Line Item Data Purpose and Usage

Line item data include transaction information such as the SKU, quantity, extended amount, etc. Line item data must be included in the transaction file to support the following functionality:

• Award processing. All awards (that is, points awarded based on the main program and on promotional offers) are based on line items only. Within the line, points are awarded based on the extended amount data only. For example, if a customer purchases four of one SKU item at $5 each, the extended amount is $20. If a customer purchases only one of one SKU item at $5 each, the extended amount is $5. If you want to award points and other awards that require purchases, you must include the extended amount data for each line item in the Transaction file. Redemption limits also use line items to evaluate eligibility. If a redemption limit for an offer is set to 1, the offer will apply only to the first line item.

  • Customer targeting based on past purchases. The SKUs and quantities are crucial purchase data. To make use of line item data in targeting, the Product Catalog file must be loaded before transactions involving the catalog products are processed.
  • Customer targeting based on monetary values. Monetary value calculations are based on the transaction extended amount.
  • Returns. Returned items are handled by providing a negative quantity and negative extended amount. Including returned item data is not mandatory, but it is necessary if the client wants to:
    • reverse points and/or reverse offer awards based on returns.
    • generate accurate reports, since returned items are considered part of net sales data (purchases and returns).

To make full use of line item data, the Product Catalog file must be loaded before transactions involving the product catalog are processed.