Before adding your first product, let’s get familiar with how product categories, tags, and attributes work.
Product Categories
PRODUCT CATEGORIES and tags work in much the same way as normal categories and tags you have when writing posts in WordPress. They can be created, edited, and selected at any time. This can be done when you first create a product or come back and edit it or the category/tag specifically.
Categories are, for example, Clothes and Shoes, whereas subcategories can appear Jackets, Jeans, or Casual shoes, Outdoor shoes. Tags can be Winter/Summer, or Handmade.
Attributes
ATTRIBUTES can be added per product, or you can set up global attributes for the entire store to use. Attributes are, for example, Size and Color. You can add/edit them from Dashboard/Products/Attributes, and also Configure terms of each attribute. Then you can assign them to a product, from the product page.
Product Types
- SIMPLE – covers the vast majority of any products you may sell. Simple products are shipped and have no options. For example, a book.
- GROUPED – a collection of related products that can be purchased individually and only consist of simple products. For example, a set of six drinking glasses.
- VIRTUAL – one that doesn’t require shipping. For example, a service. Enabling this, disables all shipping related fields such as shipping dimensions. A virtual product will also not trigger the shipping calculator in cart and checkout.
- DOWNLOADABLE – activates additional fields where you can provide a downloadable file. After a successful purchase, customers are given a downloadable file as a link in the order notification email. This is suitable for example for a digital album, PDF magazine, or photo.
- EXTERNAL or AFFILIATE – one that you list and describe on your website but is sold elsewhere.
- VARIABLE – a product with variations, each of which may have a different SKU, price, stock option, etc. For example, a t-shirt available in different colors and/or sizes. can be added per product, or you can set up global attributes for the entire store to use. Attributes are, for example, Size and Color. You can add/edit them from Dashboard/Products/Attributes, and also Configure terms of each attribute. Then you can assign them to a product, from the product page.
