One of the core principles of category monitoring involves the classification of relationships between two items. It is this relationship which the consumer ultimately decides upon when choosing between two items. Below we'll explain what types exists, how they are helpful and what you can do with each of them.
Overview
In the screenshot below is a sample of two items shown as the result of a search in the Category Monitoring Management interface. Notice that each of these items is considered to be a competitor of sorts to the reference item (not shown). The way in which they're considered competitors is given in the "Competition Classification" - the item on the left is considered to be "2 - Direct Substitute" to the reference item. Essentially - a consumer would consider this and the reference item to be equally good choices for the task at hand. The item on the right is listed as "3 - Direct Substitute, Different Color" - and as its name implies - its nearly like association type 2, except that it offers a color difference. This simple example highlights two common association types that can be made and maintained. Below is a more in-depth look at the others and their uses. The pyramid on the right also details the original and most common types of categorizations as well.
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Association Types
As the pyramid to the right suggests - the association types we're going to go through can have varying degrees of importance based on the number of other items (called quality) which may share the association with it. Basically - the more stringent the association type, the more likely its a complete competitive item. However, in some instances, its helpful not just to know if a direct competitor exists, but what other partial competitors - including how many, across a number of different association types. The system allows you to do this and keep everything organized. Below is a table of the common association types available.
Making Associations
Making associations can be done through the Category Management Interface. First find the item you want to choose as a reference item and right click on the image of the item. You'll be given a dropdown menu - at the bottom you should see "add association". Clicking on this will show you a popup like below and you can see that you can choose the retailer, the sku/ASIN or other retailer item that is the competitor and then classify it as one of the above. Doing so will allow you to view the items competitively based upon this and potentially other logically derived association types.
Extra verbiage for Ross to determine where to insert: