Orders and order items

From a customer perspective, an order is a list of selected products. For example, an order might contain two books and a CD. Each product on that list is an order item. From a store perspective, an order is a list of order items. It is part of the store's data.

An order can have multiple ship dates and multiple payment methods without having to be split manually. A customer can use the following features:

  • Request a future ship date for an order item
  • Request expedited handling for an order item
  • Select individual order items to be shipped together as a group
  • Select an option that the entire order be shipped together

Each order item has a reference to an offer, a contract, a shipping mode, and a fulfillment center. Discounts, shipping charges, and taxes are stored with each order item. A single currency identifier is associated with each order.

Adjustments can be made to the price of the order items and then collected and stored as part of the order. Adjustments affect tax calculations unless their calculation codes are marked as exempt from certain tax categories. Depending on the CalculationScaleLookupMethod used, shipping charges can be based on either the non-discounted price (the price before adjustment) or the net price (the adjusted price). In addition, coupon promotions can be applied to orders before any taxes, discounts, or shipping charges are calculated.

Although orders are typically associated with a single store, an order profile is a special type of order that can be associated with either a store or a store group. The order profile holds default information about a customer such as payment information, shipping address, shipping mode, and billing address.

An order profile has an order status of Q and an order type of QUK.

Note: For a list of WebSphere Commerce order states and their descriptions, refer to the following column of the ORDERS table:
  • STATUS