Is this a smart efficient work-flow? How would you tweak it?

[1WhoConquers]

1. Come up with some art that has a theme attached.

2. Set up a dozen products with the same art, with titles and descriptions appropriate and varying across the theme. All product CATEGORIES are "New Product" at this point.

3. Create a new collection according to that theme, and assign the products.

Things I've noticed...

A. There's a time lag before the collection, and more importantly the PRODUCTS in the collection, become visible. If I try to share the collection before it's populated, it will show as an empty collection. Not good.

B. As I slowly try to move products from the "New Product" category into their own product type, it's so slow that it's not noticeable. Either that, or I've got a BUG on my end. Because it's been DAYS and my Throw Pillow and Coffee Mug (and so on) categories are still coming up empty DAYS after I've moved the products there.

Is there a smarter way to do things? Is "New Products" not a viable way to get attention for new items? Would it be better to categorize them properly from the get-go, and use something like Featured Product to get eyes on the newer stuff?

Feedback appreciated!

[Sara_H · Accepted solution]

@1WhoConquers I would create categories first with a cover image and place your products in it and let indexing take a week or so to set it up. 

 Meanwhile keep creating, adding to your categories/collections and wait patiently for your store front to catch up 

You can promote individual products as soon as you create them and with a little patience, promote your collections once they have indexed with new products in (expect a week)

Everything takes time and nothing is immediate. If you think how much the website gets hammered with new creators/stores/collections/products - x 100000  - we all need a little patience

So yes - get your store set up how you like from the get-go. I personally wouldn't bother with Featured Products - add a featured collection on your store front instead (eg - whatever the next special event is i.e Father's Day - June then swap it out for the next)