Categories are shared across your project. A product can belong to multiple categories, but one should always be marked as the primary category for platform integrations and reporting.
How Categories Work
Hierarchy
Categories are organized in a parent-child tree:- Parent categories are broad top-level groups (e.g., Electronics, Clothing, Home & Garden).
- Child categories sit underneath a parent and narrow the scope (e.g., Electronics > Laptops).
- Category paths represent the full route from root to leaf (e.g., Electronics > Smartphones > Android Phones) and are used for breadcrumbs, URLs, and platform mappings.
Category Properties
Each category has the following fields:- Name — The display name shown to customers. Keep it clear and jargon-free.
- Path — The technical path used for URLs and integrations (e.g.,
electronics/smartphones). - Position — Sort order within the same hierarchy level. Lower numbers appear first.
- Primary — Whether this category can be used as a product’s primary categorization.
Creating a Category
Open Product Categories
Navigate to Product Categories from the sidebar. You will see a table of existing categories.
Set the parent (optional)
To create a subcategory, select an existing category as the parent. Leave empty for a top-level category.
Assigning Products to Categories
You can assign categories to products in two ways:- From the product detail page — Open a product and select categories in the category field. Mark one as the primary category.
- Using bulk editing — Select multiple products on the Products page and use the bulk edit action to assign or change categories in batch.
Managing Your Category Structure
Reorganizing Categories
You can edit any category to change its name, path, position, or parent. Moving a category under a different parent automatically moves its children along with it.When to Split or Merge
- Split a category when it contains too many products and browsing becomes difficult. For example, split “Clothing” into “Men’s Clothing” and “Women’s Clothing”.
- Merge categories when they have very few products each and the distinction does not help customers. Consolidate “USB Cables” and “HDMI Cables” into “Cables & Adapters” if volumes are low.
Platform Category Mapping
When you sell on multiple platforms, each platform has its own category taxonomy. You map your WISEPIM categories to platform-specific categories in your integration settings so products are listed in the right place on each channel.- Shopify — Maps to Shopify collections
- WooCommerce — Maps to WooCommerce product categories
- Magento — Maps to the Magento category tree
- Lightspeed — Maps to Lightspeed categories
Platform mappings are configured per integration. Go to Settings > Integrations and select your platform to set up category mappings.
Troubleshooting
Products not appearing in a category
- Verify the product is actually assigned to the category on its detail page.
- Check category visibility settings.
- If using filters, make sure the category is not excluded.
Category not showing on a platform
- Confirm the category has a platform mapping in your integration settings.
- Check that the integration sync has run after the mapping was configured.
- Review the platform’s category requirements — some require specific fields or formats.
Hierarchy looks wrong
- Check the Position values. Categories at the same level sort by position number.
- Verify parent assignments are correct — a misplaced parent creates an incorrect tree.
Related
Product Families
Define which attributes each product type requires using families.
Managing Attributes
Create the custom fields that store your product data.
Category Insights
Analyze revenue and performance at the category level.