MC Hierarchy levels - realtime examples

[Former Member]

Hi All,

Can someone please provide me few realtime examples for merchandise hierarchy levels?

I am trying to understand how we define levels and how we map them into SAP (MC hierarchy --> MC --> Chara profile etc.)

Thanks,

Pat.

[former_member335292 · Accepted solution]

Hi Pat,

      Generally Retailers opt for 5 Level MCH as per below structure

Level1-All Articles(Top Level)

Level2-Department - 3 digits

Level3-SubDepartment - 5 digits

Level4-Merchandise Group - 7 digits

Level5-Merchandise Category - 9 digits(Lowest Level)

Few Examples below

Example 1

All Articles -> Grocery->Bulk Foods ->Breakfast Foods -> Cereals

Example 2

All Articles -> Liquor -> Wine -> White bottles -> Chardonnay

Example 3

All Articles ->General Merchandise -> Hard Goods -> Household Appliances -> Electrical/Electronics

Hope it helps

Best Regards,

Aram.

[paul_gendreau]

For any Retailer who doesn't already have a place to start, the first place to look is at standards.  That doesn't mean that you must choose to adhere to the standard, but you should probably not ignore standards as good examples.

For this, consider http://www.gs1.org/gsmp/kc/gpc where you can find the definition of complete hierarchies.

The folks at GS1 are in the business of product categorization and setting global standards for the same.  They use a naming convention where a Brick is the equivalent of a Merchandise Category.

- Paul

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Paul R. Gendreau, Jr.

SAP Retail

[Former Member]

THanks Aram and Paul.

But then what is the difference between MC hierarchy and article/product hierarchy?

[paul_gendreau]

The MC is mandatory, and the MCH / MC address the organization or articles from a procurement point of view.  Moreover, the MC in IS-Retail (and the MCH to less extent) is integrated with many aspects of execution (e.g. pricing, assortment, reference handling).

The Article Hierarchy (AH), on the other hand, is optional (and more recent functionality). It organizes Articles in a hierarchy from the customer's purchasing point of view; the so-called consumer decision tree (CDT).  The AH is integrated with planning, seasonal procurement, reporting and more.

But I have not often seen AH implemented in the abscence of a strong operational requirement.

- Paul

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Paul R. Gendreau, Jr.

SAP Retail