Product categories, or root categories, are collections of items that you group together, like Women's Fashion, Shoes, or Bestsellers so customers can easily navigate your online store. Within each root category, you can create multiple levels of subcategories to further group products.

In eCom (E-Series), there are two types of product categories you can use:

• Retail POS categories that are imported from your in-store catalog.
• Online-specific categories that you create specifically for your eCom online catalog and that do not affect your Retail POS catalog.

By default, categories on your eCom website mirror your Retail POS category structure. Alternatively, you can build a different structure for your online catalog with online-specific categories.

Understanding Retail POS and online-specific categories

Retail POS categories

Once eCom is activated, categories and subcategories created in Retail POS catalog are automatically synced and visible in eCom. Category name, hierarchy, and product assignments are all managed in Retail POS. Changes made in Retail POS, like adding or removing products or renaming categories, will be automatically updated in eCom as well.

From the Online page, you can set online-specific settings for Retail POS categories, including:

• Enabling or disabling a category on your website
• Adding a category description and SEO metadata
• Uploading a category image
• Sorting products within a category or subcategory
• Adding translations for multilingual websites

Online-specific categories

Online-specific categories and subcategories let you organize products from your Retail POS catalog on your website in a way that specifically caters to your online customers. They exist only in your online catalog and changes made won’t affect your Retail POS catalog, including if you delete an online-specific category.

Online-specific categories support unlimited subcategories and products can belong to multiple categories and subcategories.

Differences between Retail POS and online-specific categories

Using Retail POS categories maintains consistency between your in-store and online catalogs, and allows you to enhance categories with online-specific details. Online-specific categories allow you to organize products in a different way on your website, helping visitors browse your catalog online.

Here’s a brief overview of differences between categories created in Retail POS and in eCom:

Creating online-specific categories

To create online-specific categories for your website:

1. In Retail POS, navigate to Online > Webstore.
2. In the Categories tab, click Add Root Category.
3. Enter a category name that customers will see on your site.
4. Under Category Image, click Choose File to select an image to represent the category on your site.
5. (Optional) Add a description to help customers better understand the category products.
6. (Optional) Switch to the SEO tab to customize how the category page will show up in search engines like Google.
7. Click Save.

Adding online-specific subcategories

You can create online-specific subcategories for both online and in-store categories. For example, your Retail POS category Women’s Wear could have an online-specific subcategory called New Arrivals that would only be visible on your site.

On your site, customers can navigate through the category and subcategory structure using breadcrumbs, the navigation links near the top of the page that show the path to the current page. A well-structured product category makes it easier for customers to find products.

You can’t make an online-specific category the parent of a Retail POS category.

To create a subcategory in an online-specific category on your site:

1. In Retail POS, navigate to Online > Webstore.
2. In the Categories tab, click Add Subcategory.
3. Enter a subcategory name customers will see on your site.
4. Under Category Image, click Choose File to select an image to represent the subcategory on your site.
5. (Optional) Add a description to help customers better understand the subcategory products.
6. Click Save.
7. To change the order of your categories, click and hold the category's name and drag up or down to change the placement in the list.

Assigning products to online-specific categories or subcategories

If you use in-store categories on your website, you will assign products to categories from Retail POS. Categories will have the same structure in Retail POS and your online store.

With online-specific categories, products must be assigned separately to build an online-specific structure different from Retail POS. You can assign products to more than one category or subcategory.

To assign products to an online-specific category:

1. In Retail POS, navigate to Online > Webstore.
2. In the Categories tab, click the category or subcategory name listed under Categories on the left.
3. Click the Category products tab, then click Assign Products to Category.

   

4. Use the SKU or Name search fields to find a product, then click the + (Add) icon or use the checkboxes to add multiple products and click Add Products.

To update, rearrange, hide, or delete categories, refer to Managing categories and subcategories in eCom (E-Series).

What’s next?