The commerce category is essential for organizing products on your website and within your NetSuite ERP system.
NetSuite Tutorial | Commerce Categories in SuiteCommerce
A commerce category helps in structuring items on your website and in your NetSuite ERP. Often, categories can contain subcategories, and items can be assigned to any of these classifications. By default, the navigation header accommodates three levels of categories, which automatically update when new variations are added to your website.
Understanding Categories and Subcategories
To dive deeper into the ERP backend, let’s examine a specific category and what it entails. Navigate to Commerce > Content Management > Commerce Categories.
This will display a page listing all current commerce categories.
Here, you'll notice numerous commerce categories, with some not linked to the website catalog we're showcasing in this guide. We’ll choose the Electronics category as an example. Clicking Edit on the Electronics category reveals the linked subcategories assigned to it.
Furthermore, the items belonging to this category can also be viewed on the website. If a commerce category lacks items assigned to its associated subcategories, this entire section won’t be shown. Instead, only links to the commerce subcategories will appear.
Category Thumbnail Images
In SuiteCommerce, sub-category thumbnail images can be shown natively on the Product Listing Pages (PLPs) of their parent category.
If you look at the subcategories under laptops and tablets, you will see that no image is initially assigned.
Let’s rectify this by adding a 500PX by 500PX image. Click Edit on this commerce subcategory, select the preferred image from the dropdown in the thumbnail image field, and press Save.
Note: Make sure to upload an image to the file cabinet ahead of time, using the same location as you would for an item image. (Documents > Files > File Cabinet and then Website Hosting Files > Live Hosting Files)
Next, perform a CTRL+Shift+R and check the Electronics category PLP on the website. Now, the laptops and tablets subcategory should display the newly added image.
As you continue adding thumbnails, they will appear above the category links, enhancing the visual navigation for users. These images allow customers to easily click on attractive "tiles" to access the next page.
Commerce Category Page Banners
Each category features two image options: a page banner image for the category’s PLP and a thumbnail image for the parent category PLP. For example, you could assign a seasonal promotional image as the banner for your Electronics category, ensuring it shows as a full-width banner on the Electronics PLP. Also present on this PLP is the thumbnail image we've just added for the laptops and tablets subcategory.
We won’t go into the detailed process of adding the page banner image in this written tutorial, as it follows the same steps as incorporating the thumbnail image. Instead, you will use the Page Banner field on the Commerce Category rather than the thumbnail image field. Your designated banner will then appear on that particular commerce category's PLP.
For a comprehensive guide on adding images to commerce categories, check out our SuiteCommerce Category Images tutorial!
Essential Category Settings & Information
For every Commerce Category, it’s crucial to have an appropriate descriptive Name, Description, and Page Title. For this tutorial, we’ll fill these fields with some placeholder text along with other key fields on the main tab of the commerce category record.
Incorporating Items into Categories
Name - This reflects how the category Name is displayed across your website and in site navigation.
Description - This outlines the commerce category.
Page Title - The page title is visible in the web browser tab. Without a custom page title, the category name will serve as the default.
URL Fragment - Customize the URL here. If you modify the URL after it’s live, remember to create a redirect.
Meta Description - This is what appears when Google lists the category page in search results.
Start/End Dates - These fields control the visibility of the commerce category on your site. It’s handy for sale categories to determine their display timing.
Display in Website - Similar to item records, toggle whether this category appears on the website and in its navigation.
Now, let's click Edit and discuss the process of adding items to the electronics category. As mentioned in our in-depth tutorial on item data management, you can't directly select the commerce category from the item record. Always navigate to the commerce category unless you are handling bulk additions of categories and items.
However, one of our solutions allows the selection of individual commerce categories straight from the item record. If you’re curious about this solution, we can share more details about how it works; it’s a separate add-on, not a native option in NetSuite.
For demonstration purposes, we’ll add a sample item, the XLR precision circular saw, to the electronics category. This can be done from the dropdown menu at the bottom of the list, which allows you to click and drag it higher up.
Item Arrangement
Even though we moved this item to the second slot on the category page, this does not guarantee it will appear second on that commerce category PLP. To learn how to manage item display order on your website, refer to our tutorial on Item Sorting in SuiteCommerce.
Bulk Item Assignments to Commerce Categories
If you need to assign a multitude of items across various commerce categories in bulk, similar to a CSV import for item records during the initial import, a CSV import of the commerce category records is also necessary.
Curious about importing Commerce Category data? Check out our tutorial on importing Commerce Categories and Inventory Items via CSV upload.
Configuring Category Navigation
Finally, let’s examine navigation. The category links are dynamically added to the header navigation based on their sequence. Navigate to Commerce > Websites > Configuration and select your website.
Once the website configuration record opens, go to Layout > Navigate, which presents the buttons appearing in your website header navigation.
Creating a commerce category automatically adds it to the navigation bar at the designated placeholder. You can adjust the order of other buttons to display before or after this category placeholder. For example, as seen in the previous screenshot, our saw product PDP is added as a navigation button.
The configuration accommodates the shop and the saw product, with various commerce categories populating the navigation bar dynamically, showing Level 1 commerce categories set for display alongside their subcategories in a dropdown menu.
That wraps up this guide! Hopefully, this article assists you in understanding NetSuite and its capabilities for enhancing your business!
