Salesforce Commerce Cloud Business Manager: The Complete Operations Guide

Business Manager is the browser-based administration interface that sits at the heart of every Salesforce Commerce Cloud implementation. If you work with SFCC — whether as a merchandiser, digital trader, content manager, or developer — mastering Business Manager is non-negotiable.

This guide covers the key areas of Business Manager every SFCC practitioner needs to understand.

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## What Is Business Manager?

Business Manager (BM) is the back-office administration tool for SFCC. It provides access to Merchant Tools (day-to-day trading), Storefront configuration, Administration, and Developer Tools. Access is role-based — different users see different sections based on their assigned roles.

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## Products and Catalogues

SFCC distinguishes between the **master catalogue** (your product data source) and **storefront catalogues** (the category structure customers navigate). Products can appear in multiple storefront catalogues simultaneously.

Key product management tasks in Business Manager:

- Creating and editing product records with all attributes
- Managing product variations (colour, size, style) and their relationships
- Uploading and associating product images
- Setting up product sets and bundles for cross-sell and up-sell
- Configuring searchable and refineable product attributes

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## Promotions and Campaigns

SFCC's promotions engine is one of its most powerful features. Business Manager gives full control over:

- **Campaigns** — containers grouping promotions with a shared schedule
- **Promotions** — individual discount rules at product, order, or shipping level
- **Coupons** — single-use or multi-use codes with redemption limits
- **Source codes** — URL-based promotion triggers for affiliate and email campaigns

Promotion types include percentage discounts, fixed amount discounts, buy X get Y free, tiered pricing, free shipping thresholds, and gift with purchase.

**Best practice:** Always set explicit end dates on campaigns and promotions. Open-ended promotions are a common source of unintended discounting in live environments.

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## Content Management

SFCC content is managed through **Content Assets** (reusable content fragments) and **Content Slots** (placement zones in storefront templates).

**Page Designer** provides a drag-and-drop interface for building content pages without developer involvement. It supports component-based editing with device preview.

**Content Assets** are reusable HTML blocks that can be placed into slots or referenced from templates. They support localisation for multi-language sites.

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## Search Configuration

Business Manager provides extensive control over storefront search:

- **Search Refinements** — filter facets on category and search results pages
- **Sorting Rules** — product ordering in category and search results
- **Searchable Attributes** — which product attributes are indexed
- **Synonyms and Redirects** — query normalisation and result redirects
- **Einstein Search Settings** — personalised ranking and semantic search configuration

Configuring search well is one of the highest-ROI activities in SFCC operations. Poor refinement setup and missing synonyms directly suppress conversion.

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## Site Preferences and URL Rules

The **Storefront** section contains site-level configuration:

- **Site Preferences** — locale, currency, tax configuration, checkout behaviour
- **URL Rules** — configure clean, SEO-friendly URLs for categories, products, and content pages
- **Geo-Location** — country-based redirects and locale switching
- **Caching Settings** — page and component cache TTL configuration

URL Rules deserve particular attention. SFCC generates URLs dynamically, and Business Manager's URL Rules configuration defines the human-readable slug patterns for each page type. Change URL rules only when absolutely necessary — URL changes on a live site require redirect mapping to protect SEO rankings.

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## Developer Tools

Business Manager includes several tools primarily used by SFCC developers:

- **Code Staging and Activation** — deploy and activate code versions to sandbox, staging, and production
- **Custom Object Editor** — create and manage custom data objects
- **Service Configuration** — manage external service credentials and endpoints
- **Log Center** — access error logs and custom log output for debugging
- **Import/Export** — bulk data import and export via XML files

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## Code Versions

Code Versions deserve their own mention because switching them incorrectly is one of the most common causes of production incidents on SFCC. Go to **Administration > Site Development > Code Deployment** to see all code versions and activate one.

The pattern that works: deploy your new code version alongside the active one, run a smoke test on staging, then activate. The activation itself is instant — Business Manager simply switches which code version the server reads. What trips teams up is activating a version that references cartridges not included in the new deploy, or switching versions without coordinating with a Business Manager configuration change (like a new custom object attribute) that the new code depends on. The code version and the Business Manager configuration are not atomically deployed. You need to plan the sequence.

If something breaks immediately after a code version switch, the fastest fix is switching back to the previous version from the same Code Deployment screen. Keep your previous version intact for at least 24 hours after any production deployment.

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## Getting Proficient in Business Manager

Business Manager proficiency takes time. The recommended path for new practitioners:

1. Complete Salesforce's Trailhead modules on Commerce Cloud B2C
2. Work through a sandbox environment with a real product catalogue
3. Shadow an experienced merchandiser through a full campaign setup
4. Study the official SFCC developer documentation at developer.salesforce.com/docs/commerce/b2c-commerce

For developers, the B2C Commerce developer documentation is the authoritative reference for all Business Manager configuration options and their technical effects.

If you are working on the development side, the configuration you set in Business Manager connects directly to how cartridges behave at runtime — particularly service credentials, custom object definitions, and site preferences. See the [SFCC cartridge development guide](/en/blog/sfcc-cartridge-development) for how the code layer interacts with these settings.