Having a large product catalogue could become very overwhelming if it is not structured. Categories enable the organisation and grouping of products based on their functional utility. Proper categorisation enables faster product discovery for the customer of the site(s) and makes their navigation experience smoother.
Every product must have a category assigned and by default the product inherits the attribute set based on the category, however if the business needs, the attribute set can be overridden at the product level as well.
A product can only be mapped to ONE parent category. The platform does not support mapping a product to multiple parent Categories because the mapping also drives what custom attributes are managed for the product (attributes are covered in a separate section of the manual).
However, there are good reasons why a business would need to present a product in multiple Categories, in such cases, the “tag” functionality can be used, so that a product can be mapped using tags, to appear on the site in multiple categories. In this way, the customer experience desired by business is achieved, without compromising the principle of a product being in ONE parent category.
The platform provides following capabilities to manage Categories by:
- Category Tree
- Adding a New Category
- Sub Categories
- Feature Brands
- Feature Products
- Landing Page
Category Tree
The category hierarchy is represented as a tree structure. The platform provides the capabilities to build a category tree to multiple hierarchical layers.
In the example, Beauty is a Category
Make Up is a Sub Category
Make Up Remover is a Sub Sub Category
Cleanser is a Sub Sub Sub Category
Add a new Category
To add a new category, first chose within the Category Tree, where the new category will be placed and Click the add New Category button. Categories can be added at all levels and once made live will define the navigation structure customers will browse on the site(s).
Complete the Basic Information needed and the new category will appear in the Category Tree. Once created the category information can be edited by using the tree to navigate to the category.
Categories and Sub Categories need basic information to be populated.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | The name given to the new category |
| Is Featured | Yes/No. Option to flag if the category is to be featured. Featured categories are utilized in the CMS to define which categories will be displayed as a banner on landing pages for the category or sub category |
| Is gender specific | Yes/No. This information helps in presenting the relevant information to customers. For instance, Electronics is not a gender specific category and will take a different approach to merchandising than a gender specific category such a Woman’s Knitwear. |
| Parent Category | The category above the new category you are adding in the tree. If the new category being added is a primary category, then this will be left blank. |
| Custom Attribute Set | The attribute set of extended data to be captured for the products within the new category being created. |
SUB CATEGORIES
Featured Sub Categories can be merchandised by using the drag and drop function to move them around into the desired layout. A category can be configured to appear or be removed, by changing the Yes/No against Is Featured in the Basic Information for a specific category or sub category.
BRANDS
Brands are associated to a product via the product details page within PIM > Brands. When a product is assigned to a Category or Sub Category, the associated brands are added by default to the All Brands list (at the bottom of the page). Brands can then be merchandised onto the Category or Sub Category page(s) by checking the box next to the Brand name. Brands that appear within the Category or Sub Category can be merchandised by using the drag and drop function to move them around into the desired layout. Brands may be featured in some Categories, but not in others as desired. This provides flexibility to the merchandiser to present information to the customer in context.
PRODUCTS
All Active products assigned to a category or sub category via the product details page within PIM > Product are shown in the All Product list. Products can then be merchandised onto the Category or Sub Category page(s) by checking the box next to the Product Stock Code and Name. Product banners that appear within the Category or Sub Category can be merchandised by using the drag and drop function to move them around into the desired layout.
Category Landing Page
You can configure a specific landing page for each root category (level 1 category), typically the landing page will have the following 4 sub-sections:
- Carousel of images
- List of featured sub-categories
- Faceted Navigation
- List of products within Category
How to configure Category Landing Page