Product Categories can be used to create site structure by maintaining parent/child relationships between categories. Any category can be a Parent when chosen in the Parent Category field of another category's setup page. A category can be both a parent and a child at the same time. The product category system has unlimited category depth and structure. However, the primary focus of designing your product category structure should be making it easy for your customers to navigate the site.
If you would like to create several Product Categories quickly, it can be helpful to use our importing feature.
Product Category Concepts to Understand
Parent Categories - any product category that has another category assigned as a child in the category structure. A category can be both a parent and a child to another category. A parent category may contain products but does not have to contain products.
Child Categories - any product category that is connected to a parent category. They may also include Child Categories or products.
Creating the Import Spreadsheet
To create a Product Category, all that is required is a unique "Code" and "Name". The other fields below are not necessary, but can be helpful when controlling data relating to categories and products.
The basic category columns are outlined below:
Code - the code entered should be unique. Also, keeping the same code format will help streamline this process (i.e. insulation, insulation_unfaced, insulation_rigid, etc.). Special characters may not be used when creating codes.
Name - this is what the customer will see on the commerce site.
Parent Category Code - if you create a parent category, the parent category code should be left blank. If you create a child category, you will need to enter the parent category code of the child category (i.e. insulation = parent, insulation_unfaced = child category).
Active - the category will need to be marked as active to be seen on the commerce site (active = yes, inactive = no).
Order - if you would like to control your product catalog using the "Values Order By" setting of Category Order, please contact your Kodaris Account Manager for more information.
Navigate to "Categories" under the PIM section in the Portal.
Select the "Data" tab.
Click the "Show / Hide Columns" icon.
Select all the columns you would like to export, noting the columns we recommended at the top of this section.
Select File, then Export.
Rename the file if desired, then click Save to export.
Note: the export file will include a header row which is needed for importing.
Example Spreadsheet for Category Imports
Here you can see an example of a simple category structure that is ready to be created by import. Looking at the framing categories, Framing is a parent category and the lumber categories listed below framing are child categories - and since Framing is also a child category, it would also have a parent listed.
You will also notice that the Product Catalog, New Products, and Do Not Display categories can be set up in this step.
Product Catalog - this is the holding category for all of your commerce categories. Since it is the parent of all commerce categories, it does not need a parent.
New Products - if you are using the PIM Workflow, this category can be setup and any new products added in your ERP will sync to this category. Since this is just a holding category, it does not need a parent.
Do Not Display - this can be used as another holding category for any products that you do not want updated or used on your commerce site. This category is generally marked not active or "FALSE", and since this is just a holding category, it does not need a parent.
Once you have imported your category tree, updates or additions can be made at any time in the portal. You can also check your category structure after importing by viewing the category tree in the portal.
Importing Product Categories
Navigate to "Categories" under the PIM section in the Portal.
Select the "Data" tab.
Select File, then Import.
Select Default Category Mapping.
Then choose your the .CSV file you wish to upload.
The import function is quick - once you upload the selected file, the data in the file is created. Please be sure you select the correct file to import, and have your file prepared correctly.
Important! There is no undo button for imports. Make sure the data you are importing is correct.
Once you have processed the import, your categories will be created. If it is a large file, it may take a couple of minutes. If the file is very large, you may see a time out notification, but this does not mean the import failed. It will still be running in the background.
Product Documentation
