Shop Categories

Shop categories divide the shop assortment into a structure, such as Men > Tops > Shirts. It is possible to assign any number of filters to each category. This enables customers to conveniently search for products on a given category page.

Create new shop category

Add a new shop category in the SCAYLE Panel:

Go to Shops > Shop Name > Products > Categories.
Select All Countries in the navigation panel.
Click Add Category.
Assign a Category Name (optionally, you can assign custom data fields).
Include products and product sets.
Add one or more filters to your category.
Click Save. You then receive a confirmation.

A shared category tree is set up for all countries. You then activate/de-activate sections of the tree for specific countries.

Included Products

After adding a category, you define which products belong to the new shop category. Define the products by Product IDs with inclusion or exclusion rules.

To enter multiple products, you can paste lists of product IDs. You can include or exclude a maximum of 15.000 product IDs. If you need to include or exclude more products, use Product Sets to bundle them based on criteria like Attribute groups.

Autoclustering

Autoclustering is the automatic assignment of newly added products to shop categories.

The prerequisite is that criteria have been assigned to a shop category to determine which products are to be included in the assortment of the corresponding category. If new products are supplied to the system (for example, if a retailer delivers new products) these can be automatically transferred to the shop categories by the autoclustering mechanism. However, before new products can go live in the shop, all product information marked as mandatory must be entered.

Once a product meets the required criteria, the indexing is completed and it's available as stock and on the storefront.

Product Sets

Product sets consist of a combination of attribute groups and shop configurations, but without the use of product IDs. You can combine these sets. Products are added to the category as soon as the criteria from one of the product sets fits it.

Inherit Parent Product Sets

When creating a sub-category, the category's product sets will be inherited from its parent by default. You can prevent this by unchecking the box Inherit Parent Product Sets.

*Assign product sets (e.g., brand) to a category*

Product set criteria - products of the brand "Adidas" or "Nike" have been added to the category.

Filters

All filters are based on simple attribute groups (not advanced attribute groups). As soon as you assign a simple attribute group to a filter, the customer can use it on the shop’s front end for filtering the category pages.

Default filter

Default filters are displayed as read only and can only be edited under Storefront > Default Category Filter.

For details see Default Category Filter.

Create a filter

In the SCAYLE Panel, go to Shops > Shop Name > Products > Categories.
Under FILTERS, click +ADD FILTER.
Click SAVE.

Filter order

Change the filter order using drag and drop.

Filter inheritance

Shop categories of a higher level automatically inherit information, such as assigned filters, to the subordinate categories.

The following inheritance rules apply to filters:

New filter configurations always inherit from top to bottom.
Changes at a higher level are also inherited to the lower levels. In this case, filter settings of the higher level overwrite the filter settings of the lower level. The user has the possibility to agree or disagree with this override when making changes to the higher level.
Changes do not affect categories at the same or a higher level.

When creating filters, keep in mind that these category filters will be available to the customer on the shop’s front end. Therefore, they should be structured logically and intuitively.

*Adding filters to Categories: Attribute Groups ("Discount" and "Material") have been assigned as filters to a shop category.*

Manage Shop Categories

Manage shop categories from the Categories page. Navigate using different tabs: General Info, Included Products, and Filters. This page also contains the Category ID (above the category name).

*The Category ID is displayed on the General Info tab*

Category Tree Structure

You can build a shop category tree from any number of shop categories and category levels. The configuration options described above can be applied to each newly created shop category: first, the name is defined, then products and filters are assigned.

Relocate Categories

Use drag and drop to change the hierarchy levels and positions of individual shop categories. Hold down the control pad icon and drag the category to the new position. Subordinate categories will be moved as well, maintaining the hierarchy.

Copy and Paste

You can copy categories from the submenu of the category and then paste them elsewhere. Subordinate categories will also be copied.

Manage Shop Country Categories

Once you've added categories under All Countries, you can activate them in specific shops. You can switch to a specific shop in the dropdown on the upper-left of the navigation panel.

Status and Visibility

Shop categories directly influence a shop's front end. Therefore, when going live with a shop you should always check and adjust the status of new shop categories.

The shop category status has the following groupings:

active/inactive
visible/invisible

The statuses active and inactive determine whether or not a category is live and visible in the shop. Inactive shops cannot be visited by typing in the page URL.

The color of the folder icon indicates the status. The following table summarizes the colors and their meanings:

Status	Color	Description
Active	Red Folder	The shop category is not displayed in the category tree and shop navigation.
Inactive	Green Folder	The shop category is displayed in the category tree and the shop navigation.
Visible	Inherited from active/inactive	Can be directly accessed and visited from the shop's category tree.
Invisible	Inherited from active/inactive	In the shop navigation and can only be accessed through the direct path.

The color of the folder icon indicates the status of a shop category. Here, the shop category "Women" is live and can be visited. However, it is not be possible for users to access the subcategory "Accessories".

You can decide whether customers can visit a shop category using the category tree. This setting can be adjusted with the status visible or invisible, which you can edit on the category status menu (three vertical points).

Shop categories with the status visible can be accessed and visited from the shop's category tree.
Shop categories with the status invisible are not visible in the shop navigation and can only be accessed through the direct path.

Shop managers can use the various status options to create new shop categories that have not yet gone live or are only available to a certain group of customers (for example, as part of a sales promotion). Each new shop category is assigned the status inactive/invisible by default. This ensures that new shop categories only go live in the shop after the user has checked their configuration.

To make a mass status or visibility change, select several shop categories by holding Shift and selecting folders.

*Selecting multiple categories to change their state.*

Enable sale logic

Each shop category can be designated as a sales category. If a category is intended to include only products on sale, it will exclusively feature sale items that meet the specified product criteria.

Enable sale logic for the shop category in the SCAYLE Panel: