The products purchased by buyers are managed in their nomenclature by creating IPS’s. An IPS stands for Interchangeable Product Set, which contains one or more products, similar in function, appearance and application, making them mutually replaceable and a suitable alternative for one another. Even though all products, building up an IPS, possess similarities and represent identical category/subcategory, they might slightly differ in terms of attribute combinations. For example, there might be 10 laptop items in one IPS, all appropriate for personal use, however differing in attribute values such as RAM, display type, graphics card, operating system, etc.
The main purpose of the IPS is to allow the buyer to establish a unified place, where he can create a list of similar products, all of which serve the business needs of the buyer company. In this case, a seller could offer any of the products in the IPS, based on the seller inventory availability. All will be considered fit to serve the intended purpose. For example, a buyer company, which needs to purchase smartphones for its employees, could create an IPS, containing Apple, Samsung and Huawei cell phones with specific attribute characteristics, like display size, memory and price. Whichever of these three brands a cell phone seller could offer to the buyer, it will be considered an appropriate option, as the products in any IPS are interchangeable and an adequate replacement for one another.