12 What is a custom object in B2C Commerce and when should you use one?

A custom object is a developer-defined structured data type for storing application data that does not fit into B2C Commerce's standard objects (Product, Order, Customer, Basket). Custom object types are created in Business Manager under Administration > Site Development > Custom Object Types.

Each type defines named attributes with data types (string, integer, boolean, enum). Records are created and queried using the dw.object.CustomObjectMgr API.

Good use cases include:

1. Loyalty programme member records
2. Subscription tier definitions
3. Integration state tracking (e.g., last sync timestamps)
4. Configuration tables too complex for site preferences

Custom objects are subject to platform storage quotas, so high-volume data (millions of records) should be stored in an external database. For reporting or analytics-heavy data, an external system is also preferred since B2C Commerce's query capabilities for custom objects are limited.