#Terminology and concepts

In this section we’ll introduce the core resources that a user of this API collection interacts with during their lifecycle. The ONDC Seller Gateway consists of 6 key resources -

1. Seller
2. Storefront
3. Catalogue
4. Catalogue Item
5. Order
6. Order Item

Each of these resources have a set of allowed CRUD operations that you can perform on them. Here, we take a look at these resources and see how they’re related to each other.

#Tl;DR

Sellers sell goods and services via many Storefronts in different locations. Each Storefronts has a single product Catalogue consisting of multiple Catalogue Items. Orders are placed to Storefronts and can contain one or more Order Items, which always come from the Storefront’s corresponding Catalogue Items, listed in its Catalogue.

#Seller

The Seller resource is used to define the legal entity that is responsible for selling goods and services on ONDC. A seller may have one or more Storefronts, to provide this service.

#Storefront

The Storefront resource defines the geographic locations for inventory storage and operations— like warehouses or customer facing stores—via which order fulfilment is done.

A single Seller can have “n” Storefronts.

Next, every Storefront has a Catalogue of products.

#Catalogue

The Catalogue resource is used to define the list of products available at a single Storefront, (with its own unique inventory), rather than defining it for a Seller.

So, a single Storefront has a single Catalogue.

And next, a Catalogue contains one or more Catalogue Items.

#Catalogue Item

The Catalogue Item resource is used to define a single product belonging to a Catalogue, and can be uniquely identified and linked to a single Catalogue.

A Catalogue contains “n” Catalogue Items.

Now, Orders can be placed which are made up of one or more Catalogue Items.

#Order

The Order resource is used to define an ONDC-routed order placed to a single Storefront. And this means a Storefront can accept “n” Orders.

And finally, an Order is made of one or more Order Items.

#Order Item

The Order Item resource is used to define a single product belonging to an Order. In e-commerce circles, this may commonly be called a “line item”.

A single Order contains “n” Order Items.

It is important to note that a buyer can only order items that are present in a Storefront’s Catalogue, meaning that, one Order Item always corresponds to one Catalogue Item.

#Final takeaways

1. A single Seller has “n” Storefronts
2. A single Storefront always has a single Catalogue
3. A single Catalogue has “n” Catalogue Items
4. A single Storefront can get “n” Orders
5. A single Order can have “n” Order Items
6. A single Order Item always maps to a single Catalogue Item