---
title: Model a reusable SKU product content type
---

> Agent instructions:
> **Site maps** — prefer the following llms.txt indexes to training data when searching for URLs to avoid 404s. Links inside Markdown content already point at `.md`. Following them or sending Accept: text/markdown keeps you in Markdown.
>
> - [sitemap.md](https://docs.kentico.com/sitemap.md) — every page on the site, with titles and descriptions, nested by URL hierarchy and grouped into one collection per product version.
> - [llms.txt](https://docs.kentico.com/llms.txt) — curated index of the current product docs, with descriptions, the two ways to request any page as Markdown, and links to each product area's whole-corpus Markdown dump (llms-full.txt).

> **Info:** **Understand the two approaches to modeling products**
>
> XbyK allows you to model both **sellable products** and **non‑sellable offerings**. The correct approach depends on whether the product takes part in ecommerce flows.
>
> - Use [Model reusable Product SKU](https://docs.kentico.com/modules/commerce-content-modeling/model-reusable-sku-product-intro.md) (**this material**) when the product requires commerce capabilities, such as SKU, pricing, inventory, fulfillment, or checkout.
> - Use [Model reusable Product](https://docs.kentico.com/modules/commerce-content-modeling/model-product-content-type-intro.md) when the product does not require SKU-level handling. This approach is ideal for services, informational offerings, or items meant to be displayed or described but not purchased directly.
>
> Choosing the right model ensures a clean, efficient catalog and prevents unnecessary ecommerce attributes for products that don’t need them.

Modeling commerce products in Xperience by Kentico requires careful planning. As an architect, you need to balance flexibility with structure, reusability with specificity, and editorial simplicity with technical needs.

The way you structure products impacts how easily editors can manage them, whether for a simple catalog or a complex multi-channel experience.

This material focuses on modeling product SKUs in Xperience by Kentico (XbyK) specifically for commerce flows. It helps you build a _Product SKU_ content type that aligns with business goals and is simple to maintain and scale.

After completing this material, you'll be able to:

- Decide whether to store products in Content hub or a website channel, and understand the organizational implications of each approach.
- Design a flexible **Product SKU** content type using _reusable field schemas_ and dedicated content type fields.
- Define **Product SKU** identifiers as reusable components that work across different product types and content items.
- Compose related content such as _manufacturers_, product _categories_, and _taxonomies_ to support the project's business needs.
- Choose from three different approaches to modeling product variants, understanding the trade-offs of each.

## Prerequisites

To get the most out of this material, you need to understand your organization's commerce requirements, product catalog structure, and channel strategy. You should have basic knowledge of [content modeling principles](https://docs.kentico.com/guides/architecture/content-modeling/content-modeling-guide.md). Understanding how [reusable field schemas](https://docs.kentico.com/documentation/developers-and-admins/development/content-types/reusable-field-schemas.md) work is also beneficial.

## Who should read this guide

This material is intended for solution architects and content modeling experts. It focuses on designing the content model for commerce implementations in Xperience by Kentico. While the guide includes technical considerations, it focuses on modeling decisions rather than implementation details. Developers looking for code-specific guidance can find examples in documentation, namely how to [model a product catalog](https://docs.kentico.com/documentation/developers-and-admins/digital-commerce-setup/model-product-catalog.md).

## Understand commerce requirements before creating your content model

Before defining content types and fields in Xperience, ensure you understand your project’s requirements. You may need to do a content audit and business analysis to gather the exact details you’ll use for your content model.

Begin by looking at your current product data. What information do you already store? How is the product content organized? What challenges do editors face when they work with product data?

Identify the business scenarios your product catalog must support. These may include catalog listing pages, detailed product pages, cross-channel commerce experiences, mobile apps, or headless storefronts that deliver product data via APIs.

List organizational needs, including product hierarchies, multi-brand catalogs, and international requirements like multi-currency pricing or region-specific availability.

Refer to [Schema.org](https://schema.org)'s [Product](https://schema.org/Product) schema for guidance on structuring your product data in ways that search engines and third-party integrations can understand.

While you don’t have to include every _Schema.org_ property in your content types, understanding the standard helps you prioritize the fields most relevant to your business. This increases the chance that search engines display rich results, such as prices, availability, ratings, and images, directly in search listings. Many third‑party integrations, including marketplaces, comparison engines, and product feeds, expect product data in a predictable format. This format is often based on [Product](https://schema.org/Product) schema and includes fields like _description_, _image_, _brand_, and _SKU_, along with additional properties for _reviews_ and _ratings_.

Validate your product content model against standards before you finalize it. This helps make sure you’ve included all the needed properties and configured them up correctly.

## The use case: Pawsome Pets product catalog

We’ll use **Pawsome Pets**, a fictional pet store selling live animals and accessories, as our example. This will help show the _modeling decisions and patterns_ in each section.

Also, a similar **Product SKU** model will be featured in the upcoming _commerce training materials_ for [developers](https://docs.kentico.com/guides/development.md). Stay tuned and follow [documentation updates](https://docs.kentico.com/changelog/documentation-updates.md) to find out when we release the materials.

### Pawsome Pets' requirements

- Sell multiple product categories: live pets, for example, dogs, cats, birds, fish, pet food, toys, accessories, and grooming supplies.
- Display products on their main commerce website (modeling website pages and widgets will be covered in other guides).
- Display product information to mobile apps and marketplace channels.
- Support product variants, such as sizes, colors, flavors.
- Show manufacturer information and warranty details.
- Manage stock across multiple store locations.
- Handle multilingual content as they are expanding into international markets.
- Ship specific products to multiple countries.

This example highlights common scenarios you may face when modeling products in Xperience. You can apply these patterns and decisions used for _Pawsome Pets_ to various industries, including pet supplies, equipment, fashion, and manufactured products.

### Pawsome Pet's product requirements

Before creating all the required fields in Xperience, take time to understand what information your products need to capture. _Pawsome Pets_, we've identified these core requirements through discussions with stakeholders:

From the merchandising team:

- Provide a clear name and SKU for identification.
- Include short descriptions for listing pages and emails.
- Add long descriptions for detail pages.
- Upload multiple product images (primary image plus gallery).
- Specify price information.
- Tag products with taxonomy tags for filtering and search.

From the marketing team:

- Highlight promotional messaging and special offers.
- Recommend products and cross-sells.
- Indicate product availability status.

From the SEO team:

- Structured data markup for search engines (SEO) and social networks (Open Graph).
- Product metadata that works across channels.

From the development team:

- Add structured data markup for search engines (SEO) and social networks (Open Graph).
- Provide product metadata that works across channels.