Category Hierarchy Sugestions

[CMisk]

Does anyone have any ideas on which is better for the category hierarchy? If you have the same type of items from different manufacturers in the same parent category, is it better to subcategory them by item type then a sub-subcategory by manufacturer or vice-versa, manufacturer then item type? Just not sure how the search feature works in a square website. Thank you!

[frances_a]

Hello @CMisk 👋

Excited to see this is your first post here in the Community, welcome! 

I'll be tagging some experts here so they can share their experience categorizing their items in their Square Online sites. 

@keicollective, @TCSlaguna, @rtfulk. 

Thank you ✨

[CMisk]

Thank you Frances

[TCSlaguna]

@CMisk, It really depends on your needs. You may want it one way for reporting, or a different way for how it looks on the website. 

In regards to how things look on a Square Online website, you can check out our Home Decor category. 

I would love to know what you settle on, and please share your site when it is up. 

I'm wondering if @Candlestore has an input on categories. 

[CMisk]

Thank you TCSlaguna, you have some cool stuff. I will definitely be checking out your shop more in depth. Are all of your items authentic and made by the individual ethnic groups? I will share my shop once I get it up and running.

[Candlestore]

@CMisk ;

The thing you need to look at is thinking how a Customer will look for your Item on your website.  Are they looking for items because of a Brand or Manufacturer or are they looking for the Item and do not care who makes it with in reason.

For example On my website I sell my candle by Category of Size candle, My reports are by size also.  Now on my POS through square I am reorganizing my Catalog to be by Manufacturer/Sub category of Items.  We make candles and Inscent Items.  

On my Website Shows Jar Candles then sub Category by Size or style.  For my Pos I am trying to set it up Pocono Candle - Candles - The Scent as an Item with Variations of 8oz Jar, 16oz Jar T-lights, Votives, Pillars etc.  This way if a Barcode is unreadable at the POS, I do not have to remember the vendor, or what category it is in then Search and Search etc.  I can type in the Scent and then have a smaller list to search for the correct Variation or size.

Every Business will look at this differently, What will make it easiest for you to find or update an item?  Is the way you would want your POS catalog setup.   What is easiest for Customers to look up is the way you would setup your website.  When you create an Item you can assign a Vendor.  By doing that you can pull up a Vendor report which is completely different from seeing a Reporting Category Report.  Here again Is Reporting Category which you can define for each Item the way you will see this item in a Report.  Are your reports Based on The item or Category of item being Sold.  Do I want to know how may 28oz candles are sold of do I want to know Lilac Scented Candles Sell the best?  

Your Parent Category in Square does not have to be your Reporting category but by having Parent Categories and Child Categories it might be easier to find a certain Item.  Example   :

Scented Candles - Parent Category

 Children are :

Jar

Free Standing

T-Lights

Votives

Then Child of Jar :

8oz

16oz

28oz

30oz 3 wick

34oz 3 wick

Half Gallon

Gallon

Pumpkin Style

Child of Free Standing:

2x3

2x6

3x3

3x6

3x9

....

6x9

On my web site people choose the Size Candle the select a Scent, in store we choose Scent then the Size.  The SKU or GTIN assigns the item for the sale which is why these need to be unique for an online sale.  For in-store I use the Same GTIN for my Pumpkin Jars and then choose the Scent to add if a customer wants an unusally Scented pumpkin.

Like I said I am redoing my POS Catalog in Square as I do not use Square for my website.  I had my site before Joing Square so I left it there.

Basically you need to look at what you and your Customers would want to look for for the Item.  I suggest keeping it the way Customers would search for the Item as then Your Staff can adjust to make a sale, but your customers online may get frustrated and shop somewhere else for the item.

[CMisk]

Thank you Keith, that is great information. After discussing this with some people I know locally they pretty much said the same thing about taking into consideration how the customer will be searching. Searching by item is how I search when looking for something most of the time if i don't care or know which brand to look for. I will check out your website. My wife loves candles.

[Donnie-M]

@CMisk www.orderupcafe.com

Check that out and you can see how I use categories to organize the navigation on the website.  I use that navigation on the point of sale too.  The thing is now, you can have say a t-shirt in  "Red Shirts" and a category "Short Sleeve Shirts" and a category "Fruit of the Loom Clothing" and how you nest these categories can change your whole navigation.

You can also use attributes.  

So I recommend a little unorthodox approach.  Decide how you want it to look on your website, and work backwards.  It may make it a little different on the back end, but with reporting categories it is not bad.  And then you just use the point of sale also the same way.  It builds an intuitive way to look at your catalog through the eyes of a customer.  So when you make changes, it tends to make the flow much better.

[CMisk]

Hello Donnie, thank you for the reply and information. It's all very informative and helpful in making my decision.