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Catalog management refers to management of product categories which is a separate topic to product information management (PIM). Best way to think about catalog management is classification of products, where categories act as groups for products with some defining features. For example if we consider fashion products we may encounter top level classifications such as "Men", "Women" and "Kids" with each one further refined. Women category could contain "dresses", "tops" and so on and each one of these can be further subclassed to fulfil business requirements. Classification does not necessarily have to represent a feature of the products contained within it. For example category "sale" can represent a mix of products that need to be classified as items on sale. Thus a product can be classified as say "Women / Dress" but also as a "Sale" item. Products in YC can the platform can have multiple category assignments thus it is possible to list (or rather classify) product under several categories.
If we expand on the idea of classification it becomes clear that catalogs are in essence just branches of a classification hierarchy. This is the approach that YC takes the platform takes - there is only one so to speak "master" catalog that holds all branches of category classifications. Thus if the business operates on a variety of products types it makes sense to make top level classifications by the nature of products, say top level categories could be: "Electronics", "Fashion" and "Home & Garden", where each can be further refined as required. If we take this to yet another level of complexity and say that we categorise in the first place by "supplier catalog", it could makes sense to set the top level categories as names of suppliers. Visually it can be depicted below with "one industry", "multi industry" and "supplier driven" catalog layouts.
Essentially YC the platform allows building hierarchy as your business requires so that categories can be used as classification of products that the business sells. This classification is not however necessarily what the customers on the website sees, because the "shop catalog" (i.e. customer facing catalog) is defined by shop catalog assignments.
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Once the category structure approach is selected product categorisation has to be carefully considered as a well. YC platform The platform provides many-to-many relationship between products and categories meaning that a product can be assigned to one or more categories. This gives extra level of flexibility when plain products cataloging does not fully fulfil the requirements.
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| Configuration | Version | Description | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| brands | up to
| flag enables brands filtered navigation block. Brand values are accumulated from products that are assigned to given category (and its sub categories if "search in sub categories" flag is enabled). Note that in versions 3.4.0+ brand value is "proxied" by brand attribute so that it can be added to generate attributes filter navigation block and thus use some of the features such as sorting and alternative naming | ||||||
| price | flag + per currency price range settings enable price filtered navigation block. The configurations are set using "price tiers edit" button. The tiers have to be set for each currency separately. This is not limitation of YC the platform but rather best practices approach. Business marketing department has to set correct ranges for product prices that will be balanced and will be suitable to target customer groups. For example if there are many products grouped with middle tier prices it would make sense to create "up to X" price range, then make granular ranges for middle range prices and then last range to have "more than X". Another reason is there are sometime "gaps" in price ranges thus creating 0 counts, so marketing department may choose to group this range with adjacent one to prevent 0 value ranges. Sometimes it makes sense to create different ranges based currency since currency may refer to geo location customer group with different price perception due to local mentality. Price range counts are accumulated from products prices that are assigned to given category (and its sub categories if "search in sub categories" flag is enabled). | |||||||
| attributes | flag enables attribute filtered navigation blocks that require default category product type to determine which attributes should be part of the navigation. For each attribute a separate navigation block will be created subject to sorting and navigation rules defined by selected product type. Attribute values are accumulated from products that are assigned to given category (and its sub categories if "search in sub categories" flag is enabled). |
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| Attribute | Version | Purpose | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category Description (multiple attributes) | 3.0.0+ | Allows to set long descriptions that are language specific. In default theme this is used by simple category rendering template as body of the page | ||||||
| Quantity of featured items | 3.0.0+ | Number of products in featured item component. In default theme this is used by category featured products template | ||||||
| Quantity of new arrival items | 3.0.0+ | Number of products in new arrivals tab. In default theme this is used by category new arrival tab template | ||||||
| New arrival tag days offset | 3.0.0+ | Number of days in the past for product to be identified as new arrival product if it does not have "newarrival" tag. In default theme this is used by category new arrival tab template to determine which products to show | ||||||
| Items per page CSV | 3.0.0+ | Pagination settings for category with products. In default theme this is used by product lister category template to display options for number of products to be displayed on a single page | ||||||
| Category sort options CSV | 3.0.0+ | Product sorting settings for category with products. In default theme this is used by product lister category template to display options for products sorting for listing or search result | ||||||
| Search include sub categories | 3.0.0+ | Flag that allows to alter search engine behaviour. If this is set to "on" then listing or searching products in this category will also include products from sub categories. | ||||||
| Quantity of category pods in one row on category page | 3.1.0+ | Quantity of product pods in one row to show on category page | ||||||
| Quantity of category pods in one row on category page | 3.1.0+ | Quantity of category pods in one row to show on category page | ||||||
| Filter navigation records limit | 3.2.0+ | Filter navigation records limit per group. Default is 25. If there are less records than limit they are alphabetically sorted, otherwise sorted by most hits descending and over the limit are discarded | ||||||
| Flag to exclude this category from meganav |
| Used by YCE SaaS default theme to skip this category when rendering mega nav |