Products
This page is where you will populate the catalog with the products you are planning to sell. This section has multiple pages that serve different purposes.
The first page you will see is a list of products that are already in your catalog (or none if you have just started). There are 5 columns in the table. But before we explain what they are, notice the View by Category, by Subcategory, and Sort by options. Use these to view only certain products that are in a specific category or subcategory. You can also sort by product's name or product's ID.
Subcategory - This is the subcategory to which the product belongs to.
Product - This is the name of the product. Notice the hyperlink and the green or red dot next to it. Clicking on the link will take to a preview of the product (how it will look like in your catalog). A green dot indicates that the product has an image associated with it and is on the server. A red dot indicates that the product does not have an image associated with it or the associated image is not on the server.
Product Active - This column indicates if the product is active in your catalog. A "Yes" indicates that the product is visible to your customers.
Action - This column indicates the actions that are available. There are two: edit and delete. When editing, you can change all the attributes of the product. Be very careful when deleting a product! Make sure that is really what you want to do.
The last row is where you will insert a new product:
Performing the steps above for a new product entry will take you to another page. This is where you will enter the rest of the product's attributes. They are described below:
Product Name - You are given the option to change it here in case you made a spelling error. Do not include manufacturer's name in the product name.
Manufacturer - A list of manufacturers to select from for this product.
Subcategories - A list of subcategories to select from for this product. You can have the product displayed under more than one subcategory.
Description - This is where you enter the product's description, specifications, etc.. You can be as brief or verbose as you wish. It is advantageous to have sufficient information on your web site about the product so that customers feel they know enough about the product to make a purchasing decision. You can insert any of the HTML tags that can reside inside the BODY tags such as bold, underline, tables, lists, etc. If you use any special symbols, be sure to use the HTML equivalent.
Model - This is the model number of the product. This is assigned by the manufacturer of the product.
SKU - SKU (stock keeping unit, sometimes spelled "Sku") is an identification, usually alphanumeric, of a particular product that allows it to be tracked for inventory purposes. Typically, an SKU (pronounced with the individual letters or as SKYEW) is associated with any purchasable item in a store or catalog. For example, a woman's blouse of a particular style and size might have an SKU of "3726-8," meaning "Style 3726, size 8." The SKU identification for a product is not visible to a customer. An SKU is not the same as a product model number from a manufacturer, although the model number could form all or part of the SKU. The SKU is established by the merchant.
There are two SKU entries, an Internal and an External. The External SKU is optional and not necessary if you use an Internal SKU which may or may not be required if you keep inventory for this storefront. Choose a system of assigning SKU numbers that make sense and is easy for you to understand.
Price - Price of the product. You can use the suggested retail price and then enter a new "Specials" price on the Specials page. Regardless, choose this value wisely.
Shipping Weight - Enter this if it is known. If it is not, make a good estimate. It is needed to calculate the total shipping weight of the order and get a shipping quote from UPS and/or FedEx (done automatically).
Product Active - This will enable (Y) or disable (N) the visibility of the product in your catalog. It begins as disabled by default. Once you are done inserting a new product and are satisfied that the data such as price is correct, then enable it by setting it to "Y". This feature is designed to avoid having your customers seeing a work in progress.
Image - Images are optional but highly recommended. All images should be in jpeg, gif, tif, or bmp format. The storefront will convert all images to the jpeg format if they are not in either gif or jpeg format. The image should be cropped first to remove all unwanted surroundings. Images are automatically resized if the width of the image is larger than specified in the "Images" page of the "Configuration" section.
Web Page - You can enter the URL of the product here without the "http://". However, the displaying of this link in the catalog is optional and controlled from the "Miscellaneous" page in the Configuration section.
Now you have two choices: preview and cancel. The preview button will display an actual preview of how the product information will look like in the catalog to your customers . You must click on the preview button if you wish to continue inserting the new product. The cancel button will take you back to the product list and any data that you have just entered will be lost.
In the preview screen, if all the data looks to your satisfaction, then clicking the insert button will update the catalog with your new product. Clicking on the back button will take to the previous screen to continue editing the product attributes.
If the product is already in the catalog and you just want
to edit some details, then from the Products page, you would
click the edit button of the product you wish to edit. This
will take you to the attributes of the product for editing. But at the bottom
of the page, there are two additional options, copy and move.
With these two buttons, one can copy or move a product to another subcategory.