Products are the most important entity of any ecommerce store. Hence, it is essential to learn as how to manage store’s product inventory using WhatACart administration side. Before adding the product in the store, make sure that all the necessary information about the product is already available. The more detailed information entered into WhatACart about a specific product, the more informed the customer will be about that particular product when purchasing it from the store.
Products List
The products list can be accessed by clicking Catalog >> Products in the side navigation. Each row in the list renders the following key information
- Image
- Name
- Model
- Quantity
- Price
- Status – If status is inactive, the product would not be displayed in the front end.
The row also contains links to actions which are as follows
- View
- Update
- Delete
- Manage Attributes
- Manage Options
- Manage Reward Points
The user can perform filtering on the products by entering the values in the filter fields displayed below the header of columns and pressing “Tab” or “Enter”.
Remove Default Products
The user would like to remove the default products that would be added to the store on installation and add new products. To delete the products, simply select the products to be deleted and click on Bulk Delete button. A confirm pop up would be displayed which would ask user to confirm the delete. Once user confirm it, the products and the associated information would be deleted from the system.
Create New Product
The user can navigate to the create product screen by clicking on Create Button on list page.
Hence the data for the product is divided into seven different tabs
General
The tab consist of the following fields
- Name
- Alias
- Type – There are two types of products, Default and Downloadable. If the user select Downloadable, the fields related to it are displayed in the “Related” tab
- Description
- Meta Keywords
- Meta Description
- Tags – Tags associated to the product. In the front end, if the customer search for the tags, the associated products would be displayed
Data
The data tab includes all the criteria that will be included on the product detail page in the store front for customers to view
- Status – The status could be “Active” or “Inactive”. If it is Inactive, it would not be rendered in the store front
- Tax Class – Tax class associated to the product. By default, “taxable goods” is there. If there is no tax class associated to the product, the product price in the store front would be free from tax.
- Image – Main image for the product
- Minimum Quantity– The minimum amount of product a customer must reach so that it could be added to the shopping cart.
- Stock Status – The availability status of the product in the stock. By default “In Stock” and “Out of Stock” values are available
- Subtract Stock – If the user select “Yes” the quantity of the product would reduce on purchase of the product in front end. (Ex: If there are 10 laptops, and a customer buys 2 laptops, the quantity would change to 8).
- Requires Shipping – If the product is a physical product that this would be “Yes”. If it is a downloadable product, this would be “No”. Thus shipping cost for the downloadable product would be 0.
- Location – Place where the product is located. It would be helpful where there are many locations where same product is stored.
- Date Available – The date from which product would be available for purchase in the front end
- Dimensions – This includes “Length”, “Width” and “Height” of the product
- Length Class – Unit for the dimensions
- Weight – Weight for the product
- Weight Class – Unit for the weight
- Featured Product – Check if the product is a featured product or not.
- Use Reward Points – If this field is checked, the product could be purchased using reward points else not.
- UPC(Universal Product Code) – Product’s unique barcode
Specifications
The tab includes all the fields that specifies the key criteria for the product and could be displayed on listing page, detail page, search results for the product. They would be used in comparing the products in the store front.
- Model
- Sku(Stock Keeping Unit) – Random code for the product
- Price – Unit price for the product excluding tax
- Quantity – Quantity of the product in inventory
Related
The tab shows the related entities related to the product
- Manufacturer – Manufacturer for the product. Thus if the customer search by selected manufacturer in the store front, the product would be listed on the search results.
- Categories – The categories under which the product falls. Thus when the customer search by selected categories in the front end, the product would be listed in the search results.
- Related Products – The products related to the product. These products could be displayed on the detail page for the product.
- Download Option – If the type of product is “Downloadable”, this field would be displayed. There are two options, “Download” and “Send via email”.
- Downloads – If the type of product is “Downloadable”, this field would be displayed. The user can select the downloads(which are added from downloads screen), that customer would be able to download in the store front after purchasing the product.
Discounts
The tab asks the user to enter information which is required to create discount for the product.
- Customer Group: Group for the customer (created in Sales > Customers groups) that would use this discount.
- Quantity: The limit which customer has to purchase after which discount would apply.
- Priority: Adding a priority number such as 1, 2, or 3, will determine when this discount will be used when other discounts are applied to a customer’s order. 1 will apply this discount first, while 2 will apply it second, and so on.
- Price: The discounted price for the product.
- Date Start: The date from which discount on the product would start
- Date End: The data on which discount ends
Click “plus icon” to add the new row. Click “Remove” to remove the discount for the product.
Specials
The tab asks the user to enter information which is required to create special for the product.
- Customer Group: Group for the customer (created in Sales > Customers groups) that would use this special.
- Priority: Adding a priority number such as 1, 2, or 3, will determine when this special will be used when other specials are applied to a customer’s order. 1 will apply this special first, while 2 will apply it second, and so on.
- Price: The special price for the product.
- Date Start: The date from which special on the product would start
- Date End: The data on which special ends
Click “plus icon” to add the new row. Click “Remove” to remove the special for the product.
Special price is higher priority than discounted price. Thus on a date if both discounted price and special price are available, than special price would be applied.
Images
The tab allows to add extra product images for the product. These images would be rendered on the product detail page in the store front along with the main image that was already uploaded in the Data tab of Products.
Options
The tab renders the options assigned to the product. The tab would be displayed only in case of update scenario. If the user clicks on the “Edit Button” as displayed in the image below, the browser would navigate to the manage options screen for the product. The options would be rendered in the front end on the product detail page.
Each option can have many option values. Thus in the above case for the color option two option values would be displayed in the front end for the customer to select. If the option is required, the customer has to select at least one option value. Each row has the following fields
- Option Value – The displayed text of the option value
- Quantity – Quantity of option value in the inventory
- Subtract Stock – If option value is selected by customer and purchase, would stock be subtracted
- Price – How much the price of the product be impacted on selection of the option value. This could be both positive and negative.
- Weight – How much the weight of the product be impacted on selection of the option value. This could be both positive and negative.
Attributes
The tab renders the attributes assigned to the product. The tab would be displayed only in case of update scenario. If the user clicks on the “Edit Button” as displayed in the image below, the browser would navigate to the manage attributes screen for the product. The attributes would be displayed under specifications tab in the store front on the product detail page.
Downloadable Product
To create a downloadable product, select “Type” as Downloadable. Than in the related tab,
- Select the “Download option” which could be either, download or send in email
- Select the downloads associated with the product.