Manage your products with ease by grouping them into product categories.
You can create up to three levels of nested categories beneath a main product category.
Creating product categories
This feature allows you to add a new product category to your online store. You can create main categories that include up to three nested sub-categories.
Adding new categories and changing the layout
- Click Add main category to add a main category at the bottom of your current menu list. To add a sub-category, click on the category name under which you want to nest a new category and click the + icon that appears on its right.
- Use the + icon on the left side of a category to check its sub-categories.
- To rearrange the order of your product categories, simply click and hold a category name, then drag and drop it to the desired location. Make sure you click the Save button to save the changes you made to the order.
- The product category navigation on your store will follow the same layout as what you have saved in this menu.
Adjusting your category settings
Check and edit the settings for each of the product categories you add.
Category names are displayed on your storefront, so make sure you clearly communicate with shoppers what types of products they will see when they click on a category name.
You can also add details about the category in the Description field and click the category URL to check what it looks like on your online store.
Translating category names for your localized stores
By default, your localized stores' product category names are synced with that of your default store.
You can, however, stop syncing category names and set a translated version for your localized stores.
- Select the localized store you wish to edit.
- Select the product category you wish to translate in Products>Categories>Product categories.
- Deselect Apply default store information under Category name.
- Enter your translated category name and click Save at the bottom of the page.
Display settings (store and home page)
- Choose whether to display the category on your online store and/or your home page.
Shopping Curation hashtags
- When subscribed to Shopping Curation, enter hashtags in this field to display them with the product category. Shoppers can click on a hashtag to find all the products that were registered with it.
Layout by category
- Set a sorting order for the products in the category you are creating. You can use the same settings for all sections or choose different settings depending on where the products from this category are being displayed — regular products, recommended products or new products. You can also use an automated feature that sorts your products based on product data in Products>Product layout>Smart Layout.
Display out-of-stock products
- Select Last in product list to display out-of-stock products, or products that are not for sale, at the back of your product lists. Select Among other products if you prefer that all products follow the sorting order you set up for the category regardless of stock availability.
Likes
- If you have enabled the "Like" button feature in Products>Products>Display features you will be able to see how many times the selected product category has been liked.
Classification (Customs clearance)
- Use this feature if you want to automatically input the same classification data (for customs clearance purposes) to all the products you add or edit in this product category. If you add the same product to categories that have a different classification, the first category's classification will be applied to it by default.
Showing subcategories in product category pages
- Go to Products>Products>Display features and select Yes for Show subcategories.
- Select the display settings of your choice and click Save at the bottom of the page.
- Show all subcategories: Show all nested subcategories for every product category. Categories are always expanded to ensure that shoppers can easily navigate between category levels.
- Show selected subcategories: Shoppers will only see subcategories for the category they are looking at. You can choose which subcategories you wish to display for each category level.
Check the next four settings if your products are not displayed on your storefront in the same order as set through your admin page
- If you chose to show subcategory products:
If you chose Yes for Display subcategory products, the products from all nested subcategories will be displayed with those of the relevant main category. In this case, products on your storefront may not be sorted in the order set for this product category.
To make sure products on your storefront are sorted in the same order as set through your admin page, select No for Display subcategory products as follows.- Go to Products>Categories>Product categories and click on the category you want to edit.
- Select No for Display subcategory products and click Save at the bottom of the page.
- If you chose to hide zero-priced products:
Display settings for zero-priced products in My Store override any product-specific display settings. So, if you decide to hide zero-priced products, any product with a price of USD 0 will be hidden from your storefront, even if you choose Yes for On display for that specific product. In this case, products on your storefront may not be sorted in the order set through your admin page.
To make sure products on your storefront are sorted in the same order as set through your admin page, select Yes for Display zero-priced products as follows.
- Go to My Store>Store setup>General settings>Products (Tab).
- Select Yes for Display zero-priced products and click Save at the bottom of the page.
- If you chose to hide out-of-stock products:
Display settings for out-of-stock products in My Store override any product-specific display settings. So, if you decide to hide out-of-stock products, no out-of-stock products will be displayed on your storefront, even if you set On display as Yes for a specific product. In this case, products on your storefront may not be sorted in the order set through your admin page.
To make sure products on your storefront are sorted in the same order as set through your admin page, select Yes for Show out-of-stock products as follows.- Go to My Store>Store setup>Product list display.
- Select Yes for Show out-of-stock products and click Save at the bottom of the page.
- If you have edited your sorting order but it hasn't been reflected on you storefront:
After changing the layout order in Products>Product display>Layout by category, make sure you click Save at the bottom of the page to reflect your changes.
Customizing your storefront category pages
- Customize the storefront page for each of your product categories.
- You can use images instead of text for category names in your navigation bar and/or use a header image and headline image for each category page.
Access permissions for product categories
- Restrict the access to product categories by only allowing specific customer accounts or customer levels to see them. You can use access permissions in the following cases.
- When you only want to allow access to shoppers who registered an account → Choose Customer accounts only.
- When you want to create a product category with special offers and you only want to share this with a specific customer level → Choose Specific customer levels only. (Settings can be configured differently for each store)
- When you want to create a category for employees only in which corporate discounts are applied → Choose Specific admin accounts only.
- You can also use the adult verification feature to restrict purchases in a product category containing adult products or the IP address restriction feature to block access based on IP addresses.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Get your store at the top of search results by optimizing the data collected by search engines. Choose whether to create your own meta tag or use the variables offered by Cafe24.
For more details, please refer to our guide on SEO.
Setting up a default sorting order
The sorting order you set in this menu will be applied to all new product categories by default. However, changing these settings does not affect existing product categories.
Click Apply to all categories to set your changes as a default setting. These layout settings will be applied to all product categories.
You can create default settings for Layout by category, Display out-of-stock products, and Display products in subcategories.
Take note when using localized stores
If you click Apply to all categories when adjusting the settings of a localized store, the changes will be applied to all its categories, including those for which you selected Apply default store information.
How to bulk edit a product's categories
- Go to Products>Products>Product list.
- Select the product you wish to edit.
- Click Change category and manage (change, add, delete) all the categories to which it is assigned.