Work with catalogs and categories

Current version: 9.1

A catalog is a container for one or more categories and is typically the first item you create in the business tools. A catalog contains sellable items that you can organize into categories and subcategories.

Add a catalog

The catalog is at the highest level of the catalog structure. You must add a catalog to contain categories or sellable items.

Note

The Merchandising dashboard displays the list of catalogs in alphabetical order.

To add a catalog:

  1. On the Sitecore Launchpad, in the Commerce section, click Business Tools and then click Merchandising.

  2. On the Merchandising dashboard, in the Catalogs section, click + on the section header.

  3. In the Add Catalog dialog box, enter a name, display name, and an optional description, and then click the check mark.

Add item definitions to a catalog

You can optionally add item definitions to your catalog to make them available to sellable items. Item definitions provide a mechanism that facilitates sharing custom schema properties defined using the Composer template across multiple sellable items.

To add item definitions to your catalog:

  1. On the Sitecore Launchpad, in the Commerce section, click Business Tools, and then click Merchandising.

  2. On the Merchandising dashboard, in the Catalogs section, click the name of a catalog. The Catalog details page opens.

  3. In the Details section header, click the Edits a catalog icon.

  4. In the Edit dialog box, in the Item definitions field, enter the item definition (in a string format), and then press Enter.

    Note

    You must press the Enter key for the item definitions to appear in the field. You can add as many item definitions as needed.

  5. Click the check mark to save your configuration.

Add a category or subcategory to a catalog

Categories and subcategories in your catalog give you more granular control of sellable items. For example, if you have a catalog for personal electronics, you might want to have a parent Appliances category that contains subcategories of Microwaves and Refrigerators.

To add a category or subcategory to a catalog:

  1. On the Sitecore Launchpad, in the Commerce section, click Business Tools and then click Merchandising.

  2. On the Merchandising dashboard, in the Catalogs section, click the name of a catalog. The Catalog details page opens.

  3. In the Categories section, from the drop-down list, click Add.

  4. In the Add dialog box, enter a name, display name, and an optional description for the category, then click the check mark.

  5. To add a subcategory, in the Categories section, click the name of the category and, in the Category details page, from the drop-down list, click Add.

  6. In the Add dialog box, enter a name, display name, and an optional description for the subcategory, and then click the check mark.

Associate an existing subcategory with a different category

Subcategories can be associated with multiple categories. For example, you might want to associate the subcategory of Microwaves with a Featured category, in addition to the subcategory already being associated with the Appliances category.

To associate a subcategory with a parent category:

  1. On the Sitecore Launchpad, in the Commerce section, click Business Tools, and then click Merchandising.

  2. On the Merchandising dashboard, in the Catalogs section, click the name of a catalog.  The Catalog details page opens.

  3. In the Categories section, click the name of the category.  The Category details page opens.

  4. In the Categories section, click the name of the subcategory and, from the drop-down list, click Associate.

  5. In the Associate dialog box, start typing the name of the category you want to associate.  A list of matching names is displayed.  Select the category name you want and click the check mark. 

Disassociate a subcategory from a parent category

If you disassociate a subcategory from a parent category, that subcategory and any subcategories or sellable items contained in it are removed from the catalog, unless the subcategory is already associated with other categories or the top level of the catalog.

For example, if you have a subcategory of Refrigerators contained in the Appliances category, and a subcategory of Mini that is contained in the Refrigerators subcategory, and you decide to disassociate the Mini subcategory, that subcategory and all sellable items contained in it will be removed from the catalog. However, you can associate a subcategory and the sellable items it contains to a different parent category, or the top level catalog.

To disassociate a subcategory from a category:

  1. On the Sitecore Launchpad, in the Commerce section, click Business Tools, and then click Merchandising.

  2. On the Merchandising dashboard, in the Catalogs section, click the name of the relevant catalog.  The Catalog details page opens.

  3. In the Categories section, click the name of the relevant category. The Category details page opens.

  4. In the Categories section, click the relevant subcategory and, from the drop-down list, click Disassociate.

  5. In the Disassociate dialog box, you can either proceed with the disassociation or you can re-parent the subcategory (and sellable items it contains) to a different parent category:

    • To disassociate the subcategory from the category, click the check mark.

    • To associate the subcategory with another parent category, select the Re-parent check box and, in the New Parent Id field, enter the name of the existing parent category, then click the check mark.

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