Step 2) Create an eCommerce Category Structure

Step 2) Create an eCommerce Category Structure

To show you how to setup successful ecommerce categories for CP-Commerce. We recommend that you start with a small group of your best‐selling items, and then continue to add more items later. The sooner your store is up and running, the sooner you can begin generating sales!

PLANNING YOUR CATEGORIES

The structure and names of the ecommerce categories that you create now will actually form the navigation of your CP-Commerce store. Although these ecommerce categories come directly from NCR Counterpoint, please note that they are not the same as your inventory categories in NCR Counterpoint!

Similar to the organization of a physical store, the structural goal for your online store is to make it easy for your customers to find and purchase items. Your customers already think of your merchandise in terms of departments, sections, vendors, etc., or in ways that your physical stores are arranged. You can define an unlimited number of ecommerce categories and subcategories and you can list a single item in as many categories as you want.

The fewer clicks it takes to get to your merchandise, the better! In other words, the fewer category levels of merchandise in your online store, the quicker your customers can get to the items they want to buy. We recommend no more than two or three category levels!

TIPS FOR CREATING CATEGORIES


Online sales frequently fail because shoppers cannot find the products that they want to buy. It’s important to have a well‐planned category structure:

  • Think about departments in your store. Create category names that are meaningful to shoppers.
  • Use natural language in category names. Incorporate your target keywords into your category names.
  • Resist using all UPPER CASE letters and symbols such as&.
  • To facilitate organic search engine optimization (SEO), name your product categories and sub‐categories using high‐volume, multi‐keyword search phrases. Similarly, be sure to include all your best categories as top‐level categories. Because top‐level categories display on every page on your site, search engines are more likely to find them.
  • Add items to multiple categories to give shoppers multiple ways to find items in your store, for example:


Saving Space in the Navigation

Some stores have a larger number of links in the navigation and need more space.

You can setup a "Products" category, then create all subcategories under it.


CATEGORY WORKSHEET

It’s a good idea to plan your category structure on paper. You can use as many layers as you want, but we recommend no more than three levels. Complete a similar worksheet for each Category level 1.


Category level 1: Identify the top‐level categories (e.g., Sporting Goods).
  • Category level 2:For each top‐level category, identify appropriate subcategories (e.g., Sports Equipment and Sports Apparel).
  • Category level 3:For each subcategory, identify any additional subdivisions.



Category level 1: __________________________________________________________________________

  • Category level 2: _____________________________________________________________________
  • Category level 3:__________________________________________________________________
  • Category level 3:__________________________________________________________________
  • Category level 3:__________________________________________________________________
  • Category level 3:__________________________________________________________________
  • Category level 3:__________________________________________________________________
  • Category level 2: ______________________________________________________________________
  • Category level 3:________________________________________________________________
  • Category level 3:________________________________________________________________
  • Category level 3:________________________________________________________________
  • Category level 3:________________________________________________________________
  • Category level 3:________________________________________________________________
  • Category level 2: ______________________________________________________________________
  • Category level 3:________________________________________________________________
  • Category level 3:________________________________________________________________
  • Category level 3:________________________________________________________________
  • Category level 3:________________________________________________________________
  • Category level 3:________________________________________________________________
  • Category level 2: ______________________________________________________________________
  • Category level 3:________________________________________________________________
  • Category level 3:________________________________________________________________
  • Category level 3:________________________________________________________________
  • Category level 3:________________________________________________________________
  • Category level 3:________________________________________________________________


CHECKLIST

CounterPoint
1. Plan your category structure on paper using the Category Worksheet.
2. Add ecommerce categories inSetup / Ecommerce / Categories.



ADDING ECOMMERCE CATEGORIES


CounterPoint: Setup / Ecommerce / Categories

SelectSetup / Ecommerce / Categoriesand use the Add category editor to add ecommerce categories and subcategories. You can also change category names, delete categories, assign images and descriptions to each category,and add items to each category. The Move up and Move down buttons will adjust the category order. These changes wil also pass on to CP-Commerce.

 The ecommerce categories defined here areNOTdirectly related to your CounterPoint item categories.


You can display an item in an unlimited number of categories.
Moving the categories up or down, will change the display order in CP-Commerce.
Learn more about adding items to each ecommerce category in Ecommerce Items.

To print a list of all the categories defined so far, selectSetup / Ecommerce / Reports / Categories.


You can also print any items that have not been assigned to any ecommerce categories.

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