would be the Time Period group that will house the following Time Periods: 21-22 Early and Late Season Dates, 21-22 Peak Dates, and 21-22 Off-Peak Dates.

    2. Enter the group name (e.g. 21-22 Winter Season)

    3. Click SAVE TIME PERIOD GROUP

  • Assign a Time Period Group (TPG) to the product

    1. Select + ASSIGN A TIME PERIOD GROUP

    2. Time Period Groups can be assigned, if they have already been created, but are not currently assigned to this product.

    3. Select Assign Time Period Groups,

    4. Locate and select the TPG select

    5. Click SAVE.

  • Create a Time Period

    Time periods are the pattern of days that you wish to apply a specific pricing strategy. A time period can be defined by days of the week (Saturday, Sunday) or dates (Monday, September 6), or a combination of both.

    1. Enter a descriptive name (e.g. 21-22 Weekends/Holidays)

    2. Order is assigned automatically.

    3. Select an existing TIME PERIOD GROUP (you cannot SAVE without assigning a Time Period Group., so be sure you have defined the group before defining the period or assigned an existing TPG to the product.)

    4. Enter a start date and end date for the period (this can correspond with your season, or go far out into the future, depending on what you are building)

    5. Click on the DAY OF THE WEEK to apply to the schedule or CLICK ON SPECIFIC DATE IN CALENDAR to add that date.

    6. Use the calendar widget to deselect highlighted days that follow the rules defined above to remove them from the season, or to select days that do not follow the rules defined above to add them to the season. Ultimately the days that get added to the Time Period will be the dates that are highlighted on the calendar. In the example below, because Sept 6 is selected, even though it does not follow the pattern of Sat/Sun dates between 8/17 - 10/31, it will be included in the Time Period’s set of dates.

    7. Select + CREATE TIME PERIOD

    8. Repeat for all Time Periods that will be added to the Time Period Group.

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Tiers offer the opportunity to sell various amounts of inventory at different prices, on the same day. Some resorts use tiers to attract attention with dramatically reduced prices on only a few tickets, known as loss-leaders, while others choose to sell all products at the same price, and choose to not define or use tiers.

  • Click + LEVEL to add a level. Levels are automatically Named (Tier 1, Tier 2) in the order they are produced and are consumed starting with the lowest Tier (1) and ending with the highest.

  • Populate the Description with a helpful descriptor, such as ‘15% discount’ or ‘lowest price’, which will be helpful when you are pricing products.

  • Click SAVE.

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Info

NOTE: If you are using multiple Arrival Windows and defining tiers for multiple Arrival Windows, tiers always have their own individual available quantities for each Arrival Window. So if the ‘48 hours in advance’ Arrival window for a date sells out through Tier 1 and begins selling into Tier 2, once the ‘Day of pricing' Arrival window kicks in, it will start selling back at Tier 1.

If you use tiers and multiple Arrival Windows, it is not required (or even recommended) to define tiers for each Arrival Window. In fact, it is most common to only define tiers for a single “further out” arrival window. For example, tiers might be configured on the ‘7 days out’ arrival window, but not for the ‘Day of pricing' or 48 hours in advance' Arrival Windows, which will likely only have one configured “list price” within their window.

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5. Assign Pricing

  • Click on the Pricing Calendar tab to begin applying pricing to the product.

  • Use filters to select different variant combinations, in combination with time periods.

  • In the example, 5 & Under, with the defined DAYS TO ARRIVAL of “10 Days Out” and “A Week Out” are selected.

  • The Variants you have selected are displayed on the right, and you can select a single time period or multiple time periods to price. Once you have selected your time period, click SET PRICES

Note

IMPORTANT: Base pricing is required and if not configured may cause unwanted product behavior. Base pricing is also never used as a selling price.

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  • Expand the Base tab by clicking the down arrow, and assign a price. For the BASE only, do not define levels.

  • SAVE.

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  • To Price the remaining variant combinations, simply expand each window, and SAVE after assigning prices and any desired Price Levels and Quantities. SAVE after setting each window, then collapse it and expand the next.

Info

NOTE: If you are using multiple Arrival Windows and defining tiers for multiple Arrival Windows, tiers always have their own individual available quantities for each Arrival Window. So if the ‘48 hours in advance’ Arrival window for a date sells out through Tier 1 and begins selling into Tier 2, once the ‘Day of pricing' Arrival window kicks in, it will start selling back at Tier 1.

If you use tiers and multiple Arrival Windows, it is not required (or even recommended) to define tiers for each Arrival Window. In fact, it is most common to only define tiers for a single “further out” arrival window. For example, tiers might be configured on the ‘7 days out’ arrival window, but not for the ‘Day of pricing' or 48 hours in advance' Arrival Windows, which will likely only have one configured “list price” within their window.

  • Click CLOSE when you have finished pricing all the selected Variants.

  • Priced Products display in the calendar, which will also indicate if Tiers have been defined.

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  • The base price is set and is not set to 0.00

  • The base price is greater than the display price

  • The Hide Original Price checkbox in the dynamic pricing admin panel is not checked (this box may be checked to disable the feature for dynamically price products. To access the Dynamic Pricing Admin panel:

    • Go to Configuration > Local plugins

    • In Group, select ‘Aspenware Commerce’

    • Click Search

    • Scroll to the Dynamic Pricing widget

    • Click Configure

    • Check or uncheck the Hide Original Price checkbox

    • Click Save

To utilize the Savings Display feature on non-dynamically priced products, the product must have an old price assigned to it. The old price will show as crossed off when the same criteria as indicated for dynamically priced products are met (see above).

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