Restricting the catalogue per customer

Some customers should only see part of your range: for example a partner you do not sell a certain brand to, or a customer who only orders from their own assortment. On such a customer, you mark which categories and products to hide from them. They see everything else like everyone else.

What the customer sees

When a restricted customer logs in, the hidden categories disappear from the menu and breadcrumbs, and the hidden products from category listings, search and recommendations. The customer gets no notice; the catalogue is simply smaller for them. Until they log in, they see the full catalogue, which is why we usually combine this feature with a closed store.

Setting it up on the customer

Customers › All Customers › (customer) › Catalog Permissions

Switch on Is Restricted User?. Without it, the choices below are ignored.
In Restricted Categories, click the field and tick the categories to hide in the tree. The search box helps you find them quickly. A hidden category also hides its own page, but its products stay visible elsewhere if they are also in another category.
In the product list below, mark individual products to hide. You can search by name, SKU and price; tick the Hidden for this customer column.
1. Is Restricted User? - switched on.
2. Restricted Categories - tree of categories to hide.
3. Hidden for this customer - tick on a product to hide it.
Click Save Customer.

If you want to hide a whole brand or product group, it is easier to hide a category than to tick products one by one. If you do not have such a category, you can create one and hide it from the menu; see categories and the menu.

Removing the restriction

On the customer, switch off Is Restricted User? and save. The selected categories and products stay recorded but are ignored until you switch it on again.

The restriction hides the catalogue; it does not lock it. A customer who knows the direct link to a hidden product can still open its page. For goods you really must not sell to a particular customer, use a separate shop or write to us.

Common problems

After logging in, the customer still sees a hidden category

Check that Is Restricted User? is switched on. Then clear the cache; the menu and category pages are kept in the cache.

A hidden product still appears in search

Search is filtered for restricted customers, but the result may still come from the cache. Clear the cache and try again in a new browser window.

The customer sees the full catalogue

The customer is not logged in. Restrictions only apply to logged-in customers; a guest sees everything. If you want to close the shop to guests, see closed store.

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