Categories are groups of related products, such as Women’s Fashion, Shoes, or Bestsellers. In Lightspeed eCom, you can use two types of categories: categories initially created in your POS catalog and online-specific categories that are unique for your online catalog.

You can go to Online → Webstore → Categories in your Retail POS to customize category settings that affect how they appear on your website—such as adding images, writing SEO descriptions, sorting products in a specific order, and more.

Adding a description to a category in Lightspeed eCom

You can add description to categories that will appear near the category name on your site. Descriptions help customers better understand what products they will find in a certain category.

For a better site visibility in search engines, add SEO descriptions for categories.

To add a description for the product category in Lightspeed eCom:

1. From your POS, go to Online → Webstore.
2. Switch to the Categories tab.
3. In the Description section, enter a copy describing the category.
4. Click Save.

Setting SEO settings for a category in Lightspeed eCom

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) settings—like URLs, page titles, and meta descriptions—improve how your site appears in search results.

Meta descriptions, or search descriptions, are short summaries of a page’s content that appear below the page title in search engine results. You can use them to describe specific category pages on your site and help attract clicks.

To set up SEO settings for a product category in Lightspeed eCom:

1. From your POS, go to Online → Webstore.
2. Switch to the Categories tab.
3. Switch to the SEO tab and customize settings.
4. Click Save.

Repeat the steps for each category on your site.

Customizing category URL in Lightspeed eCom

You can provide specific URLs for a category page, allowing customers to easily navigate to a page while also making it easier for search engines to find pages of your website and show it in the search results. 

When you change a URL, your previous URL will redirect to the new one.

Custom URLs are automatically available in all stores registered after June 17, 2024. If you signed up earlier and want to use this feature, you can enable it on eCom (E-Series) under Settings What's New.

To edit a category's URL:

1. From your POS, go to Online → Webstore.
2. Switch to the Categories tab.
3. Click on the category you wish to edit and switch to the SEO tab.
4. Click Customize category URL.
5. In the text field, type a new URL. 
6. Click Save.

Uploading an image for a category in Lightspeed eCom

You can add images for categories to better reflect them and give customers an at-a-glance overview of the category. Images are displayed on the storefront when customers view the list of categories.

To add an image for the product category in Lightspeed eCom:

1. From your POS, go to Online → Webstore.
2. Switch to the Categories tab.
3. Select the category and in the Category image section click Choose file.
4. Upload an image from your device. Click Save.

Changing category name position and image displaying

You can change how your category name appears on your site, as well as how images are displayed, or hide them on your eCom storefront.

1. From your Retail POS, go to Online and click Go to eCom.
2. In the menu on the left, click Design.
3. Scroll down to the Category name position section and select your preferred setting. A preview of your choice will appear to the right of the options list.

Changes are saved automatically and be instantly updated on your eCom storefront.

Sorting categories and products within categories in Lightspeed eCom

You can choose how products appear within a category and how online-specific categories are ordered in your catalog.

Changing the products order on site won’t affect products’ order in your Retail catalog.

Categories created in Retail POS appear in alphabetical order and cannot be reordered.

To sort categories or products within categories in your online catalog:

1. From your POS, go to Online → Webstore.
2. Switch to the Categories tab.
3. To sort the order of an online-specific category or subcategory, drag and drop it in the desired order:
4. To sort products, select the category or subcategory, switch to the Category products tab, and drag and drop products into the desired order:

Translating a category in Lightspeed eCom

If your site is multilingual, you can translate categories names and descriptions so that they appear in the relevant language when a visitor switches the language on your site.

You can also translate your SEO settings to help search engines show relevant results to customers browsing in different languages.

To add translations for the product category in Lightspeed eCom:

1. From your POS, go to Online → Webstore.
2. Switch to the Categories tab.
3. Select the category and on the General tab scroll down to the Translations section and add translations for the category’s name and description.
4. Switch to the SEO tab and add translations for SEO settings.
5. Click Save.

Changing the name of the Featured Products section

The Featured Products section is a default category on your Lightspeed eCom website. It is the first category that customers see on your site.

To change the name of the Featured Products category:

1. From your Retail POS, go to Online and click Go to eCom.
2. In the menu on the left, click Design.
3. Navigate to Settings → Edit Store Labels.
4. Click + Get Started.
5. Type 'featured' into the search bar.
6. In the Featured Products field, type your new category label.

The new label will automatically save and be updated on your eCom storefront.

Hiding a category in Lightspeed eCom

You can temporarily hide a category from your site without actually deleting it. Products from the category will still appear on your site, but they will not be assigned to a hidden category. You can always enable the category later so that it appears again on your site.

To hide a category from your site in Lightspeed eCom:

1. From your POS, go to Online → Webstore.
2. Switch to the Categories tab.
3. Click a category or subcategory you want to hide and in the Availability section, click Disable.
4. To show the category again, click Enable.
5. Click Save.

Deleting a category in Lightspeed eCom

You can permanently delete a product category from your site, but where you delete them from depends on how they were created.

If you use categories from your Retail POS catalog, you need to delete a category in your Retail POS. That way, a category will be removed from both your Retail POS and your website. Products will still be in your catalog but will no longer be assigned to a deleted category.

If you have online-specific categories, you need to delete them on the Online page. Deleting an online category does not affect your in-store catalog. In case you delete a root category, the items assigned to it will now be assigned to the online-specific Featured Products category that is not synced with your POS.

To delete an online-specific category or subcategory:

1. From your POS, go to Online → Webstore.
2. Switch to the Categories tab.
3. Select a category or subcategory and click Delete category.

What's next?

Creating online-specific categories and subcategories for Lightspeed eCom