Using Product Privacy Options

Which privacy option should you consider?	Private product	Private category/ subcategory	Private brand	Privacy groups	Exclude access
You have special agreements to sell a specific product (e.g., limited edition) exclusively to some customers	Yes	No	No	Yes, if you have this agreement with multiple customers. In this case, you can include them in the same group and make this product visible only to this group	No
You want to offer special discounts, sell product lines (e.g., limited editions), or manufacture  or sell entire product categories only to specific customers	No	Yes, for individual customers or privacy groups	Yes, if your agreement refers to specific brands	Yes, if you have this agreement with multiple customers. In this case, you can include them in the same privacy group and allow access to this product category or subcategory only to this group	No
You have commercial deals to sell a specific brand only to some customers	No	No, unless you categorize your product range per brand	Yes	Yes, if you have a deal with multiple customers, you can assign them to the same privacy group and make the specific brand visible to this group	No
You want to implement tiered access levels for different types of customers or specific companies and their sub-users (e.g., Full Access, Basic Access, Limited Access)	No	No	No	Yes	No
You want to group customer access to products	No	No	No	Yes, you can create different groups (e.g., Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze) and provide different sets of privileges for each group, such as unique discounts or special products	No
You want to hide a specific product from some customers	No	No	No	Yes, if you want to do this for specific customers (e.g., a company and all its buyers). In this case, you can create a privacy group and block access to this product for this group	Yes
You want to hide a specific product category or subcategory from some customers	No	No	No	Yes, if you want to hide the category or subcategory from a specific group of customers (e.g., a company and all its buyers). In this case, you can create a privacy group and exclude it from accessing the particular category or subcategory	Yes

Granting Access to Products

You can control exclusivity efficiently and roll out the red carpet for your top customers by limiting access to specific products. For example, let’s say you have a couple of customers to whom you solely sell a particular product. Let’s see how to make this product private only for specific customers.

Step 1. Go to Products >Products on your Admin Panel. Select the product you want to make private.

Step 2. On the “Editing product,” go to the “Access” tab, check the “Private” box, and insert the appropriate customer name(s) in the “Customers” field.

Step 3. Click “Save” to allow only specific customers to view this product.

In the example below, Wholesale Demo & Co sells Wool Felt Fedora exclusively to their customer Mad Style. By making the product private, Wholesale Demo & Co easily made the specific item visible only to this buyer while effectively hiding it from the rest of its clientele.

NOTE: If you have multiple customers to whom you sell specific products on an exclusive deal, then it’s more efficient to manage product privacy by grouping them under a single group. Read more on how you can do this below.

Allowing Access to Product Categories

You may have some customers to whom you want to sell specific product lines you do not make available for the rest of your clientele. To make product categories visible only to certain customers, complete these steps:

Step 1. Go to the Product Categories menu on your Admin Panel and select the category or subcategory you want to make private.

Step 2. On the “Edit category” page that opens, look for the “Access” tab, check the “Private” box, and type the appropriate customer name(s) in the “Customers” field. Check “Subcategories inherit access settings” to make subcategories private to the selected customers. Otherwise, leave it unchecked.

Step 3. Click “Save” to allow these customers to access this product category.

In the example below, Wholesale Demo & Co sells its hat line exclusively to its customer Mad Style. This way, the category Hats is only visible to Mad Style when logging into Wholesale Demo & Co’s storefront.

NOTE: If you have multiple customers with whom you have an agreement to exclusively buy specific lines of products or for whom you roll out limited product lines, it’s best to manage their access to these using privacy groups. Read more on how you can do this below.

Granting Access to Brands 

You may have a special agreement with some customers to sell to them products of a specific brand you’re producing or distributing. To make a brand accessible only to these customers, follow these steps: 

Step 1. Go to Products >Brands and click the brand you want to make private.

Step 2. On the “Edit brand” page, check the “Private” box. Then, enter the appropriate customer name(s) in the “Customers” field.

Step 3. Click “Save” to make this brand visible to the chosen customer(s).

In the example below, Wholesale Demo & Co only sells products under its Pure Roast brand to Demo Coffee. By making the brand private, Wholesale Demo & Co has granted exclusive access to the specific customer.

Using Privacy Groups to Allow Access to Products

If you have many customers to whom you sell specific products exclusively, then instead of making this product private individually to them, you can create a privacy group and assign them to it. Then, you can grant access to these products for the specific group. This way, you can manage product privacy and customer access more efficiently. To do this:

Step 1. Go to Products >Products on your Admin Panel. Select the product you want to make private.

Step 2. On the “Editing product,” go to the “Access” tab, check the “Private” box, and insert the appropriate customer group(s) in the “Privacy groups” field. 

Step 3. Click “Save” to allow only specific privacy groups to view this product.

In the example below, Wholesale Demo & Co only sells the Tan Turtleneck product to their Platinum privacy group customers. Customer Mad Style, who belongs to this group, can view the product on Wholesale Demo & Co’s storefront.

Using Privacy Groups to Allow Access to Product Categories or Subcategories

You may want to gatekeep certain product lines for handpicked customer groups (e.g., limited editions) or manufacture or sell entire product categories only to specific groups. 

In this case, you can grant access to a privacy group at the category level to buyers so you can better control which ones can view and purchase the products included in it. Let’s see how you can do this on your B2B Wave eCommerce platform.

Step 1. Go to the Product Categories menu on your Admin Panel and select the category or subcategory you want to make private.

Step 2. On the “Edit category” page that opens, look for the “Access” tab, check the “Private” box, and type the appropriate customer group name(s) in the “Privacy groups” field. Check “Subcategories inherit access settings” to make subcategories private to the selected customers. Otherwise, leave it unchecked.

Step 3. Click “Save” to allow these privacy groups to access this product category.

In the example below, Wholesale Demo & Co exclusively sells their limited Coffee Cocktails line to their Platinum privacy group customers. Customer Demo Coffee, who belongs to this group, can access this category on Wholesale Demo & Co’s storefront.

Using Privacy Groups to Allow Access to Brands

You may want to sell a specific brand solely to a particular company and its users or make it exclusive to specific customer groups (e.g., your VIP clientele or customers to whom you sell less expensive labels). To grant access to this brand to specific privacy groups, complete these steps:

Step 1. Go to Products >Brands and click the brand you want to make private.

Step 2. On the “Edit brand” page, check the “Private” box. Then, enter the appropriate customer group name(s) in the “Privacy groups” field.

Step 3. Click “Save” to make this brand visible only to the selected privacy groups.

In the example below, Wholesale Demo & Co only sells their Pure Roast brand to customers in their Platinum privacy group. Customer Demo Coffee, who belongs to this group, can access this brand on Wholesale Demo & Co’s storefront.

Restricting Access to Products

You can block access to specific products in case you want particular customers if, for example, there are regulatory requirements on selling certain products in their region and you wish to restrict their distribution. To do this, follow these steps:

Step 1. Go to Products >Products and click the product you want to limit access to.

Step 2. Type the customer name(s) in the “Exclude customer(s) from accessing product box, and click “Save” to hide this product from them.

In the example below, Wholesale Demo & Co has hidden their Cold Brew White Russian from the customer Demo Coffee - Brooklyn. When logging in to Wholesale Demo & Co’s storefront, Demo Coffee - Brooklyn cannot view this product.

Limiting Access to Product Categories

Imagine you sell phones and accessories to retailers. However, you have a series of high-end models unsuitable for a specific retailer as they sell only affordable phone options. In this scenario, you can easily hide this product category from the particular retailer by blocking their access to it. To do this, complete the following steps: 

Step 1. Go to the Product Categories menu on your Admin Panel and select the category or subcategory you want to make private.

Step 2. Type the customer name(s) in the “Exclude customer(s) from accessing product box. Check “Subcategories inherit access settings” to exclude the selected customers from accessing subcategories. Otherwise, leave it unchecked.

Step 3. Click “Save” to hide this category or subcategory from the chosen customers.

In the example below, Wholesale Demo & Co has hidden their Coffee Cocktails subcategory from the customer Hulk Coffee Roasters. When logging in to Wholesale Demo & Co’s storefront, Hulk Coffee Roasters can access the Blends category but cannot see the Coffee Cocktails subcategory.