Characteristic types organize and identify data that is stored in the entity database. Examples of default Characteristic types that are already configured in the entity database are date of birth and gender.
If you have data that is not defined by one of the default characteristic types, you must create a new characteristic type for that data.
<attribute> <attr_type>cust_type</attr_type> <attr_value>merchant</attr_value> </attribute>In this instance, you need to set up a new characteristic type called cust_type.