Categories

Group products into quick-access buttons for staff in the Client.

A category is a named group of products that appears as a shortcut in the Client. They exist to save keystrokes at the till — bags, gift cards, the coffee menu, whatever your staff reach for constantly.

Categories are a sales convenience, not a classification system. Reporting and campaigns run on product groups and brands, not on these.

What a category holds

Field	What it is
Name	What staff see on the button
Products	The products in the category
Parent	Another category, if you want to nest it
External ID	Your own identifier, for keeping categories in step with another system

Categories can nest

A category can sit inside another one, so you can go from a broad button to a narrower set — Drinks opening onto Coffee, Soft drinks, Beer. Nest only as deep as your staff will actually tap; every level is another press between them and the sale.

Categories versus product groups

These are easy to confuse, and they do different jobs.

	Category	Product group
Purpose	Quick access in the Client	Reporting and campaigns
Required on a product	No	Yes — exactly one
Can a product be in several?	Yes	No
Can they nest?	Yes	No

A product belongs to exactly one product group and that is a structural fact about it. A product can appear in as many categories as is useful, and that is just a shortcut. See Product groups.

What this means for you

• Build categories around what staff sell often, not around how the catalogue is organised. The catalogue is what product groups are for.

• Keep them short. A category with eighty products in it is a scrolling list, not a shortcut.

• Use the external ID if categories are maintained in another system, so they can be matched up rather than duplicated.