Store Categories Question February 2024 - Part 2

[TAngelone]

I have looked at how other shopkeepers name and arrange their respective store categories. However I still have questions regarding categories and category tree structure. 

Can or should one section their store off like this? The following are two totally unrelated sets of categories that have their own sections with in  the same store? Can each set of categories have the same sets of products. Can Solid One Shade Leggings and Patriotic 4th of July Leggings exist in the same store but be housed under their own category tree? 

Main Category - Solid One Shade Fashion 

   Subcategories  - Solid One Shade Leggings

                              - Solid One Shade Bags 

                              - Solid One Shade Tank Tops

                             - Solid One Shade Socks 

                           

  Main Category -  Solid One Shade Electronics 

                              - Solid One Shade Cases 

                              - Solid One Shade Tech Skins 

Main Category - Solid One Shade Garden and Yard 

                          -  Solid One Shade Area Rugs 

                          - Solid One Shade Flags 

                          - Solid One Shade Yard Signs 

   Main Category - Patriotic 4th of July  

   Subcategories  - Patriotic 4th of July Leggings

                              - Patriotic 4th of July Bags 

                              - Patriotic 4th of July Tank Tops

                             - Patriotic 4th of July Socks 

                           

  Main Category -  Patriotic 4th of July  Electronics 

                              - Patriotic 4th of July  Cases 

                              - Patriotic 4th of July  Tech Skins

Main Category - Patriotic 4th of July Garden and Yard 

                          - Patriotic 4th of July Area Rugs 

                          - Patriotic 4th of July House Flags 

                          - Patriotic 4th of July Yard Signs 

                       

Can two totally unrelated sets of categories have the same product types nested beneath them in the same store? Meaning can or should we create categories that have their own sets of products based upon design? 

Or should categories be more general and look something like this.

Main Category - Fashion 

                           - One Shade

                          - Patriotic 4th of July 

Main Category - Electronics 

                             - One Shade 

                             - Patriotic 4th of July 

Main Category - Garden and Yard 

                            - One Shade 

                           - Patriotic 4th of July 

Any and all input or suggestions is needed and appreciated. 

Categories and collections can determine the success or failure of a Zazzle shop. 

That stated again I thank anyone in advance who can help myself and others make an informed choice about how we name and arrange our store categories. 

I hope my questions don’t seem trite or vague. 

Thanks again. Please send screenshots if possible. 

This will help others as well as myself. 

          

                         

                            

[Barbara_at_Array_Sto]

Everyone has their own way of doing things, so whatever works for you but, no, sorry it’s not possible to have the same product listed under more than one category. Personally, I’ve made my categories fairly generic so I can limit the number of categories needed. If I tried to have a category for every design style I made it would be an endless list .. lol. Since the department menu that Zazzle provides already sorts by product type, I chose to use design style for my category groupings. It works for me but I don’t know whether it’s the best way for customers to find what they’re looking for. I’m not sure how many people actually search through our stores in that way anyway, I think most people depend on the MP search.

[GagCartoonist]

For apparel 

I’d have it sorted by color.

Customers can mix and match and they may come for socks and instead buy leggings etc. Or both!

So, apparel by color, pattern type ( tartan/abstract/nature/etc.) and also add a category for ‘customizable’ (ie you’ve added a template).

Always try to think about how your categories can work for upsell purposes!

[GagCartoonist]

I’ve created a Guide for this HERE

[MadjackGG]

I typically categorize by product. If I need to categorize by design content (e.g. towels: pictorial, pattern, solid color), then I make those subcategories to the product category. I find it’s always best to come at from the pov of the customer - how they are most likely to browse should inform your categorization choices - although admittedly, that’s not always obvious.

[TAngelone]

I would like to thank all of you for your responses thus far. Again they are needed and appreciated. I need to make sure that I am clear on one point regarding our store categories. This is extremely important. 

*Baylee stated that it is NOT possible for the same product to be listed under more than one category. 

Does this mean that products or product types regardless of style and colour cannot be listed or housed underneath their own main and subcategories? 

Meaning we are not allowed to have leggings, bags and phone cases with the same or similar theme style and colour listed under their own separate categories and subcategories?

I want to make sure that I am clear on this. 

So if one has Patriotic Leggings for sale but also has Solid Pink Leggings they can’t be listed or stored underneath their own subcategories? Like this…

MAIN CATEGORY:  FASHION -

SUBCATEGORY: Patriotic 4th of July

PRODUCT: Patriotic Leggings 

PRODUCT:  Patriotic Bags 

PRODUCT: Patriotic Phone Cases 

SUBCATEGORY: Solid Color 

PRODUCT: Solid Pink Leggings 

PRODUCT:  Solid Pink Bags 

PRODUCT: Solid Pink Phone Cases 

We are not allowed to list products as I just illustrated above? 

Thanks again for all of your input, suggestions and feedback. They are needed and appreciated. 

I am sorry if my my questions seem trite. 

[TAngelone]

Baylee stated that it is NOT possible for the same product to be listed under more than one category. Baylee if you read this could you please elaborate? I am still confused. Same product meaning the actual product like a pair of leggings or a t-shirt? Sorry I am obviously not grasping this thanks. 

[Barbara_at_Array_Sto]

Hi @TAngelone  . I meant the same specific product; for instance you can’t select your tshirt with a blue butterfly design and place it in your ‘butterfly’ category and then select the same tshirt and also place it in your ‘blue’ category’. When I used the term ‘product’ in this instance I was referring to a specific item, not a ‘product line’ (like leggings or tshirts). Hope that clarifies things a bit.

[TAngelone]

Baylee - Thanks. I was just about to reply to you. OK. Got it! Yes I have some clarity. Sorry about that.  

And yes I am aware of the fact that one cannot obviously list the same product with the same design in multiple categories. Collections one can but categories one cannot. 

Thanks again. 

[TAngelone]

Cheers Leah. Sorry I have been so burnt out and bogged down. Great to see you here on the forum. Thanks again. 

[ColsCreations]

It might help to think of store categories as physical filing cabinets.
Sub-categories are the drawers, and individual products are the contents within the drawers.

If you’re filing away a paper record in the real world, you have to choose one drawer for it, it can’t possibly be in more than one physical location. Likewise on Zazzle. Your products can only be assigned to one category.

I believe that it is true that most shoppers are not going to be wandering around your store. They’re going to happen on your product in the MP as they’re browsing/searching Zazzle in general. In this case I am an advocate of devising a category structure in whatever way best helps you the store owner to stay organized. In such cases, only you the store owner knows how your mind works; what makes sense to you might make zero sense to someone else.

On the other hand, there are stores set-up for a very specific target market where the Creator plans to heavily self-promote their own store to that market. [“check out my store for everything of X theme you may need…”]  In these cases, organizing for the shopper, not yourself, is of utmost importance. I feel from your posts that you fall into this category. So my advice is,

take a step back and approach your room full of filing cabinets as someone else. Pretend you have no idea what your shop offers or where you have it on the shelf; you’re just a random customer who is wanting a primarily pink iPhone case. Would you first look in

Fashion –> Solid Color –> Phone Cases
or
Electronics –> Phone Cases –> iPhone –> Pink

These are just random made-up examples but the point is, if you are planning on directing people to your store and having them navigate it (rather than just landing on your products from keyword searching), then you need to set it up in a way that gives them the most direct and logical route to finding what they’re looking for. What you can do takes a backseat to what you should do. In other words, we have the ability to create endless categories and subcategories based on product type or design or use-cases etc but the most important thing is, what’s going to make it easiest for the shopper?

For me, I am inherently driven to over-organize & classify everything. This was a real problem when I started my Zazzling so I forced myself to just make very broad Categories loosely based on product type [“Things to Wear” or “Linen Closet” for example]. If people want to be more specific than that, that’s what the actual Zazzle cat filters are for. Since they can already filter down by specific product type using the Zazzle structure, I feel like using our self-made categories to duplicate that is redundant. So since I am in the former group (relies on marketplace searching rather than direct self-promoting of store) I made categories for broad product types as that works for me and also gives the random person who might end up in my store a general sense of where things might be, and made Collections for specific design themes.

Your questions about categories are good ones but they are very subjective; there is no right/wrong way, what works for one may not work for another. It’s hard deciding on an over-all shop structure. I actually think it may be the hardest thing when starting out here; it’s so easy to get so lost in structuring that actually getting your products out there ends up perpetually delayed until everything is just right. Believe me, I get it!  But at some point you have to make a decision about what will work best for your needs, stick to it, and just get your products out there.

[Barbara_at_Array_Sto]

Thanks for providing such a great explanation of how categories work @ColsCreations  … I think I’ll book mark this page to use when other people are trying to figure out what to do.