Modules/Shop/Items

From Business Data Engine

Products are one of the most complex data objects in the entire system.

Since October 2019, products can be multi-dimensional (we recommend no more than 10 dimensions) which allows for variants based on colour, size, etc. This means that products can be children of other products.

We recommend always keeping your heirarchy as simple as possible (maximum 2 dimensions) to avoid confusing customers.

Editing items

The item editor is quite complex - so each field is documented.

  • Name - The full name of the product. This is used in shopping carts, on orders, and any paperwork generated.
  • Short name - Currently only used by the Point of Sale system - displays on the point of sale buttons on the dashboard.
  • Variation name - Name of this item when used as a variation of a product (e.g. Black, or Large).
  • Description - Full description of the product. Only needs to be filled out for the top level of products (Variations/Dimensions never have their description displayed).
  • Categories - Which categories should this product appear in. Note that, by default, products appear in the categories they are a member of and the parent categories.
  • Enabled - Should this product be displayed on the site, be searchable on the site, etc.
  • Physical product - Is the product a physical product? This will affect how the product is handled. If checked stock levels are enforced and if supply chain is enabled, shipments must be created for orders.
  • Allow backorders - For physical products, allow back orders when the item is out of stock.
  • Weight - The weight of the item. This is used to calculate shipping prices.
  • Manufacturer - Who manufacturered the item? This will be included in the Google Shopping feeds if enabled.
  • Manufacturer Part Code - The part code of the item at the manufacturer.
  • Children Variant Name - The name to use for the next level of items (for example if the next level had Black/Blue/Red/etc, this would be Colour).

Images can be added using the image editor. Each image can be enabled/disabled as needed. One image is always used as the default image (which shows in search results etc). To change this, click "Set as product thumbnail" next to the image you want to be the thumbnail.

Variants are touched on above and you can add variants to a product by creating the variant, then adding it to the parent item. For example if you had a product, "Men's Jeans", you would create "Men's Jeans", "Men's Jeans - Small", "Men's Jeans - Medium", "Men's Jeans - Large", etc. Then add the sized items as variants to the "Men's Jeans" products. You can use the pID of products as a search term in the box, which makes finding the correct product easier.