How do you access custom attributes of a shopper in SFCC?

Accessing custom attributes of a shopper in Salesforce Commerce Cloud (SFCC) is effectively done through the Session object. The Session object serves as a user-specific storage space during a customer’s interaction with the website, allowing developers to store and retrieve user-specific data, including custom attributes.

When a shopper logs in or interacts with the site, their relevant information can be tied to their session, which includes both standard and custom attributes. This ability to easily retrieve or modify shopper attributes during a session makes the Session object the most efficient and appropriate choice for this task.

Additionally, querying the database directly is not typically how shoppers' custom attributes are accessed due to performance considerations and the potential for increased complexity in the code. Third-party plugins might provide some additional functionality but are not necessary for accessing custom attributes, which can be retrieved directly through existing session management. While APIs are very useful for various operations in SFCC, accessing session-based data, like custom attributes of a shopper, is best handled via the Session object within the transactional context.