Your online catalog of products—those available to customers on the storefront—can be presented in categories that make it easier for customers to browse and find the products they are looking for. A category of products is a group of products grouped in some logical fashion (i.e., because they have certain features in common). For instance, an “Office Supplies” category would let your buyers know at a glance that this is the category in which they are likely to find such non-printed or static products as paper, pens, paper clips, file folders, etc. Similarly, a category named “HR Documents” would let buyers know that this is a likely place to look for a copy of the Employee Benefits Handbook.
The Manage Categories page is where product administrators (those responsible for listing products on the site) will create and edit product categories and perform administrative tasks related to catalog categories and their associated files. You can also create a category that you want to be featured on a storefront for a particular company's users (buyers) and publish products to it then designate it as a Featured Category (on the Storefront Customization page). Click a link in the tip below for a workflow that covers the process.
Tip: For an overview of an omnibus workflow that presents the steps for making a list of products available to a certain set of buyers (i.e., members of a company, see Workflow - Featured Categories for Specific Company.
In the Categories tree there are two types of icons that represent categories:
means the category is a storefront category (a Featured Category along with Featured Products on a storefront). Clicking on the category will open a panel with the name of the associated storefront and a link to the storefront (where the storefront category with its Featured Category and Featured Products) can be customized (for more information on customizing Featured Categories and Featured Products see To customize a storefront layout - manage homepage).
means the category is a standard product category (i.e., not a featured category on a storefront) that is listed in the Catalog block on the storefront (for more information on customizing a storefront see Arranging the Web Blocks).
Tip: For instructions on making a standard category a storefront (or Featured) category on a storefront, see To designate certain categories as Featured Categories on a storefont.
1. Go to Administration > Categories.
2. On the Manage Categories page click Create Category.
3. On the Create Category dialog, type a name for the new category in the Name field.
Note: At this point, you can click either (1) Save and Continue to save the category without configuring it (you might choose this option if you want to quickly add multiple categories and then configure them later following the steps presented in Edit and Configure Product Categories), or (2) Manage to open the category management page to configure the category following the steps presented in Edit and Configure Product Categories.
Note: To add products to or remove products from a category, follow the steps in To add products to a category.
4. If you clicked Save and Continue to save the new category and add it to the Categories tree without opening the category management page, on the category data panel you can change:
a. Display Priority—by selecting one of the 9 priorities from the pull-down list.
b. Active—select Yes or No to make the category active or inactive (i.e., active will cause the category to be displayed on the storefront).
1. Go to Administration > Categories.
2. On the Manage Categories page select the category to designate as a sub-category and left mouse-click and drag the category under and to the right of the category that you want to make it a sub-category of.
3. Release the left mouse button. The category will now appear under the main category and right-indented.
Note: To make a sub-category a main (first-level) category, select the sub-category and left mouse-click and drag it under and to the right of the Categories heading at the top of the list.
Note: Note that you cannot make a standard category a sub-category of a storefront (Featured) category.
1. After creating a category and publishing the products you want to be featured on the storefront to a category, go to the Storefront Customization page and select the storefront.
2. Click Edit.
3. Click Manage Homepage and follow the instructions presented in To customize a storefront layout - manage homepage.
Tip: For an overview of an omnibus workflow that presents the steps for making a list of products available to a certain set of buyers (i.e., members of a company, see Workflow - Featured Categories for Specific Company.
● Edit and Configure Product Categories