Operate > IBM Management Center for WebSphere Commerce > Catalogs tool
Work with sales catalogs
The Category Manager manages the category hierarchy by creating, modifying, and deleting categories in sales catalogs.
- Create sales catalogs
You might want to add a sales catalog to the store to promote a seasonal line, such as winter clothing.
- Create sales categories
If you are changing the display structure of the sales catalog, you might want to add a new sales category.
- View sales catalogs
You might want to view a sales catalog that has already been added to the store.
- Changing sales catalogs
You might want to change information about the sales catalog. For example, you might want to change the description if the summer sales catalog is now on clearance.
- Delete sales catalogs
You might want to delete a sales catalog if it was created for a one-time event. For example, you could create a sales catalog to sell merchandise for the 2008 Olympics and then delete it once the Olympics are over. Deleting a sales catalog does not delete the products. You can only delete the catalog if there are no categories below it.
- Copy sales categories
You might want to make a copy of the sales category for reuse.
- Add catalog entries to sales categories
You might want to add catalog entries to the sales category.
- Create extended sites store sales catalog categories
You can extend the display structure of a sales catalog owned by the catalog asset store, by creating an extended sites store sales category inside the sales catalog. For example, to add a winter clothing category to a seasonal clothing sales catalog in the asset store, and you do not want the category to be displayed in any other extended sites stores using the same sales catalog, then you can create a new sales category exclusive to the extended site store.
- Add a child category to a parent category
You can add a child category to a parent category within the same sales catalog. For example, in a seasonal clothing sales catalog, the hats category can be added to the summer clothing parent category.
- Add multiple parent categories to a child category
You can add more than one parent category to a child category within the same sales catalog. For example, in a seasonal clothing sales catalog, the hats category can belong to both the winter clothing and accessories parent categories.
- Move sales categories
You can move a child category to a new parent category in the same sales catalog. For example, if you find that a child category is better defined under a new parent category.
- Remove a parent category from a child category
A sales category can have one or more parents. You can remove the relationship between a child category and one of the existing parent categories. When you remove the relationship, the child category still exists in the sales catalog. For example, in the seasonal sales catalog, you can remove the winter clothing parent category from the hats category but keep the hats category in the accessories parent category.
- Delete a sales category
You can delete a sales category from a sales catalog.
- Work with linked categories
If you are creating or updating a sales catalog, you might want to link a category from the master catalog to a sales catalog or from one sales catalog to another. For example, a Winter Coats category in the master catalog could be linked to the Coats category in the Winter Specials sales catalog. Linking helps to keep categories consistent. For example, when you add a product to the original category, the categories that are linked to the original category will also see the product that was added.
- Link categories between catalogs
Linking a category creates a reference to that category in the catalog to which it was linked. All subcategories and catalog entries in the category are also linked.
- Delete linked categories
You might want to delete a linked category if the category is no longer needed in the sales catalog. For example, you may want to delete the Holiday category if you no longer want to sell seasonal Holiday items in the sales catalog. When you delete a link, the category still exists. Only the link is deleted.
- View associated assets
You can view assets that are associated with a sales catalog, category, or catalog entry in the Catalogs tool.
- View attachment details
You can view existing attachments that are associated with a sales catalog, category, or catalog entry and the list of files or URLs it contains, all within the Catalogs tool.
- Find and associating assets
You can find and associate assets such as files, URLs or existing attachments to categories, sales catalogs, and catalog entries, all within the Catalogs tool. This enables you to complete activities without switching tools.
- Delete associated assets
You can delete associated assets from sales catalogs, categories, and catalog entries in the Catalogs tool.
Related concepts
IBM Management Center for WebSphere Commerce