Creating Product Categories and Subcategories
You may sell a variety of products, which means managing different product categories or catering to clients purchasing various items. Additionally, you might want to set up special promotions (e.g., winter sales) or other promotional activities that require managing specific products in your inventory in a particular way.
Setting up your product categories is integral to structuring your B2B portal’s backend, as it will help you populate your store faster and more effectively. This article will walk you through how you can create product categories and subcategories on your B2B eCommerce platform.
Creating Categories and Subcategories
Step 1. Go to the Product Categories menu on your Admin Dashboard.
Step 2. Click on the “New Category” button.
Step 3. On the “New category” page that opens up, fill in the necessary information, and click “Save.”
Specifically:
| Name | Add the category’s name |
| Parent category | Define the type of category you want to create. If this is a parent category, do not select a parent category from the drop-down menu. If this is a subcategory, choose its parent category it is assigned to from the drop-down menu |
| Description | Add a description for the category/subcategory, if applicable. Remember that you can adjust your text using the available formatting options  |
| Active | Check this option if the category is active. Deselect it to make it inactive |
| Discount | Set the discount percentage that applies to this category/subcategory, if applicable |
| Update discount in subcategories too | Check this box to apply the discount to the category’s subcategories too. Otherwise, leave it unchecked. Remember that this option appears only when you are editing a parent category |
| Default measurement unit | Select the default measurement unit for the category/subcategory, if applicable. See how you can create measurement units |
Step 4. Click the “Advanced” tab to set an image for the category/subcategory, if applicable.
| Private | Check this box to make the category/subcategory private |
| Customers | Type the name(s) of the customer(s) who can access the category/subcategory on your storefront. This field will appear if you check the “Private” option |
| Privacy groups | Enter the name(s) of the privacy groups that can access the category/subcategory, if applicable. This field will appear if you check the “Private” option |
| Exclude customer(s) from accessing category | Add the name(s) of the customer(s) from whom you wish to hide this category or subcategory, if applicable |
| Subcategories inherit access settings | If this is a parent category, check this option to make its subcategories private. Otherwise, leave this option unchecked |
Step 6. Go to the “Extra fields” tab to assign extra fields to the category/subcategory, if applicable.
Step 7. Click “Save” to create the category or subcategory.
Remember that you can create as many categories as you wish. In addition, you can manage them through the Product Categories menu by clicking “Manage categories.” Finally, you can arrange categories and subcategories by dragging and dropping them to the desired position within the category hierarchy.
Once you create categories/subcategories, customers can see them on your storefront.
Importing Product Categories
Importing Product CategoriesYou can import product categories by following these steps:
Step 1. Go to Tools >Import Categories and download the sample file.
Step 2. Open the spreadsheet and fill in the necessary information. Specifically:
| name | Enter the name of the category/subcategory |
| description | Add a description for the category/subcategory, if applicable |
| meta_title | Type in the title tag of the category/subcategory, if applicable. Remember that the meta title is the element in the head section of an HTML document that defines the title of each page of a website |
| meta_description | Add the meta description to describe the category/subcategory, if applicable. This is especially useful if your online B2B store is public, as a meta description an HTML element that provides a summary of a web page |
| is_active | Enter “1” if the category/subcategory is active on your B2B store, otherwise type “0” |
| discount | Insert the discount percentage that applies to this category/subcategory, if applicable |
| parent_id | If this is a subcategory, enter the parent category’s id. You can find this through the URL of the product category page when you access it on your Admin Panel, that is https:/<accountname.b2bwave.com>/admin/categories/<category id> (e.g., https://wholesaledemo.b2bwave.com/admin/categories/44) |
| parent_name | Add the name of the main product category if this is a subcategory. Otherwise, leave blank |
| image_url | Insert the category/subcategory’s image URL |
You can also update privacy settings for categories and subcategories. To do so, add the following columns at the end of your spreadsheet “is_private,” “customer_access,” and “block_list”. Let’s see how to fill them.
| is_private | Type “1” to indicate that the category/subcategory is private. Otherwise, leave the cell empty |
| customer_access | Add the email addresses of the customers whom you want to access the category/subcategory, separating them with a semicolon (;) and leaving no space between them (e.g., demo@b2bwave.com;support@b2bwave.com) |
| privacy_groups | Enter the name(s) of the privacy groups that can access this category/subcategory, separating them with a semicolon (;) and leaving no space between them (e.g., Platinum;Gold) |
| block_list | Insert the email addresses of the customers for whom you want to restrict access to category/subcategory, separating with a semicolon (;) and leaving no space between them (e.g., demo@b2bwave.com;support@b2bwave.com) |
Step 4. Go to Tools >Import Categories, click “Choose File,” and “Import” to create product categories. Remember that your file should be in .xlsx format.
Updating Product Categories and Subcategories in Bulk
You can update categories in bulk by following these steps:
Step 1. Go to Tools >Import Categories and click “Export categories.”
Step 2. Make the necessary changes to the file, then go to Tools >Import Categories. Then, “Choose File” to upload your file, and click “Import.” Remember that your file should be in .xlsx format.
| category_id | Refers to the category’s/subcategory’s identification code as it appears in the category’s/subcategory’s page when you access it on your Admin Panel |
| name |
Corresponds to the name of the category/subcategory |
| description | Refers to the description for the category/subcategory, if applicable |
| meta_title | Corresponds to the meta title tag of the category/subcategory |
| meta_description | Refers to the meta description to describe the category/subcategory, if applicable |
| is_active | Corresponds to the category’s/subcategory’s status (e.g., active, inactive). Remember that here the value “1” reflects an active category, while “0” means that a category is inactive |
| discount | Reflects the discount percentage that applies to this category/subcategory, if applicable |
| parent_id | If this is a subcategory, here you’ll see the parent category’s id. You can find this through the URL of the product category page when you access it on your Admin Panel |
| parent_name | Refers to the name of the main product category if this is a subcategory. Otherwise, leave blank |
| current_image |
Corresponds to the category/subcategory’s image URL |
| is_private | Reflects the category’s/subcategory’s privacy status, if applicable. Here, the value “1” refers to a private category/subcategory, while “0” refers to a category accessible by all customers |
| customer_access | Displays the email addresses of customers who have exclusive access to the specific category/subcategory, if applicable |
| privacy_groups | Corresponds to the privacy groups that can access the specific category/subcategory, if applicable |
| block_list | Presents the email addresses of the customers for whom you’ve restricted access to particular categories/subcategories, if applicable |