Create a product category

Overview

Products can be assigned to a category or multiple categories. There are several benefits to using categories:

Refine the product list quickly
Use categories as headers on your B2B site
Apply promotions to categories

We don't recommend using categories for reports, because products in multiple categories may be double-counted. To filter your reports, use Product brand, types, or projects instead. You can also delete any of your categories.

Create a parent category

Categories group products together under a similar theme or group name, for example, Shoes. Categories can be hierarchical, with a parent category (Shoes) and sub-categories (Heels or Flats).

You need to create a parent category before you can create a sub-category. Parent categories can't have products added to them.

In the navigation, select Products.
Select Create New Parent Category.
Enter the Category Name.
Select Save and Close.

You can edit existing categories by selecting Edit icon next to the category.

Create a sub-category

Once you have created a parent category, you can make a sub-category.

In the navigation, select Products.
Select the parent category you want to add a sub-category to.
Select Create New Sub Category.
The Parent Category shows the parent category you selected in step 2. You can change this to another parent category.
Enter a Category Name and select Save and Close.

New sub-category create screen

Edit sub-categories after they have been created:

Choose the parent category by selecting it from the menu. A list of sub-categories appears.
From the list, select the next to the sub-category name.
Make any changes necessary, then select Save and Close.

Sub-category edit screen

Add products to categories

In the navigation, select Products.
Select the product name to edit the details of the product to be categorized.
Select Update Categories.
Select the appropriate categories, then select Save.

Bulk add products to categories

You can also assign multiple products to categories at once, or unassign them.

In the navigation, select Products.
Select the products to categorize.
From the Actions menu, select Bulk Assign Categories.
From the Assign this list to a new Category drop-down menu, complete one of the following actions:
1. Select the appropriate categories and sub-categories and select Update to confirm the changes.
2. Unassign products from their original categories by selecting Move List to Unassigned and select Update to confirm the changes.

FAQs

Can categories be assigned when you import products?

Yes. See Importing Simple Products for additional information.

Is it possible to import categories?

Not directly, but as a workaround you could import dummy products with all variants of your categories.

How do you sort your product categories alphabetically?

You can have the system do this automatically for you by ensuring the Sort field within editing a product category is set to the default value of 50.

Additionally, you must have Show Website Options set to Yes so that you can edit the Sort field when editing a category. Go to Settings, Products, and then Product Settings.