With product categories (formerly product types), you can create and assign multi-level categories to your products. Use product categories to organize and track your product catalog at a granular level. Categories you create in Retail POS appear both in Retail POS and on your eCom (E-Series) website.

Creating categories on the Product categories page

Categories you create in Retail POS appear in your Retail POS catalog. You can also use them in eCom, or you can create online-specific categories that will only appear on your site.

1. Navigate to Catalog > Product categories.
2. Click Add category.

   

3. On the Add product category page, enter the name of the Level 1 category (the parent and highest category level).

   

4. If you want to add level 2 categories, click + Level 2 and enter a name. Repeat as needed. Each level 2 category will represent an individual two-leveled subcategory, for example, Pet Food > Cat and Pet Food > Dog.

   

5. If you want to add a level 3 to a level 2 subcategory, click + Level 3 and enter a name. Repeat as needed. Each level 3 will represent an individual three-leveled category, for example, Pet Food > Cat > Dry / Wet.

   

6. Once all category levels have been entered, click Save.

You can now apply the product categories to your products.

Creating categories on the Products page

You can also create new categories when creating or editing a product:

1. Navigate to Catalog > Products.
2. If you're adding a new product, click Add product and enter the product information. If you're editing an existing product, click the pencil icon (Edit) to the right of the product or click the product row to expand and click Edit.

   

3. In the Product categories dropdown menu, click the search field and type the name of the category. If the category hasn't been created yet, click + Add as a new category.

   

4. Confirm your category name and click Add category.

   

5. Once the category has been created, click Save to apply it to the product.

Creating categories via the Products page only supports the creation of level 1 categories. To create categories with subcategories or to apply subcategories to an already created category, see the Creating categories on the Product categories page section of this article.

Editing product categories

When you edit product categories from Retail POS, changes are reflected in both the Retail POS catalog and in your online catalog that appears on your eCom website.

To make online-specific changes for your categories that only appear on your website, refer to Managing categories and subcategories in eCom (E-Series).

To edit product categories:

1. Navigate to Catalog > Product categories.
2. Locate the category you want to edit and click the pencil icon (Edit) to the right.

   

3. Edit the text in the relevant level text fields.

   

4. (Optional) To create additional category levels, click + Level 2 or + Level 3 and enter a name. Each level 2 category will represent an individual two-leveled subcategory, for example, Pet Food > Cat and Pet Food > Dog. Each level 3 will represent an individual three-leveled category, for example, Pet Food > Cat > Dry / Wet.
5. Click Save.

Deleting categories

To delete product category levels:

1. Navigate to Catalog > Product categories.
2. Locate the category level you want to delete and click the trash icon (Delete) to the right.
3. Click Delete category.
4. A popup message will confirm the category's deletion. Click Delete category.

After a category is deleted, all products assigned to it will be assigned to the next available category on the same level. For example, a product assigned to Pet Food > Dog > Dry will be reassigned to Pet Food > Dog > Wet.

If there are no remaining categories on the same level, the product will be assigned to the next highest level within the categories. For example, a product assigned to Pet Food > Dog > Dry will be reassigned to Pet Food > Dog.

Applying product categories to existing products

To apply categories to products individually:

1. Navigate to Catalog > Products.
2. Locate the product you want to update and click the pencil icon (Edit) to the right or click the product row to expand and click Edit.

   

3. In the Product categories dropdown menu, click the category you want to apply. If the category has subcategories, click each subcategory level as needed.

   

4. Click Save.

Applying categories in bulk

You can apply categories to your products in bulk using a spreadsheet (CSV, XLSX, or XLS) or by submitting a request to the Retail Imports team.

Applying categories using a spreadsheet

If you enter a category that has not been created, Retail POS will create the category. Only Level 1 categories can be created this way.

1. Create your product categories and levels on the Product categories page.
2. Prepare your import spreadsheet.
3. Type in the lowest level of category for your product.
   • For a product in the "Drinks" category, type Drinks.
   • For a product in the "Drinks > Hot" category, type Hot.
4. Save your changes, then import your spreadsheet.

Importing categories using the Retail Imports team

You can submit a request to the Retail Imports team to add categories in bulk, up to 3 levels: a parent category (parent) and 2 subcategory levels (sub_1 and sub_2). Before submitting to the Retail Imports team, ensure your import file is properly formatted:

1. Create a new spreadsheet in Google Sheets or Excel.
2. Add 3 column headers: parent, sub_1, and sub_2.
3. Type in your categories and subcategories.
   • Every parent category must have the same number of subcategories. For example, parent category Apparel has two subcategories: Shirts and Pants. Shirts has the subcategory Tshirts, but Pants doesn't have a further subcategory. However, to keep the subcategory numbers even, Pants should be copied into the sub_2 column.

     

4. Save your file as an XLSX (preferred) or CSV.
5. Verify your file before submitting to avoid issues that may cause the data import to fail:
   • Remove special characters, like™,☺,©, etc.
   • Erase cells with N/A so the field is blank.
   • Format scientific numbers (4.001E+11) as regular integers (40010000000).
   • Format all cells, including cells with numbers, as plain text. In Google Sheets, click Format > Number > Plain text.
6. Submit your file to the Retail Imports Team.

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