CHAPTER 15 Categories

Categories are the departments of your store. You can create any number of subcategories that you feel are necessary so that customers can navigate your store with ease. The hierarchal structure of the categories and subcategories is shown on the top of each retail page in your store so that customers can easily see how they arrived at the page they are currently viewing and can backtrack if needed. This is especially useful if your store has a large product line. If your store doesn't have a large number of products, you may not need to use subcategories at all. For more information on categories, see "Setting up the categories for your store".

Products are the merchandise that is for sale in your store. Every product needs to be entered into a category or subcategory. Each product that you enter will have its own product page from where all product specific information such as tracking inventory, editing prices, applying discounts, entering product options, etc. is entered.

The following sections goes through the process of adding a category and subcategory. The Category Tree, located in the Products folder, is where all adding and editing of categories and subcategories takes place. When you click on the Product folder, all main categories that have been created will be displayed.

Adding a Category

A category is where subcategories and products will reside.

From the Left Navigation Menu, click on the Catalog folder. If no categories have been added so far, a page such as the one depicted below will appear.

Click Add to go to the page where category information is entered. The Add Category page is shown below.

The only required field is the Category Name field. Enter in the name of the category. You can also upload an image by browsing out to where the image has been saved. This will appear next to the category name on the retail side on templates that support category images.

Click Add when you are finished. This will take you back to the main category page. The new category name will be listed as shown in the figure below.

Add

Click Add to enter in another main category.

Open

Select the category name and click Open to either add a subcategory to the category or add a product to the category.

Edit

Select the category name and click Edit to change the name of the category, the description of the category, or an image for the category.

Delete

Select the category name and click Delete to remove the category from the list. If you have already added subcategories and products to this main category they will be deleted as well.

Adding a Subcategory

A subcategory is where other subcategories and products reside.

Using the example above of creating the category named Women's Clothing, now a subcategory will be added to the Category just created.

To add a subcategory, select the category that the subcategory will reside and click Open. This will take you to a page shown below.

The category named Women's Clothing is shown. The top portion is for adding, editing, or deleting subcategories to Women's Clothing. The lower portion of the page is for adding, editing, or deleting products to Women's Clothing.

Since a subcategory to Women's Clothing is being added here rather than an actual product, click Add from the upper portion of the page. This will take you to a page shown below.

The only required field is the Category Name. Notice that even though the field is named Category Name, it is really the name of the Subcategory that needs to be entered. All categories entered under a main category are considered subcategories. Enter in the name of the subcategory. The name that you enter will appear on your store pages. The thumbnail image and description are optional.

Click Add to save. This will take you back to the Browsing Women's Clothing page shown below. The new subcategory appears in the Subcategory section.

Add

Click Add to create another subcategory to Women's Clothing.

Open

Select the subcategory name and click Open to either add a subcategory to the subcategory or to add a product to the subcategory.

Edit

Select the subcategory name and click Edit to change the name of the subcategory, the description of the subcategory, or an image for the subcategory.

Delete

Select the subcategory name and click Delete to remove the subcategory from the list. If you have already added additional subcategories to the subcategory or products to this subcategory, they will be deleted as well.

Adding a Product to a Category

Products are the actual items that are for sale. Every product needs to be attached to either a category or subcategory. Every product that you enter into inventory will have its own product page. The first time that you enter a product into the store's inventory, you are creating its product page.

Continuing with the two previous examples, now a product will be added to the subcategory (T-Shirts) just created.

To get to where a product can be entered into T-Shirts, click the Main Category name (Women's Clothing) and then click the Subcategory name (T-Shirts). Now you should be browsing the subcategory T-Shirts as shown in the figure below.

The top portion of the page is used for entering additional subcategories to T-Shirts and the lower portion of the page is used for entering in products to T-Shirts.

From the lower portion of the page, click Add. This will take you to the Product Page. The Product Page actually consists of 2 pages; the first page (less detail) and the second page (more detail). All product specific information is entered here including the name of the product, how much it costs, how much it weighs, the detailed description, and much more.

The Product page is quite detailed and because of this, it has its own chapter. The products chapter describes all aspects of entering products into inventory including how to set up discounts, how to set up inventory control, how to enter in different colors and sizes, etc.

For detailed information on adding a product into inventory, see chapter 16.