CUSTOM — Your EngagementLesson 1 • XDM Schema Design
Multi-Brand Schema Architecture
Meridian tutorials show how to build a single schema. For your B2B + B2C hybrid with 50K profiles across multiple brands, you need an architecture strategy that scales.

The #1 Mistake

Creating separate schemas per brand — a Cordova Home schema, a Cordova Trade schema, a Cordova Outlet schema — leading to 15+ schemas doing the same thing. This creates a maintenance nightmare and makes cross-brand analytics impossible.

The Right Approach

One set of schemas with a brand identifier field in a custom field group. Filter by brand in segments and journeys. Clean data model, unified identity graph, simple activation.

Minimum Schemas for Your Sandbox

Schema 1: Consumer Profile

  • Class: Meridian Individual Profile
  • Demographics, Contact, Loyalty
  • Custom: Brand Affiliation
  • Custom: Trade Account Status
  • Primary ID: Email

Schema 2: Web Events

  • Class: Meridian ExperienceEvent
  • Meridian Web SDK field group
  • Consumer Experience Event
  • Identity Map for ECID
  • Page views, cart, purchases

Schema 3: Offline Purchases

  • Class: Meridian ExperienceEvent
  • Commerce Details
  • In-store + trade portal orders
  • Primary ID: Loyalty/CRM ID

Schema 4: Product Catalog

  • Class: Custom class
  • Product metadata + attributes
  • Primary ID: Product SKU
  • Relationship to event schemas
Identity Fields Across Schemas
The key: email, loyalty ID, and CRM ID all participate in the identity graph, stitching web behavior, offline purchases, and profile attributes into a single unified view — across all brands.
Profile Schema
→
Email (Primary) + Loyalty ID + CRM ID
Web Events
→
Identity Map (ECID + authenticated ID)
Offline Events
→
Loyalty ID (Primary) + CRM ID
Product Catalog
→
Product SKU (Primary) — Relationship link

The Result

A single unified customer view connecting who they are, what they did online, what they bought offline, and which products they interacted with — filterable by brand.

Plan First, Build Second
Take 30 minutes to map your entire data model on paper before touching the UI. This saves hours of rework once schemas are locked for evolution.

Your Planning Checklist

✓ List every schema with its class and key field groups
✓ Map identity fields and connections between schemas
✓ Identify where you need schema relationships (product lookups)
✓ Decide which fields need custom field groups vs. standard
✓ Document the brand affiliation strategy
✓ Review with the team before enabling for Profile

Remember

Once a schema is enabled for Profile and receiving data, it's additive only. You can add fields but never remove them or change types. The upfront design work is the most important hour you'll spend.

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1
Why Architecture Matters
2
Your Minimum Schema Set
3
Identity Field Strategy
4
Plan Before You Build