The Product Category screen
allows definition of various product categories, in other words, the aisles of
your online store. ezStore123/MerchantComplete supports an unlimited number of categories and
sub-categories and an unlimited number of sub-categorization levels.
We recommend you design your category/sub-category structure very carefully taking into consideration the number of products in each
category
and the total number of products.
A well-structured product category layout provides the following benefits to
your customers:
- Easy and intuitive site navigation.
- Fast-loading screens.
- Uncluttered view of products.
All these elements combined contribute to a better shopping experience and
increased sales. Your e-commerce store is no different than any other
store. Large department stores have long ago mastered organizing their aisles in
a way that is simple and appealing to the customers. Remember, your online store
does not have sales clerks to whom customers can ask where to find a particular
item and the customer attention span is very short on the web. All this points
to the need for a careful category design.
Finding the appropriate compromise will
guarantee the best possible performance of the web site for users with limited
bandwidth.
Design guideline: It takes a typical 56 Kbps modem 5 seconds to fetch and display a
catalog of 30 products and up to 2 seconds per product if displaying full
product details and graphics.
Category architecture:
In order to provide an 'intelligent' navigation, categories are organized in
a hierarchy, in a structure resembling an upside-down tree. Please note that a
category should not have at the same time sub-categories and products associated
with it. If you configure a category with sub-categories then add products to
this category, the display functions will always display the products, therefore
preventing access to the sub-categories when using the 'category drill-down'
display module (DTClassList.asp).
A good mnemonic to remember the category structure is to picture a tree bearing
fruit. The fruit is always at the end of the smallest branch.
| Field Name | Description |
| Category Name |
Name of the product category as you want it displayed to web site users. |
| Apply to Customer Type | Platinum
(B2B) version only: Select the customer type the category will be available to. This unique feature enables merchants to display products in a different category layout for each customer type. For merchant offering private-label products, when a customer type corresponding to each private-label company is created, only a specific company (or group of companies) may access the privately-labeled products. These products will not be available to retail customers or other non-retail customer types. |
| Category Level | Any number of categories and sub-categories may be defined. In order to give an indication of the place of a category in the category hierarchy, specify the level by selecting from the list. You may create new levels by selecting 'New Level'. Levels are numbered accordingly. |
| Sub-Category Of | Specify the
'parent' category of the category currently edited by selecting from the list. The various available categories are listed with indication of their hierarchy level and name. Platinum (B2B) version only: Category listings contain customer type headers as appropriate. |
| Full Description | Detailed description of the product category. This field holds up to 1024 characters and is optional. |
| Thumbnail | Enter the HTTP
path of the thumbnail representing the category in this field. HTTP paths may
be relative to the web site (example: images/category/category1th.jpg) or
absolute (example: http://www.mywebsite.com/ezStore123/images/class/class1th.jpg). This field is optional. Uploading images to the server: Click the 'Load' button to transfer the image files from your computer to the server. Leveraging Internet Explorer's capabilities as an FTP client, the system will automatically connect to your FTP site using your current logon. Password may need to be entered if specified for the FTP site (highly recommended). After logon is successful, you can easily 'drag and drop' the images from from computer to the server. Note: Depending on your IE settings, you may need to click the 'Folders' button on the Internet Explorer tool bar after it is loaded to fully enable the interaction between desktop and FTP. |
| Image | Enter the HTTP
path of the image representing the category in this field. HTTP paths may be
relative to the web site (example: images/category/category1.jpg) or absolute
(example: http://www.mywebsite.com/ezStore123/images/class/class1.jpg). This field is optional. Uploading images to the server: See the instructions provided for uploading thumbnail images. You actually can load both images at the same time if desired. |
| Details Page | Enter the HTTP
path of the custom detail page for the product category. This feature affords web designer great flexibility in providing customized product listing pages. The category listing functions will automatically use any custom-designed 'category details' page if specified or use default system display functions otherwise. This field is optional. Testing your work: Click the 'View' button next to the field to test the actual display of the category listing on the web site. |
| Display Order | Order in which the category should be displayed, alphabetical if left to default value of '0'. |
| Apply Date | The date the
category becomes applicable. Note: 1/1/2000 means Jan 1st 2000 at 0:00:00.
Shipping information can be entered ahead of time and will automatically
apply when scheduled. Important information about apply dates: |
| Expiration Date | The date the
category ceases to be applicable. Note: 1/1/2000 means Jan 1st 2000 at
0:00:00. Important information about expiration dates: |
| Category Tag | Located at the
bottom of the screen, next to the command buttons. The tag is used by VARs
and developers to link directly to a category from a web page. To use the
tag, simply cut and paste into HTML code. Working with the category tags: Two types of tags are provided, according to category: 1. Tag to product listing (if the category has products associated with it): DTProductList.asp: Using this tag lists the products for the current category. 2. Tag to sub-category listing (if the category has sub-categories): Note that the format parameter(s) use(s) default values. Since the back-office is not necessarily located on the same computer as the shopping cart, it may not be possible to load the actual format parameter used in the application (see discussion of 'AppListParams' or AppCatalogParams' in integration manual or 'System->Shopping Cart Setup' help screen). |
| Command Button | Action |
| Save | Saves the changes and exit. |
| Cancel | Exits the screen without saving changes. |