from scratch

[mrotb]

hi!

I am starting from scratch with our website and need some explanations please!

Our setup is as follows:
- We are resellers of hundereds of different brands of products
- Each brand has a list of products
(Jams, Olive Oils, Sweets etc...)
- We have a website but are recreating it using zen-cart

i would like to know:
a) What is the difference between the Product types and Catagories as it applies to us (how i understand it so far is that the Catagory is the Brand and the Product type is "Jams" or "Olive Oils" etc?) what confuses me then is that under each product i can select the product manufacturer?! help?
b) I have added several products as examples but have no categories setup and as a result am getting the following message "WARNING: You have Products in the Top Level Category. This will cause pricing to not work properly in the Catalog. Products found: 7", do i need to delete the examples and start by entering the catagories first then the product types? (if that is the case can i backup these products as i need to use them as examples on how to setup each product)
c) can i import the products from our previous website under the setup i create in zen cart? if i can how do i do this? if i cant does that mean entering each product in individually?

sorry this is so long i am just trying to understand it all!!

x

[gjh42]

a) In most cases, you will only be using the Product-General product type. If you sell books or cds, you would want to use Product-Book or Product-Music for those. Manufacturer is the brand, usually.
Categories will be Fruit, Bread, Oils, etc., and Oils will have subcategories like Olive Oil, Peanut Oil, etc. and individual sizes/brands/flavors as products under Olive Oil.

b) You need to delete all the products so you can start building categories. You can save the descriptions and whatever else you have, in whatever place or way works for you.

c) To import products, you can use EasyPopulate. There are many threads here talking about how to use it.

[mrotb]

thanks glen

with regard to the product type, am i correct in assuming these cant be changed? so i would have all of the products under product type "general" what if i would like to have the type separated between food, non-food, and gift hampers?

[afo]

You can set up several categories and link the products between them, so you could have a category Jam and then have the Jam products linked to a category called Food. I'm not sure that's what you're looking for, but that's a possible way to do it.

[mrotb]

so for example i woul dhave:
product type: general
categories: food/non food/gift hampers
sub-categors: jams, oils, biscuits etc.
extended sub-category: different types of jams and oils and biscuits etc.

is that how it works?

also am i limited to the amount of categories or sub-categories i can have?

p.s sorry again i am just trying to get my head around all this before i start...first time zenner here...

[schoolboy]

Take a look at a "grocery store" currently with about 600 products, I manage on behalf of a client...

www.sa-shop.co.uk

[schoolboy]

so for example i woul dhave:
product type: general
categories: food/non food/gift hampers
sub-categors: jams, oils, biscuits etc.
extended sub-category: different types of jams and oils and biscuits etc.

is that how it works?

also am i limited to the amount of categories or sub-categories i can have?

p.s sorry again i am just trying to get my head around all this before i start...first time zenner here...

Just to continue from my post above...

The product search feature in zencart is excellent, and customers use it extensively on the sa-shop. (we track searches, and there are a LOT of them). The point is, customers will use the search (and the manufacturer dropdowns) to get to the desired product quickly.

We DO NOT therefore have an extensive "category tree" - research shows that webshoppers HATE having to drill down through several layers before they reach their product.

Generally, customers know what they are after, and if you name your PRIMARY category sensibly, and then follow with JUST ONE level of sub-category, they will rather scroll through a list of products than have to keep clicking on sub-category after sub-category.

A well-positioned SEARCH box is always appreciated - on our site we have TWO search boxes: one in the sidebar and one in the header.

In some situations, you could probably have TWO sub-category layers, but I would advise not to drill down further than this.

Take a look at some of the big commercial retailers (Tesco, Sainsbury's, Waitrose) who have between 60,000 and 100,000 lines. They don't take the sub-categories down much further than two (sometimes three) levels.