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Every reseller using an Offer-based Digital Vending Machine® (DVM™) starts by creating an Offer in their Offer Catalog. An Offer combines two core concepts:
  • A Plan
  • One or more Products
Together, these define how the Offer behaves, how the consumer is billed, and what digital services the consumer can access.
The Offer Model is a core DVM concept. The Plan controls the commercial lifecycle of the Offer, while the Products define the services and product tiers the consumer receives.

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Offer at a glance

The Offer Model brings commercial rules and service access together in a single object:
  • The Plan controls billing and lifecycle behavior
  • The included Products define what the consumer receives
  • The included Product Tier defines the consumer’s starting level of access
  • The Available Product Tiers define the product tier changes the consumer can make during the lifecycle of the Offer.

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What is a plan?

A plan defines how the consumer is billed. It controls:
  • When the Offer lifecycle starts
  • Whether billing is one-time or recurring
  • How the Offer progresses over time
  • When pricing or billing schedule changes happen during the lifecycle
A plan can consist of multiple phases. This supports Offers where the price or billing schedule changes over time, for example:
  • Free trial to paid subscription
  • Introductory price to full price
  • Fixed-term pricing across a defined subscription period
The start trigger defines when the Offer lifecycle begins. For example, the plan can start when the consumer Offer is fully created or when all entitlements are fully activated.
The plan defines whether the consumer is billed once or on a recurring schedule. This depends on how the plan is configured.
A phase defines pricing for a period of the Offer lifecycle. Each phase can have its own duration, renewal frequency, amount, and billing description.
The billing schedule is derived from the plan configuration. If billing and charging is enabled, the DVM uses this schedule to determine when charge requests should be submitted.

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What are products?

Products represent the digital services a consumer gains access to once the Offer is provisioned. An Offer can include one or more products. Each product is owned by a content provider and can include one or more product tiers, for example Basic, Standard, or Premium.

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Product tiers in an Offer

Each Offer defines the specific Product Tier the consumer receives when the Offer is first provisioned. This included product tier determines:
  • The level of service the consumer starts with
  • Which entitlement is provisioned
  • The initial service level the Reseller is selling

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Available product tiers

Each product in an Offer can also define available product tiers. Available product tiers are the other service levels a consumer can upgrade or downgrade to during the Offer lifecycle. These available product tiers:
  • Define the allowed product tier changes within the Offer
  • Support upgrade and downgrade journeys
  • Have associated delta prices
  • Are used to recalculate consumer billing after a product tier change
Available product tiers do not replace the tier included in the Offer. They define the other tiers the consumer is allowed to move to later.

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What’s next?

Build an Offer

Learn how to create an Offer using products, availability, and plan setup.

Plan Types

Understand the four ways a reseller can configure the plan for an Offer.

Plan configuration

Learn how start triggers, phases, durations, and renewal frequency work together.